Japan journal #1

After 4 nights I some rainy mountain in the north of the Honshu island, I am now back in Tokyo and to the heat. It was just incredible to get out of the Shinkansen train this morning and feel the difference. Vilounterely ive stayed out in the rain for 3 days, well more or less. If it wasn't raining then it was just damp and wet and all the clothes were damp and cold, but the music and the spirit kept it up. It wax a great experience and I would probably go again, if there is s convincing music lineup.

Naeba with the Fuji Festival in Niigata prefecture on Sunday late afternoon when the sun nearly broke through the thick clouds.

Tokyo this Monday at lunchtime, sunny and over 30 degrees,

Fuji Fables 2017 #1

Finally, I have made it to Fuji Rock Festival in Japan.

Previous this event was hold at the mighty Mount Fuji, however the weather never really played ball for the organisers there so the Festival got moved to a ski resort in the mountains just south of the city Niigata.

Normally a very quiet and empty place during the summer months, but now music lovers from many countries gathers here to enjoy 3 days of rock'n roll music.

The town itself is a bit worn down, or at least so it seems, and to some extent it do reminds me of ski resorts I have seen in the Chech republic and Slovakia with reminicences from the post soviet east European era,like on this photo where the contrast between old and new is obvious.

Denmark Docs # 5

Take the train. Close to finishing the Denmark leg of the 2017 summer vacation. Sure it is a bit sad, but we have had a great stay in Denmark and here by I would like to say thank you to all of my family who have put up with the two of us.

Last train to Copenhagen for the Morten send in 2017.

Denmark Docs #4

After about 2 weeks in Denmark, finally it has become a bit like summer. Not sure this is all over the country but it is at least here where we are in Løkken, a small'ish beach and bathing town in the far north west of the country.

Denmark docs #3

My wife with the "big boy" sculpture at ARoS Artmuseum in Århus. An artwork by the Australian artist Ron Mueck. So scary and realistic.

Denmark docs #2

Tai tai like a Hammerhøi painting in Fåborg Færgehotel Restaurant.

The Denmark docs. #1

Prolog:

This is to be the start to the Denmark Documents.

A summer adventure through my homeland, which I have not visited during summer for 7 years.

Before we get to start, there will probably be a short Stockholm story and a London letter. Anyway, that'll just be an interlude before I begin the Denmark documents.

I wrote this prolog as I'd anticipated it to become, however, it was all just in my imagination. Everything went entirely different and I could or maybe should actually change the heading of the whole post to “Airport Poetry” or “rear mirror reflex ions from a tired traveller”.

So, because of this “going different entirely” there is not going to be any Stockholm Stories just now, and the London Letters will probably just be a fart of a note about a rush hour between terminal 3 and 5 and if we make it or not. Make what? Yeah, make what?

Make it to our connecting flight to Copenhagen off corse!

Scandinavia is famous for many things being in art, design and thinking and being one of them from birth I have a certain pride in being Scandinavian and also a certain respect for Scandinavian enterprises and companies as being good and have a certain standard. So weeks ago when I finally decided to take action and get going booking flights and some accommodation for this years summer vacation, so when the airline came up with a quotation for the trip we wanted to undertake - and a good one - I didn't hesitate to chose the Scandinavian Airways System as the carrier to bring us from our home in Hong Kong to Europa and my country of origin, Denmark.

Boldly spoken, that airline -SAS in short- was the first airline I'd ever heard of as a silly wee boy from a hamlet in the deep dark of Jutland - and this mainly because Denmark was the biggest kind of togetherness or enterprise I could fathom and therefore was the centre of everything I was taught by my parents, in the media and at school and about my roots and entire cultural heritage.

So, back then as the itinerary was planned and thought through with all our sidetracks and diversion -which in fact turned out to have an immense impact on the quite challenging 24 - 26 hours or journeys we have just ended- I did not have any worries booking a long haul flight with that airline as they -in my mind- would deliver a good product.

My tai tai on the other hand, as she is from the British Isles, are a firm believer in the services of British Airways and asked why I didn't choose them?

"They have the much better price!" was my answer. And they did. There were much money to save choosing the Scandinavians.

 

To be continued.