Right, my phone is being a complete bell-end & not letting me upload any pictures of my honeymoon so i'll have to use words as best i can to describe my shit, sorry. (Photo's will be put in a folder when i can get my phone to work).
Now, this may turn into a bit of an essay so if you get bored easily then fuck off now.
Went to Langkawi first which is an island off the west coast of Malaysia for four days & jesus christ it was sweet. Just as you'd imagine: white sandy beaches, clear blue seas which were proper warm like a bath, beautiful landscapes covered in trees & shit, etc etc.
Did the usual stuff: snorkelling (saw sharks!), bit of island hopping (swam in a fresh water lagoon surrounded by cliffs & monkeys), drinking at the pool bar, you know the deal. All good.
So after four days we're relaxed to the point of being limp & then we fly to Japan....
Tokyo. Motherfucker that shit is insane! We flew in over miles & miles of paddy fields & from that height, cos they're full of still water, they look like hundreds of massive rectangular mirrors covering the landscape reflecting back up at you. Awesome sight.
How efficient are the Japanese? I'll tell ya: got off the plane, we're ushered towards the correct immigration desk, quickly through, then we go to get our baggage & we're again ushered to the correct carousel where another dude is waiting having taken everybody's luggage off & lined it up all neat & tidy next to a row of trolleys. I am suitably impressed.
The bus ride into Tokyo was amazing. When you get to the city you first cross this massive bridge which curves over the river & into the mass of skyscrapers beyond & it's like the first bit of a rollercoaster where you're chugging your way up the slope with all that nervous anticipation welling up inside you. When we finally reach the 'down slope' the roller coaster analogy turns out to be entirely appropriate cos from there on in we're flying at 100 miles an hour up over fly-overs & down through tunnels & round bends & all the while these collosal buildings are framing the journey. Mental.
The city is built on three or four levels everywhere so you'll have like ground level then a flyover with a fucking junction on it then a bit above that there's a fucking train track then you've got the subways underneath.
The subways. It's like an underground city, i ain't fucking joking. We got lost down there so many times you can literally walk for miles under the city streets & its all full of shops & restaurants & trains.
The government buildings have a viewing gallery on about the 50th floor where you can peep the vast urban sprawl that is Tokyo. I'm not exagerating when i say that all you can see in every direction right up to the horizon is 'city'. Big fuck off buildings with the odd park stuck in the middle of it all. Jaw dropping.
Ok, this is beginning to get real lengthy so i'll try to get to the main points....
Video arcades: we played House of the Dead 4. Put 10 in that bastard got right to the very end then we both got killed & had no more change. Shite. What a fucking game though, every bit as good as i'd hoped PLUS you get grenades in this one so when you're overwhelmed by the undead just hit the button on the side of your plastic uzi & *whoomp....BOOM* no more bad guys. Too cool for school.
Next to this game, & again i aint fucking joking, was a variation called Typing of the Dead. I'll let that sink in for a few seconds. Typing. Of. The. Dead.
Instead of guns there are two keyboards & the character on screen has a keyboard round his neck. The writing next to the keyboards says 'Use the words of truth to destroy the forces of evil' (or something similar, i can't quite remember but that was the gist of it).
The thing is, as much as i wanted a go i just couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't want to spoil the mystery ya know? I was hoping that you literally had to type out words like 'How do you like my mango style dead boy, Kapow!' & 'Eat fruit, zombie menace!' & similar but if it turned out to be anything other than that i don't think i would've got over the disappointment. I got a photo of it though.
By the way, these arcades have about 6 or 7 floors to them with some floors dedicated to one type of game. The most amazing of which are these link-up games. It was obviously all in Jap so if i've misinterpreted this then i apologise but what i am about to describe seems the most logical explanation for what i saw.
You have like one big screen on the wall then in front of that you have about 9 machines with a desk/screen combo (kinda like a blackboard/classroom set up). What happens is you buy trading cards & each has a different picture on it with set attributes (for example there was a gundam robot battle game so each card is a different robot). You then organise your cards on the desk in front of you into an army & the desk recognises this & translates it to the screen in front. You can then attack other armies & fight battles & shit on the world map on the main screen.
They also have a football version of this where you lay your personal team out & play in tournaments with em. Presumably the cards get upgraded the more you play with them. Genius.
Shit, that was supposed to be a succinct appraisal of video gaming culture. I'm getting bored telling this myself so here's the rest of it in a nutshell:
Shrines: tranquil, dotted about kinda hidden, really peaceful & cool looking.
Electrical shops: massive, one had two floors of nothing but old games consoles (NES, SNES, game gear, mega drive, neo-geo, etc plus every game for each).
People: friendly as fuck mostly. If we were stood for more than a few minutes looking at a map then someone would come up & see if we needed help. Can you imagine that happening in London?
Food: fantastic & really cheap in most places, chopsticks rule.
Hiroshima: awesome, museum nearly made me cry.
Sumo: magnificent stadium, & weird male cheerleaders who are dressed in military-like uniforms & shout & bow & wave their arms about with such enthusiasm it's like they're gonna explode. They take that shit super serious.
Toys: mental, bought tons of figures & random shite but unfortunately didn't find a Bill Clinton lego figure (boo!).
Porno comics: the Japanese are the kings of porno comics, nuff said.
Well, i think that about covers the main stuff. Obviously tons more shit went down & got enjoyed but i'm sick of writing. Anything you want to know just ask.
Peace.
Now, this may turn into a bit of an essay so if you get bored easily then fuck off now.
