Our plans to ski went west today as we struggled to escape from our deep sleep. A brilliant sunny day in our minute mountain village, we ventured to the gondola and took in the views from atop the ski resort. As it turned out, the ski conditions were pretty good, considering it was 6 degrees and almost mid-April. Once back at village level, we ventured two stops along the local train line to Hakuba, the venue for the 1998 Winter Olympics ski jumping event. We...

Our eyes welled last night as we remembered our travels. The feeling intensified by Snow Patrol delivered via itunes. The words were just so relevant. Or so we thought after draining the contents of our duty free litre of vodka in a little under two hours. In the cold light of day, we are struggling to see any relevance at all in the lyrics of 'Chasing Cars'. We have seen more large Asian cities in the past couple of months than you could shake a sti...

Having endured a procession of Japanese girls blow drying their hair by our room at gone midnight last night, we were a little worse for wear this morning. With the sort of determined attitude which makes Britain great, we were up with a sparrow's fart and headed for the train station. The 8.45 Bullet train whizzed us half the length of the country to Tokyo, where we are to spend tonight. Our accommodation sits happily under the 'basic' bracket. Shared faciliti...

Each evening for the final seven days of our adventure, we will be updating this site - well, internet connections permitting. Thats right, fall into arrears at your own peril. Whilst the 'working' population takes four days off work, the show goes on for us. There are no days off for your dedicated allseven team. Clutching a seven day Japan Rail Pass, we headed for Hakata station this morning, armed with chicken sandwiches and orange juice, and made for Kyoto....

Korea offered a significant contrast to our experience in China. Seoul is a modern, clean city, with excellent infrastructure. Though of course a much smaller country in terms of land area and economy, the Koreans have one thing the Chinese seem to lack - manners. OK, they do have a tendancy to spit and yes, we were the closest to the exit door of our ferry today, though came in close to last at immigration, such was the low rise mini peoples eagerness to gain an...