Well, I'm back in Tokyo, back: in my own bed, in my own kitchen, at my job, on my bicycle, in my fab shower, with my turtle, on a fast internet connection and *sigh, an underwear drawer that has *more* than 3 pairs of underpants and 2 bra's to be washed daily on rotation.... after 50 days on the road.

Before I go any further, I must make the biggest shout out possible to the magnificent, stupendous, kind and generous Samantha from Santa Margarita in California for her special Amazon wishlist gift surprise. Samantha decided she liked this blog and sent me a long-desired copy of Steve McCurry's "Portraits" from my Amazon wishlist (erm, hint hint family and friends...). What a wonderful surprise to arrive home to! Big hugs to you Samantha - Thank you so very much. Watch your postbox, lovely, for a reply surprise.

And so, down to business. The return trip home was remarkably smooth, but regardless of that, I arrived back in town on Saturday morning feeling rather like Tokyo was an old pair of smelly socks that I had to put back on. But then I started to catch up with friends and things didn't feel so smelly anymore.... I feel really refreshed and am enjoying hearing people tell me that I'm looking great - healthy, with some shed kilo's from all the activity and healthy food. But at the same time, Tokyo no longer holds that magic spell over me that she used to. I'm sick to death of crowds, airheads, shaved eye-brows, the kawaii aesthetic and clickity-clack of heels and slap-slap-slap-footsteps of people who can't lift their frikken feet. And yet, the place is still so damn cool if you find the right niche.

One of the best things about this trip was my chance to interact with (continental) Europeans. Most of my friends here are Australian, American, Canadian or British (and Japanese, of course), so it was really interesting to have these long conversations about all manner of things with Europeans.

Many of them were surprised - actually, puzzled would be a more accurate word - that I lived in Japan. Many of them knew nothing about the place (and weren't interested in getting to know it), and certainly had no understanding of Japanese people/culture. Their concept of Japan was a place full of weirdo's with strange porn and fashion. Watching Japanese tourists in Europe, while fascinating, gave them the creeps, some said, with their flag-waving tour leaders and insane camera habits and shuffling feet and strange sun-protection and face masks. It helped me understand why Ryosuke had had such a hard time trying to talk with them in India: they didn't like / understand / feel comfortable with Japanese people. It amused/appalled me how narrow-minded these Dutch / French / Swiss / Belgian / Germans were in this matter, yet so open-minded and laid back about so many other things. I think the Japan Tourist Board should have given me a one-off stipend for selling the place to the non-believers. I think that maybe the Japanese need to be seen in context to be understood. Japan is such a unique place. And still, it seems, so "far away" from Europe that it can be called the Mysterious Far East.

Anyways.... blah-de-blah-blah-blah. Geez I'm verbose tonight.

Indonesia was fantastic and my last days in Ubud, Bali were so relaxing - on top of the 8 days in paradise that I had just spent on Gili Air (Lombok). A great country, and I heartily recommend that you all visit it some time. Bali especially, has the best of both worlds - surprisingly sophisticated, creative, chic, cool and international here, and very very basic just over there. If you stay in the Kuta area, it would be easy to feel like you were staying in Noosa or Surfers Paradise or even Port Douglas, but then you trek around, down to the gorgeous southern beaches and up to the mountains and volcanoes and you leave the west behind entirely. Lovely. The Indonesians are great - so laid back. Everything is "no problem". I will be back.

In other news, I have started to look for a new room mate again - Fuku-chan heads back to Berlin on October 1, which will be here before I know it, so gotta get cracking on this - details are up at Craigs List, but will probably make a special post here this week when I get a chance. If you know anyone nice looking for a place, please let me know!

Facebook is proving to be quite a powerful tool for re-connecting and virtually hanging out with old (and not-so-old) friends, and I LOVE IT. Especially the "status updates" section where people write what they're up to. It feels like you see them all regularly, which is impossible when the majority of them live in other countries....(and I have missed them all so) This is an interesting article if you don't quite understand the facebook palava. Even one my Dad's best friends has a facebook profile now.... and I made my brother join up yesterday. It's weird seeing my many worlds collide in one space. Family - family friends - uni friends - dear old friends - new friends - drinking buddies - cool work colleagues (old and new) - travel buddies - blog buddies... Love it. Here's my profile should any friends be interested. But before you befriend me, please read this. It has an apt message...

I have packed my camera away for a while. I'm viewfinder saturated. I'm digital image-exhausted. I'm lightroom-blind. But I will soon have my very own second hand Canon 20D. And then.... maybe I'll shake off the lens-fatigue and start snapping again.

Think I'm going to see Mono play Friday night at the Liquid Room with Jane. Anyone else wanna come? Quite sure no-one's read this far...