Day 9: Running

8th July 2007

9 days in and last night was the best sleep of the trip so far. All this running about is finally taking its toll on me, oh well, least I got a good nights rest. Not too sure about how my roomie is going, wonder if my snoring has kept him up or not? It definitely paid off to get the larger room, especially coming from the smaller cubicle-esque 'hotel rooms' we stayed in Kyoto and Osaka. They're not wrong about being of a 'westernised' influence. We did our washing last night, which should hopefully suffice for the remainder of the trip. Especially seeing we plan to buy some extra items in Tokyo. The only thing that would have made the sleep better would have been if it WEREN'T AN INTERRUPTED SLEEP! As previously mentioned our washing hadn't dried after two shots in the drier. Seeing that, we split our wet load into two batches and fired them each up for 2 hours. So at 2 am our alarm clock goes off. Theoretically we could have woken up early and retrieved our laundry in the morning, but we didn't trust people and didn't want to inconvenience any late night patrons that may have wanted to use the facilities. Oh I hate foreign alarm clocks. Not foreign as in international, but foreign as in not being used to the alarm tone. Stark. Abrupt. Loud. We trudged downstairs. %#*&$!! The drier was still going! Set on the option "cd" which stood for cold dry. Why! So there we sat, at 2 am, half asleep, waiting for the perpetual droning of the drier to cease. 10 minutes later, highly irate it finished. Back up stairs we went and back into the deep slumber that was the best sleep of the trip...

7:00 am: Rise and shine! Oh I needed so much more sleep, I'm not a morning person. If you want grumpy, not interested in conversation, uninterested then well, that's me. Yet surprisingly I was feeling rejuvenated and we had fresh clothes! Minimal shrinkage (the clothes) and we were on our way to soak in some of the sights of Takayama. Packed our bags and left the hotel for Miyagawa Markets. Our plan was to be back at Takayama station to catch the 9:42 train to Nagoya.

Miyagawa was a short walk from where our hotel was located, the streets were very quiet at that hour. Takayama has a very ancient secluded feel to it, if you can put aside the tourists it's a nice enchanting little town. Morning markets weren't anything special, plenty of fresh food and little trinkets. We bought a couple of souvenirs and sampled some snacks. Beef on a stick, oh mouth watering succulent goodness and some traditional rice crackers.

We left the markets and strolled around the traditional houses, at 8:30 we start to head back to the hotel, at this point in time the TIC is open, we duck in to find something to do from now until 9:30 when we should check out of the hotel. Lady recommends the Hida Folk Village. Heck why not! Realising we were short on time we decide to not bother with the bus and catch a cab out there. Darn 10 minute cab ride, that means we should leave this place at no later than 9:15 to get a cab.


It was definitely worth it. AMAZING! Old Sydney Town but, Japan! We had gotten there so early that the place was practically empty. Winding forest trails, small houses, props, huge lake, waterfalls, water mills. Unfortunately our photos don't quite reflect the breathlessness of the whole place. Admittedly we were only halfway through it and it was already 9:05. We rushed around the rest of the village and emerged 10 minutes later at 9:15. Shit no cabs. We we're going to miss the train, although we we rent terribly fussed because it was definitely worth it.



"If it's a 10 minute ride, it's probably no more than 3 kms." We (or possibly I argued) Psssht We ran half marathons we 'were' (were being the operative word) doing at least 6 minute kilometres. We can run back. So we ran! We stripped off our shirts off and began running through the streets of Takayama at 9 in the morning. Undoubtedly we got curious looks from passing cars and pedestrians, but we didn't care, we needed to catch the train (else wait another 2 hours) , check out at 10. During this moment of madness I thought to myself "this is like the amazing race"... I managed to lead us astray and take a wrong turn (what's new?) delaying us by another 10 minutes. My bad. We got back to the hotel at 9:35. Stepped into the foyer half naked all sweaty. patrons looking at us. Grabbed our luggage and checked out of the hotel. Ran across the road. Thank goodness we were across the road from the station. and jumped on the train waiting at the platform. Nagoya! Here we come...

5:05. Currently on a Shinkansen from Nagyoa to our next destination Odewera. A lot has happened since my last update. We reached Nagoya at around lunch time. Apparently it's the 3rd largest city in Japan, the main station was packed! As we ventured closer toward Tokyo the population seemed to increase. Nagoya station, like most stations had a Shopping complex built into it, huge departmental stores with all the prestige international brands. LV, Gucci, Prada, Armani, the list goes on. In a train station! Was tempted to do some shopping (not at the fore mentioned shops) but I resisted the urge and left it for our final destination.

