written by loz and typed by me. He's the talented one, I just do the monkey work.

Day 1 Arriving in Japan to the immaculate airport, flowing beautifully smoothly through the system and standing waiting for the Shinkansen bullet train. Marvelling still at the sight of it coming into the station and further at being delivered to Kyoto just over 2 hours later after the smoothest and fastest train ride we've ever had (300kmph)

Laughing at the size of our 10 x6 room with a bunk bed.

Falling asleep in the restaurant while waiting for our order to arrive having stayed up for the last 36 hours! Quality.

Repeatedly asking teh waitress after teh meal.. "what would I like?", "what would I like?" several times in different tones and accentuating different syllables til I realise I wasn't asking for the bill. ha ha laughs all round.

Reaslising that you got jipped on your room when 3 hours after you finally get to sleep you get woken up by a girl talking ten decibles louder than necessary outside your room about the souvenirs that she is sending home to her friends, where else but the United States. Priceless.

And then checking your watch and assuming that its 10am and you've overslept and then realising that its actually 10pm! You get the drift. I always knew that these hostels might be the breaking point for me (loz) on the trip. Amen to the expensive ear plugs we bought, never going to bed without them again.

PS The chilli con carne omelette topped with deep fried shrimp I had at the restaurant was also priceless. Let the Japanse quirkfest commence.

PPS Now I've got nothing against Americans but if you're looking at stereotypes then that is one of them ticked off right there. Definitely one to add to Loz's "zenophobic travel tips". Thats the second time I've had my sleep disturbed by a loud mouthed American. God help the third one as I won't be able to bite my stiff upper lip next time. I was commenting to Em earlier that theres been no real culture shock so far but I guess I had to wait til we got back to the hostel before it really kicked in. I might be a bit cynical but the other travellers will be the biggest cultural challenge for me and countless others. s***. (is Loz the stereotype?! Moody thirty-year old Englishman gets woken up in the middle of the night and rants about it?... I just went back to sleep)

21st Aug - Day 2?!

the last few days have been a bit of a blur. A good blur. Loads of fun and games. I wanted to resist using this as a step by step account of what we did and when but if I don't then I'm going to forget what happened, so to reel off a bit for the sake of sparking my memory if I read this in a few years. Thats a big if but anyway...

the Kyoto railway station was spectacular - architecture, layout, facilities and the twelfth floor roof garden were all spot on. Its even got a theatre where we went to see a collection of Tezuka cartoons.

(err have you forgot the amzing bike ride along the Philosopher's Path, lots of temples and shrines oops I can't remember all their names, Zen gardens etc etc?)

spent today mainly shopping without money - somewhat frustrating (I reckon it takes the pressure off). I just wanted to spend loads of money as everything was pretty cool..food, clothes, hats. (?) Didn't find the electronics district yet...

We did go to a flea market this morning at another Buddhist temple which was cool. the atmosphere was nice and chilled. So different to other markets that I've been to, no pressure sales or bargaining. We bought a couple of prints of dubious value and quality (I still like them). The idea being to send them home with Katie's silk screens when we get to Tokyo.

There was one more thing worth mentioning. Last night after a fine fish dinner that I prepared for me and Em (yes - we must be on the other side of the world for this to happen) we stumbled across funeral party on our way to Gion (which turns out to be s*** if you haven't got any money or a "haircut"). the funeral made the night. Complete with live bands and red lanterns hanging overhead. It was a pretty authentic experience; whoever died must have been a key figure in the community as tehre were various stalls giving out food and free beer. That was good. Em had a couple and joined in the dancing which I couldn't get my head around - 1 2 clap, 3 4 two steps back, 5 6, one step forward, 7 8 9 clap clap, three steps forward, 10 11 and so on. (round in a circle). Great singing and drums which made me wish I'd bought a sound recorder like I said I would. Em's dancing went down well (of course) - she was rewarded with another can of some dodgy soft drink which I finished off for her as we left... a real Paul Merton moment..much better that Gion, we should have spent the night there.