Hi All

Well, three weeks in Japan has just flown by!We had such a great time here discovering a new culture (Japanese people were so gracious and helpful and friendly to us), visiting countless beautiful temples and shrines, admiring Japanese gardens and meeting some lovely locals.

The highlights were Kyoto and its interesting Geisha district, communing with nature in Miyajima (and climbing a mountain in jandals!), staying in traditional Japanese tatami rooms (straw mats and futons) and meeting some really interesting travellers along the way.

We were constantly perplexed by Japanese menus and our aversion to seafood didn't help.We've always been fussy eaters but usually we find things to eat while travelling.In Japan however, we spent many evenings munching sweet pastries and bananas from the 7/11 stores for dinner as the local restaurants offered a vast array of fishy delights that we just couldn't face!!

Shinkansen (the bullet trains) were awesome.They are always on time, go 285km an hour and are so comfortable.The Japanese do train travel so well and it's all so civilised - neat queues for the trains, super clean, no pushing, no shoving, no-smoking carriages.On one train we ended up in the "silence car".Yep, no talking, no announcements, no mobile phones.Bliss!!!

Tokyo has been one crazy place - so many people!!!!!!!!!!!It's one of those cities that is so fascinating.Along with the neat queues and civilised nature of all things here, there are teenagers in mad kooky outfits, grown women dressed like little dolls (see the Shibuya photo album), massive billboards, an ever confusing metro system, tranquil forested parks, busy temples, a massive fish market (which is obviously responsible for all those fishy restaurants…), Manga (comic) stores reaching 7 stories high, young people offering free hugs (which I thought was just adorable and we both lined up for those!).It's a city of endless interest and we were lucky enough to be introduced to some great locals (Tai and Thomas that means you!) who took us out and showed us a Tokyo that we could not have discovered on our own due to our lack of language skills!

So, all in all its been such a wonderful place to visit.Tomorrow we fly back to Hong Kong to stay with Greg and Carol before heading into mainland China early next week.We will be travelling in China for a month or so, meeting up with our friends Barry and Nok to travel in the Tibetan areas of Qinghai province in late July (many of you will know about the recent earthquake there - hardest hit was the town of Yushu where Brian and I have spent time on previous trips visiting Barry and Nok who used to live and teach English there).It's a chance for us to return to this region that stole our hearts all those years ago and re-visit the students and their families we know there - many of whom have been affected in some way by the earthquake - either having lost family members or homes.

Hope you are all well and happy.Thanks for all your messages via the site or facebook/email.It's nice to stay connected with you all - the world really is quite a small place with all this technology!

Lots of love and smiles

Kerry and Brian

xx