In September 2001 I was on a years working holiday visa in Australia and having not done much work, I stopped off in Bundaberg in Queensland to earn a few bob. The only reason any backpacker goes there is to do some farm work and so it was that I spent a couple of weeks working in the field (pun intended!) of snow-peas and sweet potatoes. The type of work that many say is “character building” was actually a really good laugh and it had to be as we worked terribly long days in the heat and earned very little for it!!

The saddest part was that all any of us backpackers talked about in the pub on Friday nights after a hard weeks work was blo*dy peas and potatoes!! Enough to put one off these veggies for life!!

     

However, last Wednesday I was kind of re-united with my ‘old friends’ when I visited Kawagoe (30 mins north of Tokyo) which is famous for its sweet potatoes and these have been used for every possible concoction including ice cream, coffee, beer and also udon (thick noodles) which I wanted to try but that particular restaurant was too busy.

Kawagoe is nicknamed ‘Little Edo’ (Edo is the former name of Tokyo) and is also known for its old warehouse style buildings which, along with the landmark ‘toki no kane’ (Clock Tower), are the main sights in the Kurazakuri Street area.

I had been to Kawagoe before so don’t think its that interesting but due to its close proximity to Tokyo and the sunny weather, it was quite nice to walk around the city in a leisurely fashion seeing the aforementioned buildings as well as a couple of temples and a so-called castle.