Went to Langkawi first which is an island off the west coast of Malaysia for four days & jesus christ it was sweet. Just as you'd imagine: white sandy beaches, clear blue seas which were proper warm like a bath, beautiful landscapes covered in trees & shit, etc etc.
Did the usual stuff: snorkelling (saw sharks!), bit of island hopping (swam in a fresh water lagoon surrounded by cliffs & monkeys), drinking at the pool bar, you know the deal. All good.
So after four days we're relaxed to the point of being limp & then we fly to Japan....
Tokyo. Motherfucker that shit is insane! We flew in over miles & miles of paddy fields & from that height, cos they're full of still water, they look like hundreds of massive rectangular mirrors covering the landscape reflecting back up at you. Awesome sight.
How efficient are the Japanese? I'll tell ya: got off the plane, we're ushered towards the correct immigration desk, quickly through, then we go to get our baggage & we're again ushered to the correct carousel where another dude is waiting having taken everybody's luggage off & lined it up all neat & tidy next to a row of trolleys. I am suitably impressed.
The bus ride into Tokyo was amazing. When you get to the city you first cross this massive bridge which curves over the river & into the mass of skyscrapers beyond & it's like the first bit of a rollercoaster where you're chugging your way up the slope with all that nervous anticipation welling up inside you. When we finally reach the 'down slope' the roller coaster analogy turns out to be entirely appropriate cos from there on in we're flying at 100 miles an hour up over fly-overs & down through tunnels & round bends & all the while these collosal buildings are framing the journey. Mental.
The city is built on three or four levels everywhere so you'll have like ground level then a flyover with a fucking junction on it then a bit above that there's a fucking train track then you've got the subways underneath.
The subways. It's like an underground city, i ain't fucking joking. We got lost down there so many times you can literally walk for miles under the city streets & its all full of shops & restaurants & trains.
The government buildings have a viewing gallery on about the 50th floor where you can peep the vast urban sprawl that is Tokyo. I'm not exagerating when i say that all you can see in every direction right up to the horizon is 'city'. Big fuck off buildings with the odd park stuck in the middle of it all. Jaw dropping.
Ok, this is beginning to get real lengthy so i'll try to get to the main points....
Video arcades: we played House of the Dead 4. Put 10 in that bastard got right to the very end then we both got killed & had no more change. Shite. What a fucking game though, every bit as good as i'd hoped PLUS you get grenades in this one so when you're overwhelmed by the undead just hit the button on the side of your plastic uzi & *whoomp....BOOM* no more bad guys. Too cool for school.
Next to this game, & again i aint fucking joking, was a variation called Typing of the Dead. I'll let that sink in for a few seconds. Typing. Of. The. Dead.
Instead of guns there are two keyboards & the character on screen has a keyboard round his neck. The writing next to the keyboards says 'Use the words of truth to destroy the forces of evil' (or something similar, i can't quite remember but that was the gist of it).
The thing is, as much as i wanted a go i just couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't want to spoil the mystery ya know? I was hoping that you literally had to type out words like 'How do you like my mango style dead boy, Kapow!' & 'Eat fruit, zombie menace!' & similar but if it turned out to be anything other than that i don't think i would've got over the disappointment. I got a photo of it though.
By the way, these arcades have about 6 or 7 floors to them with some floors dedicated to one type of game. The most amazing of which are these link-up games. It was obviously all in Jap so if i've misinterpreted this then i apologise but what i am about to describe seems the most logical explanation for what i saw.
You have like one big screen on the wall then in front of that you have about 9 machines with a desk/screen combo (kinda like a blackboard/classroom set up). What happens is you buy trading cards & each has a different picture on it with set attributes (for example there was a gundam robot battle game so each card is a different robot). You then organise your cards on the desk in front of you into an army & the desk recognises this & translates it to the screen in front. You can then attack other armies & fight battles & shit on the world map on the main screen.
They also have a football version of this where you lay your personal team out & play in tournaments with em. Presumably the cards get upgraded the more you play with them. Genius.
Shit, that was supposed to be a succinct appraisal of video gaming culture. I'm getting bored telling this myself so here's the rest of it in a nutshell:
Shrines: tranquil, dotted about kinda hidden, really peaceful & cool looking.
Electrical shops: massive, one had two floors of nothing but old games consoles (NES, SNES, game gear, mega drive, neo-geo, etc plus every game for each).
People: friendly as fuck mostly. If we were stood for more than a few minutes looking at a map then someone would come up & see if we needed help. Can you imagine that happening in London?
Food: fantastic & really cheap in most places, chopsticks rule.
Hiroshima: awesome, museum nearly made me cry.
Sumo: magnificent stadium, & weird male cheerleaders who are dressed in military-like uniforms & shout & bow & wave their arms about with such enthusiasm it's like they're gonna explode. They take that shit super serious.
Toys: mental, bought tons of figures & random shite but unfortunately didn't find a Bill Clinton lego figure (boo!).
Porno comics: the Japanese are the kings of porno comics, nuff said.
Well, i think that about covers the main stuff. Obviously tons more shit went down & got enjoyed but i'm sick of writing. Anything you want to know just ask.
Peace.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
delores:
glad you liked the whole shabang there... looking back on it some on the entire list (i didn't post all of them) were much dorkier then i remembered. i did try to jazz them up by adding The's to a lot of them... i made the list in the days before all the The bands.
king_ruprekt:
Im home. Went straight to London for the weekend after NYC, I'll give you a shout soon to catch up.