We had again picked the wrong time to have lunch, each restaurant was crowded, lines extending around corners again we settled for Vie De France and feasted on bread. We dumped out luggage into the locker at Nagoya, actually we had a problem trying to find two full sized lockers and we eventually stuffed the backpack into a medium sized locker. TIC again were very helpful, they gave us English maps and some recommendations for the Sumo tournament.

When we finally got to Nagoya Gymnasium we were initially quoted ¥10300 and we agreed until we realised that was 100 bucks per person for an event we were destined to stay no longer than 2 hours for. On second thoughts, maybe not. All the other tickets were sold out. We had managed to coincide our Nagoya sumo experience with the first day of the National Tournament. We came all this way.... what to do... suck it up? We asked around and eventually found a private booth selling tickets for a split box for ¥47,000.

We were escorted into the Gymnasium, it was still early so the under cards were fighting, the main event was scheduled to start at around 6 pm. We weren't planning on staying that long. One word. Cramped. The 'box' was approximately a 1.5 x 1.5 m square with four 50 cm mats one for each person. We had a delightful old couple next to us. Not delightfully old but old and delightful.The husband (I'm assuming) must have been the biggest die hard sumo fan while the wife (not as interested) sat behind him. They must have been spending a nice Sunday arvo noon out. We tried to communicate with them, they spoke Japanese we spoke English. Plenty of smiling and nervous laughing, our phrase book was of no use. Left the Gym grabbed a Bento Box (nothing special) from Nagoya station and now were off to find Hakone!

7:50 pm: Things haven't panned out so well. As I write this were currently on a train heading towards Shinjuku (Toyko!). We purchased tickets (not covered by JR pass) at Odawera station to Kowakidani. Again we missed our stop, we should really stop having so much faith in believing that one train will take us to our final destination. So we headed, involuntarily back to Odawera station. This is where things got a little hairy. It was getting late already, so we had no choice of querying a TIC so we had taken a photo of the Rakuten map for B&B Pansion. We were trying to figure out how close it was from Kowakidani Station. Lighten from the train back at Odawera. Uh oh! The camera was still on the train, which was now bound for Tokyo. Ran up to the ticketing booth to try to explain to them our situation, we were then directed to the 'Lost and Found' area. Dialogue that followed went something like this:

"Hi, I've lost my camera. I left it on the train just then"
"Camera, lost"
"Camera *does hand gesture* lost on train *does more hand gestures*"
"My Camera. On train. Me. No Camera"
"Camera, on train to Shinjuku"

There were more hand gestures and frantic hand waving. Oh it sucks not being able to speak the language. Our predicament could have been solved within seconds. Thankfully the situation was explained, he took the camera details, the train carriage and handled the situation very professionally. What a nice/helpful guy. Trains run on time and the staff are friendly, what a magical city. If this were Sydney we could have kissed that camera goodbye! We were told to come back at 7:34. Bingo! The camera was retrieved at a station and we were ordered to that station. The guy then wrote don't the station name 'Shimatsuba' turns out there is no station by that name but we got off at the stop that most closely resembled it. Our B&B check-in time of 8:00 has been missed.

The train ride to Kowakidani was a see-sawing affair. Train rocked backwards and forwards up the mountain. It was painful as we didn't know what was going on. Finally got to the station and it was pitch black. No shop fronts. No lights. No cabs. The station was situated in the middle of a hill. We had two options, go up the hill or go down it. If we wanted winging coming to Japan, this was it. The map on the camera we would soon find out would prove of no value. Using the logic that, if we go up the hill and it's the wrong direction the journey back won't be so bad going downhill. Up the hill we pushed. We we're lost. I ran up ahead to a well lit area to see if it was the hotel. No dice, a cemetery, strange. Lugging my blasted suitcase up a hill in the middle of the night with cars screaming around the bend was something of a character building exercise, yes, that's it, character building. We asked probably up to 5 people where the B&B Pansion was. 40 minutes later and after a terrible amount of backtracking we had arrived. Walked through parking lots, gone up stairs, walked through dark narrow pathways it was like finding a treasure. We had arrived! This place is the worst. It's a glorified hostel. Noisy, basic beds, beanbag pillows and a shared bathroom.We were definitely off to a bad start with Hakone.

