And then we were back to Tokyo!

We arrived into Harajuku on a Sunday afternoon - a sight not to be missed - there were people dressed in the strangest outfits all over the place with lookalikes ranging from Little Bo Peep to Carebears to seriously dedicated Goths. Great people watching! And then we went for a wander around Yoyogi park and it was transformed that the quiet tranquil place we had last seen - there were groups of old guys all dressed up in black leather trousers with their hair up in Elvis like boofs dancing up a storm and women and men dressed in American 1950's outfits jiving away and then many many awful singers, bands and even a dramatic painter for good measure. We headed out with Jonathan and his girlfriend Sayaka to a little Japanese barbecue place - a great night with lots of tasty charcoal flavoured meat and of course some sake to wash it all down - Perfect!

On our last day we headed to Asakusa which used to the be 'the pleasure district'of Tokyo - read into that what you will! Nowadays its filled with tourists wandering between its Senso Ji temple and Kaminarimon gate through laneways filled with tiny market stalls. Then we caught the Tokyo river cruise down the river, passing the back of Tsujiki fish market where the boats filled with fish dock every morning to unload their fresh catch, and across to Odaiba. Odaiba is an island in Tokyo Bay built on reclaimed land and we were there for a particularly Japanese experience - an onsen.

Onsen's are Japanese baths and they are something else! We went in and changed into our kimono type robes to wander around the leisure area where they have bars, shops, restaurants etc for you to use. Then we braved it and headed into the baths - separately - and we soon found out why! Everyone was Japanese (not surpisingly) and I think they thought we were a bit of an oddity. And everyone was stark naked! But once you braved it and got over that it was really relaxing - there were about 10 hot pools, cold pools, outdoor hot pools and individual jacuzzis (heaven!) as well as a steam room and sauna. Not sure it would work back home though!

And on the day we were leaving Japan the prime minister Yasuo Fukuda resigned - and then we headed to Bangkok where they were trying to overthrow the prime minister and a state of emergency had been declared! Maybe it's our impact!?