Today was the day that we were leaving Japan... We arose early as we had a mammoth trek to the air port in Osaka, firstly getting a subway or two then a couple of trains. We arrived at the airport in one piece though and proceeded to check in. An easy job we thought... No visa for Hong Kong, first in the queue, we would be sipping lattes in minutes... Nope!! The girl at the desk asked us if we had our flights booked out of Hong Kong and could she see the confir...

Today we woke early as we had secured tickets to tour the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. The palace grounds can only be entered on guided tours that are held by the imperial household agency, they are free and take about one hour although booking prior online is paramount. The palace used to be the residence of the Japanese imperial family before the capital was shifted to Tokyo in 1868. It is situated within the beautiful imperial park in the heart of Kyoto and is...

Today I woke about eight ish and with Steven still snoozing away I went upstairs for a cup of tea, it wasn't long before he joined me and so we had a little breakfast before starting our day. Today we decided to have a nice relaxed day and wander around the surrounding area... We eventually left the hostel at about eleven ish and headed out. We headed in the direction of Gion as we wanted to experience it in the day time... We wandered in the direction of this ...

Today we woke just before seven forty five and felt amazing, although I also felt a little sad that our wonderful experience was nearly over. At eight o clock we were given a call to say the bathroom was ready and that breakfast would be served soon. Steven headed to the bathroom and I enjoyed a few mins checking my mail in the lobby. At just before eight thirty we headed back to our room and found the table was covered in little trinkets. There was a plate w...

We had our breakfast at the hostel and checked out at 9am ready for another day of sightseeing. We embarked on a six and a half km walk north through Kyoto towards the Kinkaku-ji, other known as the 'temple of the golden pavilion and is one of the most famous sights in Kyoto. The walk took the best part of an hour but we felt really refreshed which actually made a change! The sun was out and we enjoyed a good chat along the way. We were missing our nightly chat...