We had arrived, we were down on energy and enthusiasm but definitely glad to have found this place. What a LONG day. I feel bashed and can't wait to sleep. We unpacked and began to wonder why we had taken two nights accommodation in this hole. The up side of the B&B was that it had a private bath house. Tonight would be my first public bath experience.

The main onsen etiquette are as follows:

• You must be naked
• You must not use any un-turnovered pails
• You must enter the water without making any disturbances to the water

The place reminded me of the Street Fighter Stage where you fight E Honda in Japan. The change area was wooden with bamboo crates to put your personal belongings. Inside the actual bath house was primarily made of white ceramic tiles, in the centre was a large shallow pool of steaming hot water. The high ceiling collected steam as precipitation soaked down the walls. There was a small water feature that muffled the deadly silence which would have driven me crazy. Awkwardness at first to strip down naked, but hey the place was filled with unabashed elderly men that had gotten into their baby suits with no hesitation. What was endured was one of the most thorough washes I've ever had in my life. I sat on the wooden stool and threw water over my shoulders and I scrubbed myself clean down to the bones. 20 minutes in the public baths and I was beyond relaxed and ready for sleep. I emerged from the water pruney and took another quick rinse. Be gone dirt!

11:41 pm: Watching the Federer verses Nadal 2007 Wimbledon final. Most probably not going to be able to stay up and watch the whole match. I feel so clean.

Day 8: Saw us coming...

7th July 2007

4:55 pm: Stranded, well not so much stranded but our travels have definitely halted. The Japan trip travels have taken a mild hiccup. I wrote this post whilst being stuck at Inotani Station. Up until now most of our impromptu traveling has gone quite smoothly. We should have known the minute we boarded the train. It wasn't technically even a train! More of a small 2 carriage transportation which actually in my opinion resembled more of a tram. So here we are. In the sticks. Whoop-Whoop. Nothingness. The station is literally in the middle of nowhere. Single platform station with a single track that goes back and forth. The train tracks run in between two constructs. The first is the train platform and the second is a poor excuse for a bus depot. When I say bus depot what I actually mean is an old shanty, doorless shelter that houses a couple of books, customary vending machines, old sun worn benches. Oh and I forgot to mention that there's Japan's Most wanted criminal posters plastered everywhere. Very unsettling. Currently waiting for an interconnecting bus to the next station where we're planning to board another train to Takayama. This better be worth it.

The day started with out final breakfast at New Osaka Hotel. Today we had scheduled a Kanazawa/Takayama day drip. The day hasn't gone to script. Catching the JR line to Kanazawa was quite simple. What we thought would be a simple trip from Kanazawa to Takayama wasn't the simple train journey we had fore casted. 5 hours of travel time. BIG SIGH.

The TIC lady gave us a thorough detail of things to to in Kanazawa. Unfortunately due to time constraints we needed to get to Takayama by nightfall. That left us with exactly 1 hour to explore Kanazawa. We called this part of the trip "rapid fire K" or Kanazawa in a nutshell. The main attraction was Kenronken Gardens supposedly one of the top 3 gardens in japan. Meh, nothing glamorous, top 3, really? This led to more inane photo commentary.




73 photos remaining, better transfer some over to the Gigabeat tonight. We were in and out of Kanazawa quite quickly and boarded the first train we could find at 1:00 pm. Proceeded to catch the first train we could find to Takayama. The train was PACKED! School kids everywhere. I felt like the biggest inconvenience to the other commuters. My luggage took up so much standing space and I was constantly having to shift and move my luggage for passengers. Train ride was through some beautiful Japanese backdrops. I alone only shared these sentiments as everybody else on the train probably passed these settings day in and day out. What we thought was a direct train to Takayama wasn't to be, a one of the train staff at Inotani station went through the carriages and informed us that this train was heading back to where we had just come from. So we got off. Here we are in Inotani waiting for the bus. 5:05, ten minutes left. I accidental left my umbrella back at Osaka, just hope it doesn't rain. Least my Gigabeat is charging.

Right before the bus was due to arrive a busload of European tourists got off. At least we were heading in the right direction, the tourists knew what they were doing. The bus arrived and we jumped on. I slept majority of the bus trip, but what i did see was amazing. Beautiful Japanese country side. I'm pretty sure we still had to catch another train before we got to Takayama. Arrived at Takayama just before sunset and proceeded to look for overnight accommodation. As usual we referred to the LP for advice. It recommended Richshaw Inn, a Ryokan nearby the station. Took a while to find the joint infuriatingly it was booked out. We had failed to take the advice of "book well in advance". Dammit! It looked so nice as well. Ended up resorting to Country Hotel which was very nice, we opted for the larger room for an extra 25 bucks a night. It was made even bigger because the room we were given was fitted with the emergency escape crane gizmo. After settling in we ducked downstairs for dinner and grabbed some Hide beef. Very delish!

