Miyazaki Royal Business Hotel

... wir noch etwas den Strand runter gegangen．Aber da nicht hohe wellen waren, waren kaum _Surfer dort. Alles in allem schaute es aus wie in Hawaii...war zwar noch nie dort aber so schaut das sicher aus. Der nette alte Herr von der Strandkoerbchen vermietung ist uns dann noch nachgerannt und hat uns jeden einen keks gegeben. Auf den nach hause weg im }Zug haben wir mit aelteren Frauen gequatscht und die haben uns auch so eine art Keks gegeben ...

... of new friends by the time I left at closing time on Sunday morning as the sun came up. If you are passing through Miyazaki, be sure to pop in for passing through Miyazaki, be sure to pop in for a beer and a meal and a chat with Sean and the local people who frequent this great little taste of home away from home. Here is a link to their homepage too just to check out if you`re interested. www.thebarmiyazaki.com

... to turn it off. We just couldn't figure that one out so I went to the rental guy with my electronic translator in hand. I can only translate one word at a time so when I came in and announced emergency he got all excited. Good thing I type fast. When he figured out what I meant we all had a good laugh! Spent a couple of days touring around Kirishima Japan and enjoying a wonderful onsen. Hot spas every day and good food in ...

... I think for 9 months that was a pretty good trade off, exploring the world in exchange for having no idea what was around the corner. So, back we go to a normal life but now we have hundreds of beautiful memories and international friends. I hope that you have all enjoyed reading my stories as I went along and hope that it has shown you that it's an amazing world out there and life is too short to spend it in cube land.

... home to swap his tiny car for the jumbo company van and set back out to see if he could find us. If ever we needed a travel fairy, that was the day. To get to Beppo we had to go through the city he lived in so he showed us the family business (reception hosting to which he was the 16th (!) generation) and we picked up his wife. They were both quite friendly and helpful in finding a nice Minshuku for us to stay at ...

... there to be a camping area, so confidence in having a destination increases. Across rolling hills, getting very dark, and of course, the question of whether the camp site is really open. 5.5km later we find the turn (we can read the Kanji for camping now at least), and apparently, judging by the very interesting signs, there is a bug zoo / farm between us and the camp site. lovely. Lots of really big pictures of really big bugs. Japan hasn't had many bugs so far ...

... were extremely proud to walk me around the factory. Several young Japanese girls were following us around the factory taking pictures and getting us tea and coffee. Needless to say, the male dominated society is different, but I`m enjoying myself! :) I`m exhausted and going out to dinner tonight which probably means more karaoke. Peace.

... the highest suspension bridge in the world and taken a museum tour. All of this while defiling myself every night trying to keep up with the Japanese tradition of filling your beer, sochu or sake glass before you finish your last. UNREAL. Every bar has a karoke machine that is well used. Tonight, I will perfect the phrase, E Eh Kedo des, which means no-thank you. They don`t take no easily and usually I give in first. More Later.

Ok! I made it to Japan, however at the airport I was quite surprised to see 20 rotarians with a HUGE banner welcoming us to Japan. I was not in any shape to meet anyone, but I didn't have a choice. We were quickly shuffled off to our Hotel where the local Rotarians had dinner waiting on us. We met our host families that we will stay with starting Monday Night. However, only a few people could speak English and my host could not. When Japanese people ...

... a dubbed version of Rocky 4, and getting organised ahead of my next journey. There wasn`t anything earth-shattering to see in Miyazaki, but I`d been told that it was a nice place to unwind for a short while, so I`d booked into a hotel near the train station for a couple of nights. I hadn`t researched the place that much, and was left wondering about its exact raison d`etre when the first thing I noticed in my room was a suggestive leaflet ...