I was quite excited on this flight as we were going to meet Gwen & Mike. Our flight was a little delayed but there they were at arrivals. Even holding a little name card which was funny! We headed down to the JR office to activate our rail passes & off we went onto the 1st train of the trip. The airport express was exactly that speedy & comfortable! We changed to get the bullet train down to Kyoto. My head was a bit fluffy after all the travelling but the trains really are great. So smooth & quiet but hyper speed! Mike had some sake so we had a catch up & a drink along the way.

The hostel was close to the train station and really nice. Kyoto is surrounded by beautiful places & so much to see and do. It was clear from day 1 that one week really wasnt enough time and that we would have to choose which things we wanted to do. We went for a walk around the Gion district and I was so happy to see many ladies in traditional dress walking around. As its quite a tourist thing to do and there are a lot if local tourists it was sometimes hard to distinguish who was a real maiko & who was a tourist! Although we did see several shady men rush out from the houses into waiting cars to be sped off. I know the type of profession that lifestyle is but I have to say that it is one of the most beautiful red light areas with stunning ladies I have ever seen! Down one of the lanes we discovered the oldest zen temple in Kyoto and it was lovely. So peaceful & tranquil, even if I did keep nearly falling over in my oversized borrowed indoor slippers. I never quite got the zen gardens before, raked gravel with a few strategically placed stones. However if you do take the time to stop and take it in you'll be amazed that it actually works!

That day we had also booked in for a tea ceremony. We arrived at this door down a side street & a lady answers and we go inside. In Japan all shoes are left outside & indoor slippers are worn. The 4 of us sit down on the traditional mats, all not knowing what to expect. The lady then brings out the utensils & explains what they are and how they will be used. She performs for us a shortened ceremony, some ceremonies last for hours! We drink the tea and she opens up for us to asks questions about tea, the ceremony & geishas. It was lovely and intimate & she was a really good host, the tea was good. Although when we got to make the tea mine was nowhere near as nice as hers!

One thing that was obvious for us early on was how expensive Japan is. It's just a bit more than London prices but for our budget it was so hard. Beers were coming in at around £5-£7 which we just couldn't afford. I found it really frustrating as I really wanted to enjoy what Gwen & Mike had come here to see but the budget just wasnt there. It became fairly apparent that holiday budget & travelling budget are very very different so for some things it was better Gwen & Mike did by themselves. I'm still kicking myself over this & I feel they didn't get to do some of the things they wanted to do because we couldn't afford to do it with them.

We had a couple of days to explore some temples & see what Kyoto was all about. Sy had pencilled in that he wanted to go to the Yamazaki distillery and it was on the Osaka line so we decided to go and do both. A distillery tasting tour at 10.30am was interesting & we were all slightly merry by midday! We continued on to Osaka, visited the aquarium (they have a whale shark & manta ray there!) we tried to find a restaurant that had been recommended to us but unfortunately it was too late when we got there & couldn't find it. People tend to eat early here we've noticed and a lot of restaurants close at 9pm.

I was feeling particularly wiped. The last few weeks of Vietnam and China had taken it out on me and I was exhausted. We have been doing and seeing something nearly everyday which may sound lovely but it really is tiring. I had to take a down day which sucked a lot as Kyoto was somewhere I wanted to explore more but sometimes that's the way it is.

Feeling a bit more refreshed we went to another shrine the next day and arranged to meet Gwen & Mike in the afternoon to go to Toei Movieland. It was funny & very cheesy but we had a giggle. They film a lot of power rangers stuff here (I had no idea that show had been going since the 1950's!!)

Kyoto was great & somewhere I'd love to go back to.