11:35 pm: Finally in hotel. We're waiting for clothing to dry downstairs, second session of drying. Hotel has laundrette so we stuffed all our dirty clothes into the washer. Still damp after one drier run. Finally booked Tokyo accommodation (so we thought) staying at a place called the Kent. Takayama has been pretty disappointing so far. Although the train ride was awe inspiring! I'm over blogging for today...

Day 7: Himeji

6th July 2007

Yesterday was my second terrible sleep in this bed. Imagine that, two inaedquate sleeps, I blame one thing, the bed! There's something about this New Comfort Hotel that prevents me from getting a good night's sleep. It could be the inconsistent air conditioning that abruptly stops halfway through the evening throwing my body temperature out of whack. Or it could be that bar fridge next to the bed making all that noise. Or the perpetual noise of the toilet. Who knows, let's just blame it on bed bugs. Our next destination on our whirlwind tour of Japan was Himeji. So far the JR pass has served us very well, well worth the $470 investment.


9:00 am: Ko-en Gardens was our first stop, we purchased the Ko-en Garden and Himeji Castle admission combo. The gardens and castle were about a 20 minute walk from the Himeji JR station. Japanese gardens have been quite impressive and this one was no different. Simple water features and plenty of green. This was also the first time we brought out the notepad and permanent marker combo. It would provide running commentary for the photographs in the rest of the trip.

Walked over to Himeji Castle. "If you only see one castle in japan make it this one" sound advice from the Lonely Planet. We got there early and had already walked through the main gates when we were lucky enough to get a Volunteer tour guide. After 7 days we had our first tour! Her name was Yoshiko Nakamura. We would later find out that she had given the exact tour to some very distinguished guests. With the likes of Bill Clinton and Anita Keating being in former tour groups. She was quite simply an amazing lady with a passion for Japanese History, in Particular Himeji Castle. Enthusiasm and love for her job made it a very enjoyable and comprehensive tour. We bumped into other tourists from the States and (saw them overhearing some Himeji Castle history) we invited them to tag along in our group.

On the way back from Himeji we made an attempt to swing by Kobe for some Kobe beef. No Beef.

The evening was spent walking around Amerika Mura, plenty of people around, pretty mediocre actually. We got very lost around here and often joked about have a GPS tracking system plotting our routes. We passed Tokyu Hands a number of times and got officially lost, being unable to match up our walking with the map. As usual we were getting sick of walking and wanted to eat. We passed numerous dessert areas. Finally settled on a noodle joint, No pictures. No English. After a few chuckles we managed to order some ramen. Also did some shopping, bought some ipods from the Apple store. Still no Yube!

That night we hopped on the computers in the New Osaka and spent some time trying to find Hakone accommodation. The strayed from Asiarooms and booked through Rakuten. That would be our second mistake, our first mistake would be Hakone. Since we had no way of finding out where to get there we snapped a photo from the website of our reservation. B&B Pansion. We actually thought it was Passion.

Day 6: Take the first left after MOS Burger.

5th July 2007

Laundry! Hallelujah! I quickly assembled my dirty clothing and stuffed it into the laundry bag. I was down to my last shirt. Thankfully the weather had cooled dramatically since arriving in Osaka, a pleasant 25 degrees (or thereabouts). Since my 'walking shoes' were soaked from yesterday's trip I was forced into my Jack Purcell. My poor feet. Breakfast was provided at this place, I'm still no totally used to having meat other than bacon (I know, could I have picked a lighter meat?) for breakfast. Considering that I've been on a Weetbix diet for majority of my life eating salted salmon and fried noodles for breakfast was a tad on the heavy side. I dumped my laundry off at the counter and we were off to get a train to Nara.

Shin Osaka station was playing some mean tricks on us. I didn't bring it up in the previous post because we were new there, ironically we were still getting lost. This brought up a suggestion that the station was "dynamic" and kept "morphing" on us. Either way, we were not at all becoming familiar with Shin Osaka Station. We got to the platform and after much debate realised we had just missed the train to Nara, 40 minutes till the next train. Frick! Thankfully we had come early enough to be waiting on the platform to indulge ourselves in Osaka eye candy (ie, the female Japanese Population). Big two thumbs up there! My partner aka Barfmaster aka high standards also agreed.

