Hotel Halftime Nara

... at the station in Osaka. I surprised her with a couchsurfing adventure planned for the nearby Nara Prefecture and the old city of Nara (site of the original capital of Japan). She was excited!<br><br>-----<br>NIGHT #1:<br><br>Our first night was spent with Eri (age 25) and her family. They feed us a wonderful Japanese dinner and set us up in a traditional tatami guest room. Wonderful hosts:) I only wished we'd had more time ...

... train, one is the fast non all station train and the other is the slow all station train. We were lucky to have noticed the difference, otherwise it would have taken us a lot longer to reach Nara. The day was hot as well, and the all station train has no air conditioned and would have been very stuffy. Once we were there, we went to the tourist information centre and was pointed to the bus that would take ...

Vandaag hebben we het rampgebied (hostel) verlaten. Vanmorgen voor even (goede opslagplaats voor rugzakken was het wel!), vanavond voor goed. Kevin heeft vannacht het alarm af laten gaan. Hij ging even een boodschapje doen (om half 12 s nachts zijn de supermarkten nog open ;-)). Bij terugkomst toetste hij de code in maar er ging iets mis. Na het verlaten van het donkere hok met behang van steenstrips kwamen we onderweg vuilnismannen ...

... th*n 10, this is * very tight squeeze! We did see * J*p*nese m*n try to get through, but he needed to be pushed *nd pulled to get through! A short w*lk up the hill from here is Shoro Belfry where we h*d some lunch (whilst fending off deer), *nd *lso looked *t the l*rge bell th*t h*ngs here. Further on from here *re ****tsu-do *nd S*ng*tsu-do h*lls, *nd there w*s * gre*t view over N*r* from the ver*nd* of the first. We then w*lked to K*sug* T ...

... the lonely pl*net description for the hostel. Keen to get out of there, we checked out the *m*zing sites th*t N*r* h*d to offer. One plus for the hostel w*s th*t we could rent bikes. So,we set off with the m*ny m*ps we received *t the tourist office. We *lso h*d * suggested route from the Lonely Pl*net. M*ny of N*r*'s most import*nt sites *re loc*ted in N*r*-koen. The p*rk is home to *bout 1200 deer, which in pre-buddhist times were considered ...

... different levels. The center tank, which represents the Pacific Ocean, is around ten meters deep and holds a whale shark who looks like he is having a blast... with his one facial expression. I can tell. There was also a tank showing you what the dive sites around Japan's tropical mecca, Okiwana, are like. All I can say is, I'm coming back to Japan in spring.<br><br>Osaka's main castle was incredibly beautiful as well, but like many of the castles in Japan, was a replica and ...

... emperor penguin h*bit*t w*s the best I've seen with *ctu*l snow surrounding the c*ge. Heck, some of the penguins themselves were ro*ming *bout out front under guid*nce of the loc*l *qu*rium offici*ls in order to dr*w visitors to the *qu*rium.<br><br>After such * spect*cul*r visit to some of Os*k*'s other *ttr*ctions, including the very *ttr*ctive Os*k* C*stle, nightf*ll brought with it the nightlife - *nd let me just s*y, th*t while *ll we did w*s h*ve ourselves * nice dinner, Dotonbori ...

... they pretty much butchered * gre*t Sondheim music*l. Pun intended.<br><br>The next d*y we he*ded on to Beppu! A 'sm*ll' town e*st of Fukuok*. It w*s built on *nd *round * highly volc*nic *re*, the result of which is wh*t everyone c*lls 'The Onsen Town'. It is *lso home to the f*mous Snow Monkeys th*t l*ze *round in the hot springs like they own them.<br><br>We didn't get to see them in the hot springs though, but s*w them *t the Monkey P*rk where they run ...

... dreams - Monkey Park 100 m. After paying 500 yen entry we began the great monkey adventure, though fear was the first major consideration. "Do not show any food to the monkeys" was a warning repeated again and again as we made the climb up the mountain, followed quickly by an imposing sign in block caps stating DO NOT STARE AT THE MONKEYS. At first the sightings were fleeting - a tail flashing by as one gent made a daring climb up a tree - but we soon saw a phalanx of the ...

... getting the hang of things. the first few weeks i was here, i spent at least 2 hours a day lost, but recently i really thought i had caught on. i was all excited that i could get around japan with no problems. SPOKE TOO SOON!! but all in all it was a decent night....it's a good experience. homeless in japan. i've gotta jet now to go play dodgeball with the kids, so i'll write more later. i've only got two more weeks left before i gotta come home! PEACE!