Today it was Christmas day and this was the first time that I'd ever been on my on my own at Christmas. I kind of like the fact that I was on my own and not having to do all the stuff that comes with Christmas but it did make me miss my family. I caught a train from Kyoto to Tokyo and arrived into Tokyo in the early afternoon and caught a cab to the hotel. I wondered around the area and found it really strange with all the Christmas decorations and music playi...

Leaving for Nagoya today I was really excited to be in another city. Kyoto is an amazing place but I'd seen it all in a week, so Nagoya here I come. I informed the lady at reception where I was going and I think she understood me, well I hope she did, and headed off to the train station. For a country where English is their second language it is surprisingly easy to work out the transport system. I found my train, matched the name and numbers on the train to my...

As I was heading to Mongolia and Russia next week, I thought it might be a good idea to get some more winter clothing as the only thing I had was a jacket and jeans and thought as the temp gets down to about -30C then it would be a good idea to get something a bit warmer. I'd seen a Northface store near the Manga museum so I caught a bus over there and had a look around. Now being a tad bigger than most Japanese girls and well men it was probly not the best ide...

I woke fairly early seeing as I went to bed with the senior citizens last night and wondered down for a feed. It was raining today so I stayed close to the hotel and caught up on all my emails, photos etc. Eiko and Byron left today, they were going back to Nagoya. I'm going to catch up with Eiko in Nagoya on the 23rd, which I was really looking forward to as I'd been in Kyoto a week now and had seen every temple, castle, shrine that Kyoto had to offer so I was ...

I'd arranged to met Eiko and Byron again today. We met at the train station around 11am and decided to do a bit more sight seeing. Again we went to some of the many temples in Kyoto and the one castle that they have. This castle wasn't a castle as such but it was really cool. The floor was made so that when you walked on it, it squeaked, so people breaking in to the castle would be heard. We were told that is was supposed to sound like birds chirping and it kind ...