neillewisfoto

Nara - Todaiji Temple

2009-02-13T00:48:00.000-08:00

Yet another spell of good luck, Todaiji was closed. We still had a look around the area and took some pics. Out the back of no where Nara is home to Todaiji Temple, which houses Japans biggest Buddha. We didn't see it but I'm told its awesome.

In other news Hughsey bought himself an Ice cream and soon had a bunch of deer chasing him for some. Quite amusing.

We stopped by Wald on the way there to take some more pictures of their demo cars also.

Pictures -

Nara -

Hughsey running from Deer -

This will be one of my last posts from Japan I'm leaving Tuesday night next week! Has been fun but I have things and people to see back in Australia.

Meihan Sportsland Drift practice day tomorrow!!

Kobe!

2009-02-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

Went to Kobe to have a walk around, took our time saw alot more of the same stuff, city buildings and shops. Then we got down near the port/docks and wham something new, was kinda good to smell the sea again, salty air.

Pictures -

Hiroshima & the BOMB!

2009-02-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

So we headed to Hiroshima the place where the ww2 nuke was dropped, this place had a strange feel to it. smiles once people knew we were Australians but stares and weird looks up until then.

Here some pictures anyway, the mound has 70,000 ppl buried in it from the blast -

Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Ebisu, Yokohama, Sleep...

2009-02-09T16:50:00.001-08:00

Big day today, saw more of Shinjuku, walked Harajuku, Shibuya, Ebisu & went over to Yokohama. My legs didn't thank me for it...

Here's the Pics -

Shinjuku-

Harajuku -

Shibuya -

This is all the Homeless people living in boxes under the bridge in Shibuya, really sad sight -

Ebisu -

Yokohama -

Tokyo! The Hunt for Shinjuku...

2009-02-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

So we went to Tokyo. The busiest place I have ever been... Jumped on a Shinkansen (Bullet Train) from Shin-Osaka & made our way to Tokyo, 3.15mins of near on 300km/h train fun. Once we got there we got a massive smack in the face, so so many people in the biggest train station in Japan, and we had to navigate our way to Shinjuku (Worlds busiest intersection, as seen in Tokyo drift, haha) as our hotel was here. 3 hours in a subway isn't fun, especially when you have near on 20kg on your back (Camera gear & Laptop).

Heres some photos -

The subways special resident -

Shinjuku once we finally got there -

The intersection (this is at 11pm) -

Our choice of destination for a beer to end the night -

Kyoto - Kyomizudera Temple

2009-02-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Went back to Kyoto to try and find the Temple we had been searching for yet again. This time we found it!! Was a massive place, cant believe we couldn't find it.

I was kind of snap happy so I got lots of photos. Here they are -

They like their beer here too -

this was outside someones house...

Kyoto Pass & Adams New Car

2009-01-30T02:31:00.000-08:00

So Adam bought himself a car, 1999 Nissan C35 Laurel. Here's some pics -

Went to Kyoto today, walked around Nijo Jo & the Imperial Palace -

Enjoy!

Snow Boarding!

2009-01-25T03:22:00.000-08:00

Before I get to the awesome time I had snow boarding heres 2 random shots of my new Dildo gearknob & a big pile of cash!

Now the snowboarding!! It was soooooo much fun, I am really sore everywhere now (knee especially) but I loved it. First of all we were up at 5.15am to try and get there as early as we could. We met with one of Adams friends Haru at Hankyu Station Takatsuki-shi, jumped in the car and off we went to Shiba station to park the car and catch the bus up the mountain, here we have Haru & the view from the carpark -

Once at the top we found ourselves at the Biwako Valley Ropeway Station, basically this is where the cable cars left to head to the top.

This was my first time ever snowboarding & wow its hard... spent the first 30mins falling on my behind but all of a sudden it clicked, thanks to my incredible instructor Haru

After that basically spent the day practicing, falling over & generally having a great time -

Some interesting ones...

This is the snow ambulance -

Great wall of Vending machines outside the Ropeway Station -

Just a Quickie

2009-01-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

Only a small one this time... running out of things to photograph in our local area...

Here we have Shinsaibashi-suji at night time...

Looks absolutely awesome at night time, it was raining so that's all I got. I will be going back to get more when it isn't raining.

Next up is a pic of my breakfast for the day - mmm egg & cheese on toast.

Comparison between beer in Aus & beer in Japan... the 1L can only cost 300ish yen... You can buy Absolute vodka for like $18 Aud. Best place to drink ever!

Thats all folks!

Kyoto F A I L & Awesome discoveries!

2009-01-20T18:44:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was our second day out in the wilderness on our own, still haven't managed to get lost...

