Haha well, most of that stuff doesn't come near human habitation - which is good.. Therefore, only this mate: I have posted a few of rogue spiders which have appeared before being destroyed by my wife's flipflop etc..
some pics from a trip to Japan, more local colour than sights, partly because I saw a lot of the sights on previous trips. (yes, I wish the images were smaller too)
Great shots. Did you come across any of the restaurants with the "No foreigners allowed" signs? Didn't realise how racist the Japanese were until I got talking recently to someone who lived there for a while..
I did get an owner of one bar in the Golden Gai area in Tokyo say "No" as I walked in the door, but it was quite late on a Sunday, so it might have been close to shutting. That area is notorious for not liking foreigners, although it's partly because the bars are usually very small and they don't want to turn away high-paying regulars. In Kanazawa I find a bar that looked like one of those places (it only had seven seats) but couldn't have been more welcoming, and was a cracking little bar. I'd heartily recommend Pub Dylanif you are even in Kanazawa (which I appreciate, probably isn't very likely) Other than that, I didn't see a single sign saying no foreigners anywhere. The only places famous for being "Japanese only" are the multitude of "entertainment" establishments. The bigger problem with restaurants is that few have English menus on display outside (although some do have signs saying "We have English menu") and the pictures could be anything. Even when they do have English translations, the translations aren't the best. I'm not really going to be tempted in by "salted squid guts", "chicken gizzards" or "fried cartilage of the cock" And it's not really a country where you'd wish to take pot luck either, or you could have the chef commending you for your bravery in going for the fish head platter. It's also the only place I've been where I've had a pizza served up with chopsticks. Or a pizza with honey on, for that matter. They appear to like honey on pizzas. I felt compelled to try it, and all I'll say is that it's unusual, as the honey and cheese flavours don't mix at all. You taste either cheese or honey, but not both.
Really nice shots. Been thinking about the Balkans for a while now. How easy is Dubrovnik to cover on foot?
I'm off to Phuket next Friday for a few days. We both work from home so we're going for a change of scenery and office space as well as a bit of sea air. I was there a few years ago but I'm told it's completely different there now since the coup, the military have cleaned the beaches up by getting rid of all the vendors and illegal hawkers. Now there's just sea and sand, as it should be. This is what it was like the first time i went; Horrible, just horrible.
I didn't want to stay in Phuket as I was told it was exactly as above. We stayed in Nai Yang, about 10 minutes from the airport and there was a few hotels, a scattering of shops, bars and restaurants and the odd sunbed dotted around on the beach. Perfect Be interesting to see how you find it this time, Panja. Enjoy the sea air and change of scenery.
