Lost in Kanazawa

We've made it safely to Japan, and I'm sitting in a ryokan in Kanazawa, drinking sake and watching a Studio Ghibli movie on TV. We've had an amazing trip so far, and once we get to Kyoto, I'll post some pictures.

So far, I've only violated one of my travel rules - I had a bit of a freak out when I got lost today. Here's a snapshot:

Mark: What street am I looking for?
Leighana: I don't know.
Mark: What street am I on?
Leighana: I don't know!
Mark: Should I turn here?
Leighana: I DON'T KNOW!!!

So I handed him the map and told him to stop asking me. The cherry on top was when I got lost in our hotel trying to find the shared bathroom. It's just down the hall, but you'd be surprised how disorienting the world can be when you can't read a single one of any of the signs. We tried to find a bar to drink in in Takayama, but we couldn't tell a bar from a shop from a restaurant. I did lots of research before I came here, but I'm feeling distinctly unprepared...

Japan will forever be known to me as the land of tiny square cars. I want one, bad. I'll bet I could put one in my suitcase and bring it back with me. The funniest thing I've seen so far has been the tiny, tiny Japanese grandmother at the ryokan in Takayama trying to get her arms around me and then Mark to show us how to tie the sash on the yukata (a kind of robe they give you to wear in the ryokan). She is the smallest person I've ever seen - she barely came up to my shoulder - and she could juuuuuuuust get her arms around me. Pictures to follow.

Japanese television makes no sense to me at all. It's like I'm channel surfing, without touching the remote. I see a series of unconnected images - bright colours, doll-like women giggling, crazy looking men (often dressed as women) shouting at me, some footage of an eel eating a squid, then a weather forecast (at least I think that's what it is!). Sometimes I can tell I'm looking at an ad, but not always.

Japanese breakfast is my favorite meal, mainly because there seem to be fewer things with eyes in any of the bowls or plates. Of which there are thousands. They must spend every moment of their lives when they aren't serving meals washing bowls! I honestly couldn't tell you what I've been eating but it's all wonderful.

It's a thousand, million, squillion degrees outside right now, and the man at the sushi restaurant tonight, who spoke excellent English, said that I brought the heat with me. (But I came from winter!!) I have managed to get pretty sunburned through the clouds once the rain stopped, mainly because I can't figure out what sunscreen looks like. Tomorrow, I will sort this out.

Tomorrow we're going to drive to the Noto Peninsula, in a desperate attempt on my part to stay in air conditioning. I expect to love the coast as much as I have the mountains. Japan is one of the most beautiful, strangest places I've ever been, and I'm sad that we're already halfway through our time here!

More to come in a couple of days...