Day 5, blogging from hotel lobby in downtown Hiroshima. On the third day in Osaka i met up with my first tour group with the GAP Adventure company, absolutely lovely people, all brits and aussies! Spent my first night in a bed in a while, definetly appriciated compared with the cubicle!

I had 2 more days by myself in Osaka since my last blog, i spent those days travelling around the city via subway, visiting such places as the Osaka Castle and the Osaka Pokemon Center, FUN! There are so many things ive done guys im really doing my best to write it all down, if theres anything ive forgotten it`ll either be in the photos or ill comment on it later!

The first of 8 days with the group was spent travelling via subway, train, cable car and bus, on a 2 hour + journey from Osaka to a place called Kyosan where we stayed at a monestary with buddist munks. The munks in this temple high up in the mountains are strictly vegetarian, so we dined in the traditional sence of just rice and nori |seaweed| and lots of other hard to stomach veggie tofu etc. We went for a long walk through one of the most famous cemeteries in Japan after dinner and also experienced a traditional Onsen bath, which is a natural hotspring devided between men and women, very hot!

In the morning after sleeping on a traditional futon layout, we got up at 06.30 to meditate with the munks, very very special indeed, lots of insence, chanting and gonging. Amazing amazing place that you just cant imagine.

During our travel back down from the mountain on the 22 , we stopped to buy lunch at the train station in Namba before making our way towards the site of the first ever designated ABOMB attack spot, Hiroshima. Arrived at hotel and proceeded to walk through the entire city, taking in all the historic points of interest, including the drop point of the ABOMB from 1945 |very heavy stuff indeed|, also the Hiroshima Castle not a km away and many other spots of historicle importance that will be included in the picture section. Had a great dinner with the gang that will not be forgotten soon.

Its been a long couple of days, slept well in the monestary with the help of a couple of Asahi`s, other than that its been km after km of walking, lots taken in and made some really good friends in the adventure group. Had some authentic south japanese food like octopus balls, sake, special Hirosimian pancakes with bacon and green onions!

Dont know when the next entry will be, it`ll most likely be from Tokyo unless there are other hotel lobbies with free internet access <3. Im having an absolute blast and am very much looking forward to joining the second and third GAP Adventure tours through China and Indochina in the coming months.

Its midnight and time for a sleep.

Mattis