Rurikei Onsen Nantan

... Nyt tulikin taas näköjään pitkä reissu!

Mutta ei mitään hätää! Matka Takayamaan oli nimittäin aivan uskomattoman hienoa kyytiä, vuorien ja jokien keskellä, eikä tullut aika yhtään pitkäksi. Melko totaalinen mahdottomuus oli saada kuvia junan ikkunasta, mutta sellainen maisemien sarjatuli tärähteli verkkokalvoille, että voi pojat! Melkein jo jäätiin kyydistä paikassa nimeltä Gero, mutta päätettiin kuitenkin jatkaa matkaa Takayamaan asti. Ihan kiva oli täm ...

... päivä enää kiipeillä ja urheilla. Ihan oikeat päivät valittiin siis tälle Kagoshiman visiitille, huraa! Pidempäänkin olisi täällä Kagoshimassa viihtynyt, mutta jos meinaa junapassia täysillä hyödyntää, niin kovin montaa päivää ei voi samassa paikassa ikävä kyllä jumittaa. Eteenpäin sanoi mummo lumessa!

Jostain hienosta teepakkauksesta luin joskus aikoinaan seuraavanlaisen mainostekstin: ”Kyushun aamukasteen viimeistelemää ensiluokkaista vihre ...

... You weren't able to see much from the outside except for the palace wall.

On the way to the palace I learned all about the X-Man ...... yes, the comic book. Jordan is a big fan. In return, I told him all about the original Planet of the Apes movies (all five of them).

Oh, forgot to say that we stopped at Mcdonalds for breakfast and Starbucks for coffee.

We also stopped at the International Manga Museum. Unfortunately ...

... all found it quite hilarious - everyone except for Bridget, anyway! It was back to the train station after our interesting lunch, and then on to Osaka. We had heard that Osaka was the Chicago of Japan, so I was especially eager to get there. By the time we arrived, the sun had set and the rain was still falling heavily, but that didn't stop us from heading out into the city to see what the night would bring. We took the subway into the central shopping district downtown, and ...

... provided for a dusty game as well as some irregular bounces which didn't help the already struggling sides. No goals were scored and no real chances were given up in ten minutes so I decide to hop back on Blue and move along. Next stop, the world famous rock garden of Ryoanji Temple. The entrance is marked by the beautiful Kyoyochi Pond which houses some mandarin ducks, supposedly, but I didn't see any. The "Tsukubai" stone wash ...

... and mouth. We finally wound up back at the beginning, down by a pond being kissed by the low branches of a cherry tree. Also, there we met a couple from Mongolia, dressed up in traditional yurt clothing, and their little yurt baby! They spoke really good Japanese, so our friend talked to them a little bit, and we got to know them. It was cool! Then, sakura flavored ice cream (yum!) and a walk down a side street to head to Maruyamakoen, definitely the most crowded place in all ...

... own clothes into the bath to prevent contamination with the outside world. So the strict cultural rules are enforced by looking down on people who fail to keep the bath clean. The bath itself was boiling! Forty degrees Celsius in fact, and enough to cook the outer layer of skin. It was difficult to sit in the bath for a long time and although there was a bath indoors and outdoors, the outdoor one was no cooler than the inside bath. I quickly learnt to sit on a step at ...

... hot dorms (3 bed bunks) but nice people, fun rooftop communal area and excellent location. Met a couple of friendly Irish guys who were also booked into the next hostel Sumo Backpackers in Osaka. Andrew and I took a visit to Universal Studios Osaka (i know i know, only second week into travels and im already in a theme park but its different in Japan!) Sumo hostel was pretty small, only 10 beds but it had a nice relaxed atmosphere... too relaxed, i was lookin on the ...

We took the Hikari Superexpress Shinkansen ride to Himeji. It was very exciting to ride on our first bullet train on this trip. The train didn't seem to be moving very fast at all and was very smooth, but the book says these trains can go up more than 300km/h! We arrived at Himeji in about 45 mins and walked to the castle about 20mins walk from the station. The castle looked very elegant perched on top of a hill, despite the overcast sky.

... were be a short walk but we were wrong. It took nearly an hour of constantly walking uphill in really harsh sunlight. After the walk I was expecting to see something spectacular. The temple was quite a disappointment. I was hoping for a something huge made entirely of gold but what I saw was a small house with gold platting in the middle of a lake. Either way it was heaving with tourists so went back to the hostel, by bus this time which was a far more ...