Articles with travelmongrel

BOKS BOUND TO GLORY

Before the main event today, New Zealand cruised past Wales in Tokyo to claim third place and the bronze medal. After that, all eyes were on Yokohama for the grand finale.

As an England supporter, you could look at the things that went wrong: the team bus arriving late, Sinckler getting knocked out straight after kick off, a very forward looking pass in the build-up to the first South African try.

But to be honest, that would not do the Springboks performance justice. They were monstrous in defence, particularly towards the end of the first half, when England could only register three points after an all-out assault on the try line.

Those three points were immediately cancelled out and more as South Africa registered two unanswered penalties to take a six point lead into the interval, putting them firmly in the driving seat.

They never really let England get into a groove in the second half and in the latter stages, South Africa expertly picked England off as they were forced into running the ball in search of a try.

The writing had already been on the wall at half-time, and although England threatened to get back into the match on occasion, they didn’t really deserve to.

So well done South Africa. You were worthy winners.

Last but not least, well done Japan. The tournament has been a great success, and hopefully will leave a legacy that propels the national team forward into even greater achievements in the future. Next up the Olympics!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the blog. There’ll be a lot more travel stuff coming soon so please keep checking back or alternatively give the Twitter or Facebook page a follow/like for updates on what’s new.

I’m off to climb a very high mountain in Nagano in a few hours, so this is me signing out from the Rugby World Cup 2019. It’s been emotional.

Bronze Final
Friday New Zealand 40-17 Wales (Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo)
Final
Saturday South Africa 32-12 England (International Stadium, Yokohama)

Expression of the day
以上です。(ijou desu)
Which means…
(That’s it.)

Previous Day


Wakayama

August 2015

Wakayama Prefecture is not high on the list of many traveller’s itinerary priorities in Japan; the city of Wakayama even less so. I certainly never intended to come, but I left my booking of a place to stay on my return from Taiwan until the last minute and all of the cheap accommodation in Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Himeji was booked out. Thankfully, there was a bed still available in Wakayama, about 40 minutes away from Kansai airport, so I eagerly snapped it up.

A young lady from the city working in Tokyo on her brief summer holiday came to chat to me on the train worried that I might be lost, when I was merely wondering why the train was so slow and kept stopping. Apparently, not many people used the connection any more. The limousine bus would have been much quicker. She told me about her work in Tokyo as an engineer to help stabilise buildings during disasters in surprisingly fluent English. She had worked in Singapore for a few years and was worried that she might be using ‘Singrish’. I couldn’t detect any.

This friendliness extended to the hostel where I stayed.There was a fun-loving bunch of Japanese and foreigners mingling at the big table in the common room when I arrived, many of whom had found themselves in the same predicament as me. The hostel itself was comfortable, albeit fairly basic and a little cramped. After ten, we had to move to the rooftop, so as not to disturb the other guests who were sleeping. It was fairly pleasant up there, but I soon headed on to investigate the surrounding area.

Arriving at night, the atmosphere of the town was reminiscent of Shizuoka. Not too big and not too many tourists, but still with a great hidden set of bars to be discovered for those with a sense of adventure and a smattering of Japanese. People were on their holidays, so most were fairly lively.

After a quick stop in the morning at the castle, whose employees rushed out to douse me with water after climbing up the hill, I continued my journey on to Kobe.

I would have happily stayed longer here. There was a good, relaxed atmosphere, most of the Kansai region attractions were within easy day trip reach and there also seemed to be a good selection of onsen close at hand, which an Australian pilot guest on leave seemed to be ticking off one by one, possibly to let off steam after a harrowing landing in Taiwan during a typhoon.