The past 24 hours has really taken it to a whole new level though. We’re currently on route from Matsuyama to Hiroshima on a ferry, having spent the night at Dogo Onsen spa town (which I’m sure Claz will be filling you in about sometime soon). When we arrived at our ryokan we were pretty horrified – probably one of the grimmest hotels we’ve ever stayed in. And of course, being flashpackers, we are also swanky hotel snobs. The room itself was ok though, but we weren’t prepared for the feasts (note the plural, with as much amazement, disbelief and horror as we did) that were presented to us for dinner, and then breakfast the following morning. Take a look at those pictures if you don’t believe me. That’s for two people. Turns out Miyake-san back in Naoshima was a tight-arsed, drunken, lazy old get.
So, over the course of my last lunch, dinner and breakfast meals, I have consumed the following fishy business:
• Octopus (purple skin, cute little suckers on the tentacles, cooked)
• Lobster (cooked)
• Crabs legs (those big ones I was talking about from Tokyo fish market, cooked)
• Big balls of bright orange roe (fishy and fragrant, delightful, they pop in your mouth!)
• Squid (sashimi - raw fish - it becomes sushi with the rice bit with it)
• Tuna (sashimi)
• Unspecified grey coloured fish (sashimi)
• Unspecified white coloured fish (sashimi)
• Salmon (sashimi)
• Salmon (cooked)
• Prawns (just to say pink, almost sashimi)
• Prawns (cooked)
• Mussels (or similar, cooked and in a pickled sauce)
• Small, whole sardine looking chap, but bigger (pickled and cooked)
• Tiny, whole whitebait looking stuff, only smaller (possibly dried, for breakfast?!)
• Mackerel (cooked, in a soup that you added a whole raw egg to yourself)
• Unspecified white coloured fish (cooked in tempura batter)
Now for a kid who thought mushrooms were disgusting, and up until about a year ago wouldn’t touch prawns unless he was paid handsomely, that is not bad going. Nor did I gip, not even once. It’s fair enough to say that in Japan, Bourdain-esque culinary adventures are to be had around every corner, so long as you’re prepared to take a deep slug of Japanese beer (Kirin or Asahi recommended), chase with a swig of sake to strengthen your resolve, and get stuck in.
Although I’m still not eating anything which is still moving when presented to me though, or any fermented raw fish. No way.
Onward.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
21/7 Ian - Unfinished fishy business (part 1)
It really is all about the fish over here. That blasted BBC documentary said it. Bourdain-san said it. Everywhere you turn, fish is in your line of sight – pictures of fish, fish on your plate, fish in ponds, dried fish, prepared fish, fish in vats ready to be swiftly dealt with, sliced and diced according to your needs.
Here are a few fishy pictures to illustrate the point. The fish in the tank are the infamous fugu – in a restaurant window in Toyko. You choose your poison (literally) and the licensed fugu chef has off with its head, then slices and dices for your delectation and delight, carefully removing the bits that kill you. We didn’t go for this – not because I was scared to try – it was more about the fact that we would likely be presented with the recently deceased little chap to eat, except that they aren’t actually that little, and we feared the volume of fugu sushi we would be expected to consume.
The fish in the pond are obviously koi, in a pond in the famous Japanese gardens at Okayama. Note how many there are though, and there are a good few out of shot. At approaching two feet in length for some of them, you’re quite literally looking at thousands of quid’s worth of fishy action, right there.
20/7 Claire
A few observational updates
After two sweltering days we have rain again today. We are lucky that today is both travelling and the hot spring bath day so no need for much outdoor pursuits. Apparently it’s rainy season which means you get a couple of days at about 34 degrees whilst the humidity builds up then a day of rain at a temperature of about 25 degrees and still very humid. So it’s either sunny and hot or rainy and hot.
I am now starting to get used to rice with every meal even if my digestive system is not. And my chopstick skills are coming on slowly but looking around it could be that I am still eating like a child by holding the chopsticks in the middle rather than at the top.
I am still trying to get used to the slurping of noodles. Noodles are picked up with the chopstick and sucked into your mouth (as you might with spaghetti) however the noise some of the Japanese gentlemen make slurping up the noodles is REALLY loud. I think perhaps it’s expected but haven’t noticed any of the ladies doing this yet so I am still attempting to eat these sans slurp. Being a little obsessive about noisy eaters at home this has been a little bit of a challenge to get used to.
Talking about digestive systems, although there are many western style toilets there are also as many Japanese style. When I say western style I mean they look like our loos but in fact they are all “washlets”. This is an electric toilet/bidet combo. Buttons down the side allow you a number of different settings depending on the quality of the product and so far I have seen all or a combination of the following; Heated seat, bum spray, front spray, drier. The latter being similar to having a hairdryer in the loo and I am just not sure about this. The Japanese style toilet is much less advanced but requires much more skill. This toilet is floor level but with no handles or bars to hold on to. This requires a squat-like balancing act in an attempt to not get your trousers wet on the floor, you don’t pee on yourself and you don’t fall over backward – all of these outcomes would get you quite wet.