Getting off at Nara JR we navigated ourselves to the TIC to get insight on the sights of Nara. Our first stop was however a work colleague suggestion of Korean food. We didn't have the name nor the address to the place. Our only information was:

1. Walk down the main street, you will pass Hotel Fujita Nara.
   
2. Keep walking until you see a MOS burger.
3. Take the first left after MOS Burger and the restaurant will be there.

3 easy steps, we were ready to go, like a pirates with a treasure map. Hotel Fujita Nara, sweet we were in the right direction. MOS burger! First left and it should be right here. We initially passed it and walked probably 100 metres before one of us suggested we had "gone too far". Take 2, back to MOS, first left. The five minute conversation that took place outside the restaurant had dialogue similar to this "Is this it? That doesn't look Korean. Maybe it closed down. F*** it, let's just eat here". Thankfully we had found it. I grabbed some Bim Bi Baeb, was tasty, not worth the travel around the world but hey! At least we can say we ate Korean food in Japan. For future reference the place is called Mikakutei Sayaka.

First stop after lunch time was Todai-ji temple, stacks of school kids, and international tourists. The temple housed a huge Buddha inside. w00t!

Spent a reasonable amount of time trying to find some garden, no dice. We couldn't not find this garden, "The map says it should be right here!". Last stop was Kasuga Taisha another world heritage site. Nice, huge gardens, nothing spectacular but very pleasant. Again I reiterate my point of it being SO much better in another season of the year.

3:00 pm Nara was done, checked off the main tourist sights and found the Korean restaurant. Home time (home being Osaka). We walked down from Kasuga Taisha and popped into a delightful Okinimiyaki joint. The lady seated us in front of a dark, well-used hot plate, the lady took our orders and proceeded to fire up the grill. Oh baby, hands on action! Oh so tasty! The food was great! I would recommend people to come here and eat. Although given that Ive only indulged myself twice in this Japanese specialty I'm probably not the most experienced person to be making these cries of kudos.

6:00 pm: Got back to the hotel had a quick shower and soon we were off to check out one of Osaka's hot spots. Dotombori! Following the map we hit the main strip of Dotombori. Quite simple amazing, Neon lights, amazingly gorgeous women and heaps of people! We stood in awe, mouths open, senses overload. Welcome to Japan!Once again we were given more eating location instructions, this time they we rent so comprehensive. "If you see a giant crab on the main street, take a left and there's an all you can eat sushi joint for around 8 bucks". Sweet! There was one problem, Osaka had a MILLION (Ok, maybe 3) giant crabs!

Osaka, 5th of July 2007. I had to make note of this day, for this is the time and place I found my internal "Happy Place". The concept works as follows, it's the place or time where youve experience a heighten state of happiness. Ok that's lame, but it's supposed to be the mental state achieved when you think about a moment in time when you want to detach oneself from the unpleasant or uncomfortble.

The factors so possibly simple yet together made me forget about everything negative in the world and in my life. Call me simple, call me naive heck, call me a hopeless romantic. But for those 5 minutes it was perfect. This particular moment rates as one of the top highlights of the trip. Let me set the scenario. Still stunned by the aura that was Dotombori we had failed to find the all you can eat sushi. Even though we had snacked rather late in the afternoon we were starting to get hungry. We passed a heavily populate ramen store but it was too crowded, we took to the adjacent store which had the vending machine style ordering system. Pick a number, pay, receive a ticket, show ticket to restaurant staff and take a seat. Simple.

The restaurant was small, capable of seating more than 10 people at any given time. Each member greeted us in unison, we took our seats at the bar facing the kitchen area. Very cosy. Oh it felt so good to get off our feet. Tucking our bags under the bar we sat there. To our left were a couple of locals tucking into steaming bowls of ramen, to the right the crowded main strip of Dotombori. In front of us the chef hurried to make our meal, we could see every action, he boiled the noodles, added the spices and sauces, ladled the broth, fried rice, garnished all in front of us. It was so methodical for him yet he made it look like an art.

He passed us two hot bowls of ramen over the counter and wished us to enjoy our meal. It looked as good as it tasted. Then the icing on the cake, just after I had started my meal the restaurant started to play one of my old time favourite songs. Bobby McFerrin's, "Dont Worry, Be Happy" played. I immediately stopped eating and absorbed in that moment. It was so ideal, so appropriate, so perfect, so good! It was my new happy place. Great food, great location, great music and great company. That was it, all my senses, thoughts, emotions satisfied in one moment in time.

