My Sparkly, Twinkly Adventures....

Irrassiamase!!!Started our day by visiting the Ginza district to get some breakfast and check out the big designer stores!Its so bizarre to see all the neon and huge colourful buildings up close!
On Gwen Stefani's influence we made the pilgrimage to Harajuku to do some serious shopping!!!this place was unreal, all the bright colours, kitsch dress sence, the energy.....

I Love it here,so many cool things to see!this is shopping heaven for me seriously, picked up some corker jewellery!Big pink plastic hearts..... All the little boutiques were crowded with crazily dressed teenagers in children print dresses, fluffy socks, pink wigs!!! All the staff would almost sing "Irrasiamasse" which means welcome and all you could hear throughout Takeshita Street was cheesy Japanese pop music and wails of welcome! It was such a bizarre experience and left me feeling totally inspired!!!

Tonight we met Miriam Kinjou, the chief designer from "Renown America", for the Rebecca Taylor Japan range...she was great she took us out, showed us around, we got taken to meet the girls who worked in the store, she was really helpful! She showed us around 'Isetan' a big department store, where we discussed the difference of western and Japanese fashion and how different ideas appeal to different nationalities!!!She then took us to a food market and made us sample some local delicacies such as pickled cabbage, blue seaweed! We saw the fish market where there were live eels and some pretty scary looking sharks!

We also paid a visit to the Tokyo Tower....

Me and Daniel then spent the night gazing in awe at the bright lights of Shinjuku before grabbing some dinner!We knew it was time to go home when I almost got sold into the illicit sex trade after stumbling into a not so pleasant area!!!!

Konnichiwa!!!
This is soooooooo surreal it is unbelievable!I cant believe after all these years of dreaming of visiting Japan that I am finally here! After a very long and tiring flight from America I arrived at Toyko Narita Airport!It hasnt sunk in that I am here!Arrived to find Daniel already here waiting for me...in fact his flight had got in 12 hours before mine so hes had quite a wait and was quite accustomed to the airport!!!!Experienced my first squat toilet!!!From here we had to trek right across Tokyo to get to where we were staying in Tarawamachi. We took the train to Ueno station where we got chatting to a woman called Sue who was from Tazmania and it turned out that out of everywhere in the whole of Tokyo she was staying at the same tiny guesthouse as us!!!So we all put our map reading skills together and after some time arrived at Toukaisou Ryokan!It was just as I had imagined...the tradiational guesthouse including the Tatami mats, the yukata robes, the tea set and the pinnacle (this has been my vision ever since reading 'Memoirs of a Geisha' many years ago....).....the toilet slippers!!!

Here is our little squat toilet and the much anticipated toilet slippers! Obviously you cant resist but to comply with tradition and etiquette and wear the slippers!!!

I am in my element!Dumped the backpacks and headed out to get something to eat and have a couple of drinks! After that super long journey a gin and tonic was definatley on the cards...imagine my delight when I spotted the bottle of the old Bombay on the shelf!!!Its amazing just to walk around and take it all in....Im so overwhelmed by the whole thing, this is just a dream opportunity and I appreciate that Im so incredibly lucky to be here and to get to see these wonderful things!I just cant beleive that Im in Japan! Where we are staying is a very quiet area and is not really overun with hotels so its great to be staying a bit away from the tourist trail! Instantly I have fallen in love with the crazy vending machines which are every few feet away!!! They sell everything, from cute little pink cigarettes, to chocolate and the most random selection of drinks I have ever seen!!! The Pocari Sweat was just begging to be sampled after hearing Danielle's stories!!!! We strolled around the nearby streets, a couple of the arcades, spotted the weird signs on the pavement which say it's illegal to smoke and walk at the same time!!! Nightmare, its going to be stationary cigarettes galore!!! We eventually headed back to our Ryokan and watched a bit of random Japanese gameshows, involving people doing crazy things involving pain and snakes, with a cup of black tea before rolling out our cosy mats!