Outside of the big cities there seems to be a lack of available internet access so we are a little sporadic with our updates. These are being written on the computer and we will upload them as soon as we get access.
After two sweltering days we have rain again today. We are lucky that today is both travelling and the hot spring bath day so no need for much outdoor pursuits. Apparently it’s rainy season which means you get a couple of days at about 34 degrees whilst the humidity builds up then a day of rain at a temperature of about 25 degrees and still very humid. So it’s either sunny and hot or rainy and hot.
I am now starting to get used to rice with every meal even if my digestive system is not. And my chopstick skills are coming on slowly but looking around it could be that I am still eating like a child by holding the chopsticks in the middle rather than at the top.
I am still trying to get used to the slurping of noodles. Noodles are picked up with the chopstick and sucked into your mouth (as you might with spaghetti) however the noise some of the Japanese gentlemen make slurping up the noodles is REALLY loud. I think perhaps it’s expected but haven’t noticed any of the ladies doing this yet so I am still attempting to eat these sans slurp. Being a little obsessive about noisy eaters at home this has been a little bit of a challenge to get used to.
Talking about digestive systems, although there are many western style toilets there are also as many Japanese style. When I say western style I mean they look like our loos but in fact they are all “washlets”. This is an electric toilet/bidet combo. Buttons down the side allow you a number of different settings depending on the quality of the product and so far I have seen all or a combination of the following; Heated seat, bum spray, front spray, drier. The latter being similar to having a hairdryer in the loo and I am just not sure about this. The Japanese style toilet is much less advanced but requires much more skill. This toilet is floor level but with no handles or bars to hold on to. This requires a squat-like balancing act in an attempt to not get your trousers wet on the floor, you don’t pee on yourself and you don’t fall over backward – all of these outcomes would get you quite wet.
Outside of the big cities there seems to be a lack of available internet access so we are a little sporadic with our updates. These are being written on the computer and we will upload them as soon as we get access.
19/7 Claire
Our second ryokan was basic but with great bathrooms exactly as described in the rough guide. Wet rooms with a shower, a mini stool about 20cm high to sit on whilst washing, get thoroughly clean and rinsed before getting into the bath to soak. We certainly didn’t pull the plug here.
Although the rooms were basic, dinner this evening wasn’t. We were all brought to a communal dining room with low tables and cushions to sit on. The meal set out across the table included beautifully presented sushi (three types) a cooked fish dish, rice and pickled veg. We finished this only to also be brought tempura vegetables and prawns, then finally came a bowl of udon noodles in broth. I wish I had taken my camera down for dinner as this was a truly amazing meal.
I have yet to get used to sitting on the floor for meal times. My Western joints are not up to it. My knees can’t take kneeling on the floor Japanese style with my feet under my bum, in fact my knees will bearly allow my bum to touch my feet as they are so inflexible. The alternative is that you sit cross legged, not the appropriate way but you can get away with it, but my hips give me jip doing this. I end up shuffling and wriggling throughout the meal trying to find a comfortable position… which of course I can’t. Hopefully a little more practice I may loosen up a little.
Although the rooms were basic, dinner this evening wasn’t. We were all brought to a communal dining room with low tables and cushions to sit on. The meal set out across the table included beautifully presented sushi (three types) a cooked fish dish, rice and pickled veg. We finished this only to also be brought tempura vegetables and prawns, then finally came a bowl of udon noodles in broth. I wish I had taken my camera down for dinner as this was a truly amazing meal.
I have yet to get used to sitting on the floor for meal times. My Western joints are not up to it. My knees can’t take kneeling on the floor Japanese style with my feet under my bum, in fact my knees will bearly allow my bum to touch my feet as they are so inflexible. The alternative is that you sit cross legged, not the appropriate way but you can get away with it, but my hips give me jip doing this. I end up shuffling and wriggling throughout the meal trying to find a comfortable position… which of course I can’t. Hopefully a little more practice I may loosen up a little.
19/7 Claire
Today we also visited a sake museum and tried a couple of type of sake, these were (unsurprisingly) much nicer than the vending machine version I tried in Okayama which tasted a little too much like tequila for it to be a pleasurable dinner accompaniment. Those we tried today were much less harsh, although still an acquired taste, and I think I will try some with dinner over the coming days.
19/7 Claire - How many steps? Part 2
Another point to note about this climb was the number of Japanese ladies who managed to walk up in high heals, in fashionable clothes and seemingly without breaking sweat. I felt like a frumpy tourist, which of course I am.
19/7 Claire - How many steps?
The climb to the highest part is 1368 stone steps
… in the heat
… during the mid day sun
… glad I had that beer
… in the heat
… during the mid day sun
… glad I had that beer
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