Our time in japan has been steadily improving. On Thursday we went to Kiyomizu temple in kyoto, which was in a hillside setting surrounded by trees. The entrance had several brightly coloured pagodas which lead to the main temple. Inside there were 2 love stones 10m apart, saying goes if you can walk from one to the other with your eyes shut your love wish will be granted. Obviously I had to have a go however it was harder than i thought with the noise of all the japanese school kids round me watching, Craig had to shout some directions. Thankfully I made it and Im pleased to see my wish has been granted and Ive not seen Craig since! Only joking. Afterwards we went to Gion district of Kyoto which has traditional wooden houses and tea rooms that are still frequented by geishas. It was a good days sightseeing and we felt we had finally seen some of the traditional Japan. Yesterday we arrived in Osaka, which is a big city. First stop was Osaka-Jo Castle, a huge castle surrounded by high walls and moats, and your able to go up inside to get views across the city. We have then spent the rest of our time yesterday and today exploring the city, which is much more funky and happening than Tokyo. Its full of narrow streets with wacky clothes shops, tiny hole in the wall bars and trendy restaurants. Theres a real mix of people young and old, but it def is more like the Japan we had expected. Tomorrow we go back to Tokyo, then a mad few days: Monday we are in Hong Kong, Tuesday we arrive in Beijing, 3 countries in 3 days! As you can imagine we are getting a little travel weary now but still having a great time and it hasnt sunk in that we have only a couple of weeks left.