It would also be the night that we would run into some interesting characters. Bridge boys was the moniker we had aptly chosen. The reason was simple, bunch of boys hanging out on the bridges of Dotombori. We would later see them in Tokyo but what their activities were eluded us the entire trip.

Day 5: These shoes weren't made for walking

4th July 2007 (My first day of keeping a log book of the daily Activities)

7:30 am: The plan was to have breakfast and catch a tram back to the Hiroshima JR station and head to Miyajima. Mother nature had other plans, we emerged from Comfort Hotel to be greeted by heavy rain. Still lugging my suitcase which by now had become a burden (if only I had a backpack) I was not at all looking forward to getting onto a crowded tram. The tram stop was literally across the road. It was too far too be carrying luggage over in torrential rain. Several trams passed us, each looking extremely overcrowded with people commuting to work. We boycotted our initial plan to grab the tram and jumped in the first cab of many lined up outside our hotel. The trip wasn't too long, nor was it too heavy on the wallet.

Our plan was to dump our luggage into the ¥600 lockers at Hiroshima Station and prepared ourselves for a day trip to the floating Torii, Miyajima. The train ride wasn't particularly long and we were soon at the station. The rain was still coming down so we each invested in a ¥450 umbrella. This was by far the worse day yet for sightseeing. The weather was absolutely miserable, there was a minor temperature drop and the heavens had opened up. A quick stroll across the road to the Ferry port and we caught a ferry to Miyajima Island. Thankfully the JR pass covered this ferry ride. The ride felt so surreal once the port was out of sight it felt like we were moving back into a primitive time. The rain must have kept away majority of the tourists as the ferry trip over was empty (much to my approval).

Rain was lightly spitting down as the ferry teared through the calm, foggy sea. Soon enough we approached the mountainous island. Steam rose from the dense forests and it felt so pure and untouched as we came closer. Through the fog stood a bright orange Torii, the loudspeaker on the boat confirmed that it was the famous Itsukushima Torri. People were rushing to the sides of the boat trying to get a snap of the famous landmark (I, one of them).

We grabbed a Momiji Manju which was a toasted maple leave shaped biscuit with red bean filling inside and walked along the shore to the temple. Deers! They were everywhere, un-phased by humans they went about searching for food or somewhere to sleep. Lonely Planet claims to watch out for these Deers in particular after multiple cases of deers eating JR passes. No deer was going to ingest my JR pass. Not on my watch. The temple was lovely, bold orange structs, wooden passage ways while rain fell around it. Such a perfect atmosphere. The main hall was conducting some ceremony which we suspect was a traditional wedding. Music filled the hallways with peaceful song. Definitely a nice place to bring a chick, it reminded me in a way of my year 8 trip to Old Sydney Town. Wet, miserable yet still providing a view of what life would have been back in the day. Snapping some scenic shots and soaking (literally) in the atmosphere we were on our merry way.

We had only been on our feet for no longer than 2 hours and my feet were completely drenched. It didn't help that I had planted my foot into a puddle completely submerging my foot. Wet socks, could anything be worse. Squish, squish, squish. Grabbed some local lunch, Chicken Karage. Headed to another temple, Daishoin. Starting to see a trend with the Temples and Shrines, they all each had similiar moulds but had their own redeeming trait. The plus side of this was we were able to go upstairs to the top of one of the shrines. Majority of all the previous areas had cordoned off the upper sections. The wet weather had taken its toll on the Lonely Planet as well, pages were creased and half of it was soaked. What a sorry sight. As if you wouldn't make Lonely Planet more durable, at least water proof!

Soaked to the bone, physically drained and quite over the wet weather but despite all of it Miyajima was such a nice side trip. Hopping back on a train we headed back to Hiroshima station to retrieve the main luggage. I immediately changed out of my wet shoes into the more airy thongs that is Havaianas. I threw out my damp socks and left my now white feet to air. Oh sweet mother of... air, my feet, so good. We jumped on a train and were on our way to Osaka.

Osaka was more of a impromptu destination, our initial plans did not have Osaka pencilled in for overnight stay. Thanks to the wonders of the internet we made bookings at a place called New Osaka Hotel. The destination was Shin Osaka station (we would later find out we were in the middle of nowhere). New Osaka is conveniently situated next to the station and it wasn't very difficult to find our lodging. We walked in and were greeted by warmth, why was this blasted foyer so hot? Hotter than the outside temperature! Argh, those maniacs. It would also be the first time we would have separate rooms, we unpacked and explored Osaka downtown, Umeda.

