Out of the fire, into Japan

Its no surprise to anyone that knows me for more than a few hours that it is a dream of mine to go to Japan. Naturally, if you plonk me within a five hour flight to the country I’m going to pounce on the chance to go.

So I went a little AWOL this weekend! (It’s my birthday, I am allowed)

I packed my bag and left my laptop behind for four days of adventuring, with the intention of coming back with an new lease of life and powering through the final weeks of finishing the thesis.

Osaka, Nara and Kyoto here I come!

The contrast between Vietnam and Japan on first impression was night and day. While searching for my hostel I met just about three cars on the roads and did not hear one beep from any vehicle my entire time there.

Even if there was no cars in sight I felt obligated to find a crosswalk and wait for the green man to allow me passage to the other side of the road. No such thing as the immensely more fun ‘close your eyes and cross’ in Vietnam!

I swapped my bike taxis for the subway, where everything is like clock work. If you’re not on the train at 15:43 then you’re not getting it. Again the complete opposite to the ‘I’ll get there when I get there’ of Hanoi.

Of course I didn’t ignore my thesis for the entire time there. I got to meet a fellow CCAFS student, Daniel, also working on AWD for the summer. Between adventures to tourist traps we got to exchange our knowledge on AWD in Vietnam and even found a little rice paddy to snap a photo.

It was a dream come true to get to visit Japan. I walked through the stunning Torii Gates of Fushimi Inari, fed deer at Nara, strolled through Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, and got to practice my still very limited Japanese!

I am now back to business in Hanoi having recharged my batteries with much needed adventure! I must say it was a birthday well spent and an amazing gift from my family back in Ireland!

私への誕生日おめでとう, ありがとう日本!

Feicfidh mé tú arís an tSeapáin! 🤗