Giants, gardens and geisha.

When we added the last entry we were just leaving Takayama, from there we went to Kanazawa for 2 nights before 3 nights in Kyoto then headed South into the valleys and coast to Hagi.

If this gets boring just look at the pictures.

Although out of the main cities English is not so well spoken there is never a problem as they really are so keen to help. If you stop and look at a map people will appear from inside shops or stop on their bikes and ask to help. This did reach epic proportions in Hagi when asking a gentleman loading his car at a shop where the hotel was he put his wife and child out into the rain loaded our rucksacks and drove us to our destination. He spoke some English and his parting shot was " this will probably be the last English you will hear till Osaka". He wouldn't accept anything for his help.... We have talked to so many interesting people and it appears England and the English are very popular over here... They know so much about us and our history as well as their own it makes a pleasant change. We did help an elderly Japanese English professor translate a letter into English over a coffee at Kyoto station so some pay back, and hugs all round on leaving.

Kanazawa was a fantastic small town, the castle and the gardens beautiful and so peaceful.... They have a skill in making the gardens look natural whilst being totally arranged and perfectly manicured. Even the stones in the water features are all placed for effect. We will have to think about the garden and summer house on our return.

There is always more to do than time available and careful planning has been required not to get too tired. We rearranged the last week or so to stay longer in fewer places. We have had a little break from raw fish and dined on American burgers (Japanese style) one night and English breakfast at Pronto ( one fried egg and one piece of bacon...they obviously haven't seen me eat). However despite the healthy eating I seem to have put a couple of kg back on...how depressing. Must be the sake. It is still hit and miss with the ordering drinks and food but mostly OK. I still however pick drinks that look like lemonade which turn out to be cold tea of various flavours erghhh. Last night I got a hot cup of sake...with a fish in it...for a tenner!

Kyoto is massive, so much tradition and history. We didn't realise how big until we arrived and it took some time for Catherine to understand the bus and tube timetables enabling us to get around. Sorting bus timetables must run in the family as Peter is always very good. Kyoto Sky Tower was a great way to see the city and boy did it move in the wind which was a bit off putting, especially as there are some typhoon warnings at present for Southern Japan.

Getting to Hagi, four changes including two local trains ( one carriage bit like a bus) was our....my only travel mistake so far, in that I overshot our station having just finished an interesting conversation with two English teachers, an American and an Australian, and we ended up on a very isolated platform in the middle of nowhere, not a sole in sight waiting, we hoped, for a return train at some point.....note Catherine's face in the photo.......

(Catherine says - the 'above & beyond' help in getting us to our hotel that Paul mentioned above happened after we'd managed to get to the right station, with no taxi in sight we set off on foot in the rain! I'm certain that Paul knew our hotel was the one at the top of the 'mountain' we could see, but he promised it was closer. It did look like a great place though so I hoped it was, but prayed for a taxi to come by! All ended well as once we arrived, despite very limited English, the staff couldn't have been more helpful. Even the lady in charge of our 14 course dinners went to great lengths to explain, mostly sign language, what order and how to eat all the different dishes).

Back to Paul ....Thinking of disasters, you can take the boy out of the Fire Service but you can't get the Fire Service out of the boy. They still have fire bells to be rung at the end of each street especially in the old quarters but now have a totally professional service, rather than each street having its own volunteers. When you see how close all the houses are, many still all timber, they are rightly concerned and take fire safety very seriously. Job opportunity??? The appliances( fire engines) are immaculate and modern but so small it's like Trumpton. It would be interesting to see if you could actually get four British firefighters in firegear in the trucks and still have room to steer....makes sense with the small streets though.

Lots more people wear traditional clothes here especially on the weekend which makes it very colourful and takes you back especially in the old parts of town. We had a rickshaw ride out in the bamboo grove, amazing, it was just like the films which you think are made up and wandered the gardens of the old Imperial Palace at night. Spooky. More shrines and temples but they are all different as you can see from the photos.

And I'm sure you will all be impressed as I did the clothes washing this time, easy and still time for a drink and cigarette. What you won't see is the slightly shrunken t- shirts from over heating tumble dryer. You have to learn......

Finally we have had two days at a top class ryokan relaxing, hot baths, massage( which was quite painful at the time but great after) and a day strolling on the beaches and through the old Samurai quarters in Hagi town. Fantastic views, Sea eagles floating past the windows ( perhaps a twitcher could actually say what they were) but you get the idea.. We ( yes including Catherine the second morning) got up at six am to sit in the outside hot bath to watch the sun coming up. Wonderful. By the way temperatures 26 degrees and feeling like 30 according to their weather reports, it's definitely hot and only one shower since arrival. That's weather not washing....

On the train now to Hiroshima and the last stage which includes a special Birthday. Not sure what to do about this yet!!!

Ps. Forgot to mention the moment where Catherine and I went to sit down together in two seats on a bus and got wedged halfway down....much to the amusement of the other passengers. We sit separately now and funnily none of the locals try and sit next to us. They take one look and stand.....

.......08/10/13 - Sorry, having problem uploading photos to go with this - hopefully be there soon!