Rest of the evening we just walked about exploring what Umeda had to offer. Still no Yube, was this some wild goosechase my sister had sent me on? I just want to buy some cream! Osaka is what we more expected a major Japanese city to look like. Bright lights, large shopping distrcits and people running around. We stopped by the Umeda Sky Building. The top level was closed due to high winds so we only made it as far as the observatory level. View was quite impressive, the building was only semi-impressive. People had left many messages and attached them to the trees. Shamelessly we also left messages, unfortunately they were supposed to be wishes. Such as "Peace and Prosperity on Earth" etc. Due to our under assessment of the situation we (embarrassingly) had left mini Getaway sentiments "Japan Rocks!". Had some McDonalds for a late night snack, they're right, even Mickey Ds tastes better in Japan. I'm over day 5, at least I can walk around my room naked ...

Day 4: Hiroshima, Hair cuto!

3rd July 2007

Up until now these days were moving oh so incredibly slow. We had managed to cover a majority of Kyoto's attractions in such a short space of time. As it was the last day for us in Kyoto we woke early and organised our luggage and headed to our final destination. Nijo Castle. According to Lonely Planet the gates opened at 9am. We arrived shortly after 8:30 and decided to grab some breakfast since we lucked out with the hotel. Checking on the admission price my travel buddy noticed a sign. "Nijo Castle is closed on every Tuesday in December, January, July and August. If Tuesday is a National Holiday, we will close on the next day, Wednesday". The Castle saw us coming. It was July and it was Tuesday. Lonely Planet confirmed that we had in fact been foiled by the Castle. Thankfully being engineers we had a contingency plan. Nishiki Markets! We arrived much too early. Shop fronts were still opening with majority of them still closed. Nothing special, plenty of food products, preserves and sweets.



Not too long after we were on another train heading towards the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The Tourist Information Centre (TIC) provided us with a tourist's guide for the city and directions to our hotel. Tram was the primary mode of transport and we were immediately being whisked to out next sojourn. Like the previous hotel check in was mid afternoon. Given this opportunity we dropped our luggage off and headed into town to explore the city with the notorious history.



I'll try to keep the activities of our half day in Hiroshima brief. The riverbank was the main location for most of Hiroshima's historic sites are located.The A-bomb Dome which in the books of history is the location where the First Atomic bomb was detonated 600 metres above. Other memorable sites along the river included the Centograph, Peace Bell, the clock tower, Children's Peace Memorial inspired by Sadako and stalls full of cranes.



Final destination was the Peace Memorial Museum. We spent almost 2 hours here. Quite simply this part of the trip was the most awe inspiring. I was left feeling a combination of humility and embarrassment. It felt like walking into a capsule and seeing the monstrosities and devastation that was the nuclear bomb. Spine tingling, eye opening experience especially for somebody like me with little prior knowledge of the event. Definitely a must. At the end of the museum there's a chance for participants to leave a note to be filed into the archives. Seeing notes of hope and inspiration left by hundreds of thousands of people (if not millions) from different locations and creeds was definitely heartwarming. The ones I could read (English) shared the same sentiments of grief and enlightenment after being awoken from a slumber of ignorance.

In retrospect there's was a particular feel to the city. Without sounding all sappy there was a romantic feel, a resounding calm most probably created by the atrocities of the past. Definite feeling of resolve and unity. Weather that was imposed on me after learning the events that took place or that is instilled with the people at the city I'm not sure. Headed back to the hotel and finally checked in. The walk from Comfort Hotel into town is short and very convenient. For dinner we had Okonomiyaki at small joint enjoyed with some Sapporo brew.



After dinner we walked through the streets or Hiroshima, the area was covered so it was a semi-indoor/outdoor area. I was still searching for that Yube cream for my sister. Again no luck. Does this blasted cream even exist? We wanted to find a hairdresser as we were donning 6-8 week haircuts. Our guide had recommended a place called Replay Haircut. We spent a good 30 minutes searching through the streets for this place. Eventually we stumbled upon another hair place. Not Replay but we walked in. We attempted to explain to the lady at the desk that we needed a haircut. We received more sign language in the form of her forearms being folded mid air to make a large cross. A large cross? That meant no. No, were closing? No, we cant cut your hair? Either way we left this place and continued our journey for Replay hair cut.

