We are now in Kyoto, and our first order of business was to negotiate the messy Kyoto central station in order to get to the bus terminal on the other side. I don't understand why the Japanese feel the need to build shopping centres into stations? I mean, who goes to the train station to shop? It's not like at the airport, where you might have a ten hour connection and need something to do while you want around. I don't get it, it just makes everything so c...

Woke up again in the tiniest room I have ever stayed in….not by myself but with another person. Making matters worse I had been too tired to pack up the night before, (breaking one of my own golden travel rules) I decided to just sit on the bed and let Darren get ready and packed before I did the same so we didn't get in each other's way. We checked out of the hotel and stored our stuff, I'm afraid neither us of were disappointed to see the back of the APA ...

This morning we decided to go and visit Nara, the first capital of Japan. First we had to learn to use the subway, the stop of Higobashi is conveniently located opposite the door of our hotel. After some difficulty using the ticket machines (apparently here you put your money in first and then decide what you want) we bought day tickets and we were off the Umeda station which connects to the JR lines out of the city. We used our trusty JR rail passes to get ...

I woke up on the floor this morning, geez it's been a while since that happened. Africa I think. I had a lovely sleep in our traditional Ryokan. We had a great breakfast this morning provided by the hotel; salad, boiled egg, toast and jam with tea and orange juice. We headed out into the cold and headed straight for the O-torii gate, the famous orange arch which is the main attraction here. It was spectacular, rising out of the sea with its orange hues r...

Darren could hardly contain himself this morning and was up really early for our visit to the Mazda Museum. We had a lovely breakfast, bought from 7/11 the night before. I had an egg sandwich and pancakes, which already had butter and maple syrup on them and an orange juice….these had set me back about 400 yen. ($4.00AUD) We ate at our table in our room overlooking the Peace Dome and watching it snow lightly. We hopped in a cab and I told the driver "Maz...