Wow! Time flies. Already half way through November.

I've made it to my Trainee Warden Position on Flat Holm Island. Where I will be spending the next 6 months. I've seen many places on my journey around the UK as well. But lets now look back to more than 2 months ago and continue my story about my journey around the Land of the Rising Sun. Japan!

After slogging up Mount Fuji it was a quick dash back to Tokyo before getting on the Shinkansen(Bullet Train) to Kyoto. But me being the naive tourist I managed to get on the train that stops at every station so it managed to take around 5 hrs instead of 3. But the views are amazing passing through busy cities that meet open rice paddy fields.

Kyoto is a gorgeous city with a much more spiritual and laid back pace compared with other Japanese citys. In every corner you can find gorgeous gardens, zen shrines and buddhist temples. But after a while it can tend to get overwhelming. One of the things I most enjoyed in Japan was supermarket shopping. Japanese food is so yummy from the tasty sweet breads to the fresh sushi rolls and rice balls.

Whilst staying in Kyoto I also visited Nara, Osaka and Himeji. Nara is a lovely city famous for deer and temples and shrines. Visiting Nara Park can be quite amusing as you watch Japanese High schoolers attempt to feed the deer. But many get frightened once the deer show any interest so instead they scream and chuck the deer biscuits away. Outside the Giant Buddha I also witnessed two deer come to blows in the middle of this group of young females who just kept screaming there heads off even after the deer stopped fighting.

Osaka is a very large and busy city. I visited the floating observatory where you travel up glass elevators then climb out onto escalators suspended between the two buildings 39 floors up in the area. Which is quite confronting even for someone who is not afraid of heights.

I loved Himeji Castle which is the most famous castle in Japan. With so much history and the architecture is amazing.

After a week temple and shrine hopping it was off to Hiroshima. Hiroshima is famous for the devastating event that we all know as where the first atomic bomb was blown up and where 100,000 people lost there lives. Visiting this city was eye-opening and definately puts anyone off the idea of nucleur weapons. The Peace Memorial museum is full of stories and remains that revolt but fascinate at the same time. It is just devastating to think people can be the cause of such misery and distress.
But Hiroshima was also fun on a night out with other backpacking expereincing Umeshu(Japanese plum wine), some other yummy cocktails and some not so yummy drinks as well. We also went out for Karaoke which is the best time in Japan as you get your own individual room complete with strobe lighting and dolphin background lighting.

Miyajima is just a short distance from Hiroshima by Ferry. There you can see amazing temples and shrines with a gorgeous mountain backdrop. It is also home to the famous floating Torii gates. This is also the ultimate place to see deers attack. Within moments of walking off the Ferry we saw one couple have a deer walk up to them and start rifling through her bag and start nibbling on her map. Another guy was stalked for 10mins by one hungry deer who was eyeing off his lunch. Not till the guy had finished did the deer back away but not before nibbling on his t-shirt and his bag. I also enjoyed a hike to the top of the mountain where I had gorgeous views across the sea.

Japan was an amazing 3 weeks and I definately plan on going back as I have seen only a fraction of what this beautiful country has to offer.

More stories to come.