Well got the train to Nara with no hitches at all we must be getting good at this and we even got off at the right stop. We thought Kyoto had a lot of history and also very typical Japanese but hey ho, it has nothing on Nara. Mind you we arrived at Nara train station and looked at the map and spoke to the lady in the tourist information centre and she said it is a 15 minute walk to where we are staying. We arrived in the hotest time of the day and guess what Mike wants to walk - WHAT I exclaim, are you sure - it is hot out there i.e. 90 degrees - yes he exclaims I want to feel like a real back packer. Well that came to haunt him ... read more

Well up and adam this morning and off to the temple Tenryu-Ji in Arashiyama it is one of the world heritage sights. We started off by getting the metro and then a tram. We went into the first temple which was called the "Temple of the Holy Dragon". Once inside it was beautiful, the roof was painted in a blue dragon and wherever you were in the temple the dragon's eyes were on you. Anyway we sat down and then a monk came out and started to give a lecture to everyone in Japanese - it must have been good as he had the crowd a few times in laughter - shame we could not understand a word he said - we need to brush up on this Japanese language. After escaping the temple without the ... read more

Forgot to show you Mike carrying his rucksack in Tokyo waiting for the Bullet train (does'nt he look a natural). Well nearly day one in Kyoto finished. Parts of Kyoto are what you expect Japan to be like. We have seen a number of Geisha girls. It seems really weird when they are walking down the street next to western clothed Japanese girls. We found the Ponto-cho avenue which is one of the oldest tradiitonal avenues in Kyoto. To be honest we fell upon it by accident. We decided that we would get something to eat here as it was so quaint and some of the cafes/resturants overlooked the river. Anyway after much deliberation we could not find a cafe/restuarant overlooking the river so we chose the other side of the road. It is unlike Tokyo ... read more

Hi everyone - well you know I said we had to get up early to get to the Tuna auction - well spoke to the concierge in the hotel last night to find out what time the first metro started and they said we needed to leave real early - guess what time we had to leave? I bet not one of you guessed this 3.20am, yes I did say am!! Anyway we needed to get a taxi as the metro does not start until 5am - Anyone who knows Japan knows that getting a taxi is like daylight robbery. Mind you saying daylight robbery in the middle of the night seems stupid but hey take my word it is day light robbery. One point for all you readers out there (that is if there is ... read more

Well talk about jet lag we kept on waking up and then finally woke up at 11.44am. Still in work mode we jumped out of bed and rushed out the door to catch the bus into Shinjuku metro station. When we got there we suddenly remembered we are not a timetable anymore ha ha. Anyway first stop was to the Imperial Palace where the emperor and imperial family live. Anyway as anyone knows trying to read Japanese is extremely hard (and that is being nice) so we asked at a travel agency and they did not even know what we were talking about, even when I showed the lady in Japanese where we wanted to go. So true brits we eventually found it (just like the true brit Sherlock Holmes). Attached a photo for you to ... read more