In conversation with alot of people back home we keep getting the comments along the lines of "Living the dream". Now I would like to start by saying I absolutely love this place, however I am still unsure I could work & live here for a year to a year & a half. This place is very intimidating to a westerner that can not speak Japanese. I have very basic Japanese now and it is invaluable, I can only imagine what it would be like to be fluent...

The local area we are currently staying in is very dense (population wise), as is nearly everywhere we have visited. It in parts reminds me of images of a 3rd world country, especially when rifing the train and looking out.

Here some pictures of the local streets to give you an idea of the scene in which we are staying, however a photo will NEVER capture the never ending chaos of it all -

This is Baller-ville Japland (they have their own garage of sorts and some form of front yard) -

On a lighter note, we have also had demands for more car pictures. Heres a cool van from our local area -

On our walk to the train yesterday we found ourselves outside of WALD the VIP experts of Japan, they have a shop 5 mins from us!?!?!

And a paparazzi shot of the Hottest R35 GTR I have seen EVER -

This thing had Carbon widebody that extended down as skirts then over the rear fender too. Soooo Hot!

After this revelation we moved onto the train to visit Kyoto, everything was closed, everything... We did however get to walk around the grounds of the imperial palace. Heres some shots -

Enjoy!!

Osaka Castle

2009-01-19T04:30:00.000-08:00

So today was Hughsey & I's first day alone...

Started with the breakfast of champions, Pancakes & Grape Fanta...

Then off to the Takatsuki Police Station to see if they had his Passport which he decided to loose the day before "aho" (dumb ass in japanese). To his dumb luck someone had handed it in, gotta love this place for that sorta thing!

Afterwards Osaka Castle was the detination for the day, this place was awesome, been there since the 1600's, crazy!!

Some pics -

Temple & surrounding things -

These are the grounds men working away... never seen anything like it before -

Oh and also spotted Peta Solberg at the local department store...

Japan '09

2009-01-17T03:28:00.000-08:00

So my first entry from Japan...

This place is insane! So busy and so different to Australia...

Well it all started with the plane flight & that was a flight of ups & downs emotion wise, first nervous as all hell not sure why I was leaving, to excited, to impartial, to wanting to turn around and go home.

Once here we went straight home dropped off our bags & went to the local bar. Was good fun met some more Aussies & an American... The next morning we woke up and decided to go for a ride & head to Osaka for the day. While visiting Car Field Rize so Adam could pay for his car.

This was the first cool car we saw, Yaris VIP'd...

And Car Field Rize -

Next up was Osaka, This place is C R A Z Y!! people everywhere!

And one from my balcony -

Enjoy, more to come!

Have a Archy Xmas!

2008-12-22T03:21:00.000-08:00

So archy drift decided to have a Xmas party drift style... Was a fun day with much talking happening and not alot of photo taking.

heres a selection of what I got -

This could very well be my last entry from an Australia event, heading to Japan on January 16th. I look forward to getting photos from events over there!

Driftstate Final Round

2008-12-19T01:24:00.001-08:00

So driftstate was on the weekend & I went along to take some photos. Was actually alot better then I had anticipated...

Heres a few that I got -

The rest here -

http://www.forums.secretdrift.com.au/index.php?showtopic=23697&st=0&start=0

Neil

Coast Trip #2

2008-12-01T04:15:00.000-08:00

Went down to the EFA awards night on the weekend with my Gf Ashleigh.

Decicded to detour on our way home through Springbrook & Natural Bridge, Glad I did! Was an amazing place! Heres some of my photos from Natural Bridge -

and one of the Howard family Cat, Mr Bigglesworth -

Neil

2008-11-25T03:38:00.000-08:00

Well the car looks to be sold! Getting picked next week hopefully!

Will be sad to see it go, but its for the better!

Neil

2008-11-24T04:16:00.000-08:00

So Stadium Drift was on the weekend and the event went well, fairly quiet though as Schoolies was on...

The rest here - www.forums.secretdrift.com.au/index.php?showtopic=23325

Neil

2008-11-16T05:39:00.000-08:00

Heres some of my 'other' stuff...

Neil

2008-11-16T03:31:00.000-08:00

Heres a few photos from the Think Pink Drift charity day on the 2/11/2008 -

Was a great day out & got very close to the action. Loved using my 10-20mm wide angle and standing on the apex of the turn for a few of the shots.

Neil

2008-11-16T03:17:00.000-08:00

Well this is my first entry. Ill be showing a lot of my photos and updates of what I get up to on my travels.

The main focus of this blog will be automotive photography but ill throw in some other stuff too!

Neil