And these keyboards are very strange to type on, I accidentally hit the Japanese key a short while ago an the level of panic I felt when I couldn't change it back was great. I also keep missing the shift key but that's likely because of my lack of coordination at the moment.

Won't write a huge epic rundown of what happened so in short: journey was fine, planes delayed slightly but not by much. Manchester terminal one security is like one of the circles of hell described by Dante, an utterly dehumanising experience. SAS flights are just like every other really but I managed to sleep somewhat. Landed and met up with the tour leader and a couple of others from the group, got straight into my room so had a shower and felt slightly more human. Went over to Ginza and had a wander around (read: got lost) and then headed to Ueno park for some Hanami. The park was packed but everyone was having such a good time it was hard not to get swept up in it all. Managed to get some tea and met up with the two from before again and went to Ueno again for some night shots, shame it was raining a bit. Got to sleep at nine, slept pretty much straight through till six, no sign of my aeroplane throat this morning.

Now, to Akiba and Harajuku!

Read the rest of this entry

In May 2007 I visited Cuba with a friend for almost three weeks; this is the record of what I experienced there. I thought it best to start off with a preamble explaining my approach to this (what I can only imagine is going to be a lengthy) undertaking.

What I read on the tinterweb before going to Cuba fell into three categories:

1. The political - Usually quoting a human rights report or something by Amnesty International, these sites track the ongoing political climate in Cuba and its dealings with the rest of the world. Opinion pieces were abound on how the author thought the country was faring.
2. The evangelical - It seemed that Cuba made a large quotient of people fall in love with it, as such, the blogs and articles came off as gushing monologues about the terminally friendly people or the unspoiled countryside or the lack of road vehicles.
3. The minimal - I only read a few accounts before spotting the tell tale signs of there being little to no actual useful information contained within. These sites divulge minimal information about Cuba either on the whole or in part and boil down to how many t-shirts their husband packed.

This series of posts is going to attempt to be none of those things; I only aim for an interesting, frank and unyielding account; sexual and opinionated content (sometimes inextricably conjoined) will be present. I'm not going to explain every term, only the ones which I couldn't find or found inadequately described elsewhere.

And until I can come up with a snappy category name, "Cuba 2K7" will remain.

Read the rest of this entry