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This morning the girls dropped me off in Downtown Los Angeles as they were headin to work and I caught the train to Hollywood! It wasnt as I had imagined....it was all very dirty, totally run down and rather sleezy to be honest!Went to Mann's Chinese Theatre which was cool then followed the Hollywood walk of Fame to see my favourite celebrities' stars: Marilyn Monroe, Dolly Parton, Judy Garland.....Headed up to have a look at the famous Hollywood sign which wasnt half as spectacular as I had imagined!!!

I went on a tour round all the celebrity houses and famous places...dont think the tour was legit, the guy was about 80, didnt know who Jessica Simpson was after I spotted her driving and there was only 2 other people stuck in the non-aircon van on the tour with me!We did the whole Beverly Hills, Bel Air thing, also went up Melrose, Sunset Blvd...saw the hotel where pretty woman was set....loved that bit!!!!The van then broke down and we were totally stranded outside Whisky a go-go (which apparently according to the old guy was where Goldie Horn was discovered!) for about an hour!!!Eventually the girls came to pick me up and we went to this really cool burger place before dropping me at the hotel by the airport that I was going to stay at for my final night before my flight in the morning!!!This was a disaster....got a room with a door that wouldnt open and all in all I ended up being stranded without a room for 2 and half hours!!!It was a nightmare but finally 4 rooms later I got a one with all working amenities and only ended up paying a 3rd of the price for the room in the end!!!!I cant believe Im going to Japan tomorrow!!!!Im sooooooooo excited!!!!

I am so lucky to have Melissa and Katie, they have been great!!!After breakfast we went for a walk around the Venice Canals which were so beautiful, this is a side of Los Angeles I didnt really know about so It was all very new to me!The most amazing houses!We then headed up to Venice Beach where with luck it was the Venice Beach Centenary so It was a great time Id chosen to come here!!!There was drum circles, parades, market stalls, it was so much fun and the weather was incredible!!!

After Lunch we took the bus to Santa Monica where we walked the pier and did a bit of shopping! Went to this place 'Tudor House' (the place they went on the Osbournes and bought all the English chocolate!) and I bought some much missed Cadburies!!!!
This evening we ordered Italian take-out which was the most divine pasta I have ever had, got some wine and watched some trashy TV!!!!!

Oh My God....what a day!!!Paige dropped me off at Pot Authority this Morning, with my trusty backpack In tow and I headed to JFK....Goodbye New York, Hello California!Arrived at LA International to be faced with disaster....Dont have a clue where Andrea is?!?!?Her phone wont work,Havent a clue how to get hold of her!!!So had to start the search of finding somewhere to stay...a little old guy that worked at the airport called Leon arranged a hostel in Venice Beach for me and this really weird guy came to pick me up in a truck!After stopping at some plumbing supplies place I arrived at the Hostel only to be told I would be in the one up the road...this is after I had paid when he had shown me the room in the first hostel!!!!Got to this place, couldnt believe my eyes.....mouse poo, filthy, no lock on the door, couple of prostitutes hanging around outside...delightful!Turned out I was staying there alone with this bunch of shady, alcoholic, middle aged men!Not a good start.I didnt have a bed but a matress on the floor!Final straw came was when I saw a cockroach crawl across my pillow,tears galore!

Great timing, within 5 minutes Paige rang to check I had arrived safely, the whole auful story spilled out and within another 5 minutes two of her friends arrived at the door to pick me up and take me to there place where I was now welcome to stay!!!Talk about a saviour!!!!They lived in a beautiful apartment, 2 ensuite bathrooms, balcony, the lot, right on Venice Beach!!!!How lucky was I!

Here is Melissa and Katie in their apartment!

Really lovely girls, good fun and they totally looked after me!That evening they cooked some yummy mexican food for me and then took me to 'Coldstone' this fabulous ice cream place where you choose all your flavours, syrups, candy and they smoosh it all up for you!!!Gorgeous!!!! Ive heard them worship the place on the "Osbournes"! It was so cool!!!I so want my very own ice cream parlour!!! Took a stroll along the pier before heading back to watch a movie which was actually the "Incredibles" which was strangley enjoyable!