We found Replay and the service was exquisite. Rather largish studio with one main hairdresser and 3 assistants. As usual they greeted us warmly as we entered. After an awkward introduction we explained that we needed a haircut. But not any haircut, we wanted Japanese hair styles. Despite having to fork out 45 bucks or so I can tell you the experience is something I could quite easily get accustomed to. The overall procedure took close to an hour, this included hair washes and head massages, basic cut, more washes and the final touch up with a nice shoulder and neck massage. Being a barber type person refusing to pay no more than 10 bucks a haircut I was definitely surprised at the experience that was a proper haircut. We left the place sporting new Japanese hair dos. We would be able to blend into the Japan crowd without looking out of place. The only problem is that we didn't speak a lick of Japanese...

Day 3: Path of Philosophy

2nd July 2007

Another early start. Our schedule for today was to knock off and complete the right hand side of Kyoto. First stop was Ginkakuji aka Temple of the Silver Pavilion. Yesterday's excursion to the Golden Pavilion had our hopes up for its Silver Cousin. Unfortunately at some point in time while being built the plans for it to be coated in silver were abandoned and like that it was converted to a Buddhist temple. Talk about lacklustre performance! Nonetheless this compound also managed to get UNESCO stamp of approval for World Heritage Listing. These UNESCO guys go willy nilly with their approvals. The surrounding gardens were very decent. In fact they were "tranquil, serene and awesome" as so aptly put by my travel partner.


The walk we had prescribed for ourselves was called "Along the Old Canal". Despite reading forums and reviews on the "not so spectacular" Path of Philosophy we still decided to take it. It was a leisurely stroll. Worn and definitely more traveled path that meandered along a quiet stream that gushed along at a steady pace. There was a romantic feel to walking along the path, dodging low hanging branches we ducked into the neighbouring Honen-in Temple (by pure accident). Our next stop was the Nanzenji Temple, where would we be without our trusty map? It was at this point in time we were beginning to realise that these tourist maps were grossly not to scale. Half way through we managed to get lost.

Nanzenji Temple houses one of Japan's more famous Rock Gardens. The garden although fairly basic and probably simple to reproduce was extremely calming. We sat along the edge of the feet dangling over the edge and let the garden absorb us. We left the temple to grab some tucker and it was then we stumbled upon our first Ramen Noodle house.

"Arashaimusu!" the workers chimed in unison as we entered. It would only be much (much) later in the trip we would come to realise what that meant. It was a neo-urban style restaurant with modern decor, faint Jazz background music, young enthusiastic staff and a menu with pictures! After lunch we headed to the Heian Shrine and walked down to the Yasaka Shrine (What was notable about these places I don't remember). It was almost 3:00 pm as we Walked up towards the Ryozen Kannon and grabbed some dessert outside the Kodaiji Temple.

We walked through the Higashiyama district along Nienzaka and Sannenzaka Slopes passing numerous street venders. Taking this path we also passed the Yasaka Pagoda and eventually reached our last stop before dinner. This was the place I was recommended to visit and the place I was looking forward to the most in Kyoto. Kiyomizudera also known as the Pure Water Temple. People from around the world, around Japan, around Kyoto were here talking photographs and soaking in the more celebrated UNESCO Heritage Site listings.

The temple consists of a huge wooden balcony that overhangs over the hills of Kyoto. The view was stunning even though all we got was mostly overcast mountain views. At the bottom of the temple there is spring which is funneled into three streams of water. Apparently drinking from this spring has therapeutic powers. As lame as this sounds I can't help myself from being a sucker for novelty. We each granted ourselves with the mystical water and almost instantly (through the power of placebo) we energised and ready to power on. Up and atom!

As mentioned we dined in Gion that night. Gion is supposedly one of Kyoto's more heavily Geisha districts. The main street, Hanami-hoji is lined with many shops and restaurants boasting traditional Japanese architecture. At one intersection we noticed a small crowd (of mainly foreigners) congregating. After much confusion we were finally explained that there would be Giesha sightings at this corner. Sure enough within 30 minutes of loitering we spotted many a gieshas. As exciting as it was it felt some what demoralising for the actual Gieshas. Behind the clothing and makeup looked to be nervous and almost annoyed people. They were being hounded by people taking photographs and being interviewed by camera crews. They were an ancient Japanese Tradition enveloped by paparazzi-esque nature of curious minds.

Before I wind up this post i'll make brief mention to one of the Kyoto delicacies that we enjoyed. Takoyaki or octopus balls. Best way to describe them is, grilled goo balls with a chunk of octopus strategically placed in the centre. Mmm goo...