Toyoko Inn Ueda Station

... We did notice that we were missing the hot broth. Some of the locals started lining up for a table. The owner/waiter finally delivered our broth and then had the audacity to tell us to eat quickly! Come on! It's not our fault! We swiftly finished our meal. I'd chalk up this meal as more of an "experience" as oppose to getting a hardy meal.

We continued with our sightseeing. On the way to Matsumoto castle, we stopped by ...

... un orden en las esperas junto al sitio exacto donde parará el vagón, etc.)

... some money on cab fare. Hopefully I can remember to ride on the left side of the street and the other vehicles remember to do the same. I'm also hoping that the rumors of English-speaking guides are true.

Adjusting my expectations... I had thought I'd zip through the castle and get to Kyoto early. Probably not. Everything takes longer than you think.

... Thunfisch wird ja dank d** Fischmethoden imm** we***** - auch ist fraglich ob das ganze Delfinfreundlich abgeht... jaja die Japan** und die Delfine ist ja ein eigenes Thema) ab** es ist einfach zu leck**. Wenn dir d** Fisch direkt auf d** Zunge z**rinnt... Umweltfreundlichkeit ist eh ein zweischneidiges Schw**t, da wird ein**seits alles mögliche eingepackt (wrapping culture Japan!!) selbst wenn man v**packtes eis kauft, wirds nochmal in ein Tütel extra ...

... standing there...yelling at people to get them inside...i think thats called service industy in newspeak.

ok, enough for now...i think it is clear why i write in english...in german i can not express myself anymore as well, i bore myself while writing...so read you next time...maybe in german, maybe in english...
btw, its very distressing to log in after 2 weeks without inet to see only 1 mail...thx wew...
can someone pease write me, otherwise i feel so lonely

... walked the rest of the way to the park, through a forest. En route we took the wrong turning and ended up walking up a path marked with a sign warning us of poisonous snakes, whoopsy! When we finally got there it was wonderful. The monkeys are wild but you could get up really close to take pictures. Mark went so close I thought they were going to attack him! They were great to watch, as they frolicked ...

... togeth 1000yen (7 quid) for dinner- 2 bowls of noodles, and then went to sleep broke and dreading that we would be stuck there forever. In the morning we arose early to try and get money but no-one could speak any english, nightmare! In the end there was one man from the bank who came and showed us where there was a 3rd atm, that we were unaware of, and sure enough it ejected those lovely yen notes for us :). We were very relieved, and went back to get our bags then left!

... you can get really close to the monkeys and watching the mums with the baby monkeys is lovely. Unfortunately the monkeys only come down when they are fed so luckily we timed it perfectly and managed to get some brilliant shots. But wait around if there aren't any there once you get there they will soon turn up when the keeps start throwing the pellets on the ground.

We also met an Australian family with a 8 month old baby on a similar trip ...

... trees. Koyasan is a photographers dream, and I would've had a great time just taking pictures all weekend. Enough about the temple, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves! For Thanksgiving dinner Lily and I drove a few hours on windy roads through the mountains to spend the evening with our northern JET friends. A new JET, Jessie and her boyfriend (who is living with her in her apartment) made SO much food: ham ...

... to come by to take us back into town. Eventually one arrived and we walked up to the Zenkoji Temple past a street full of temple residences.

We wandered around the temple complex and gardens and even saw someone ringling the large bell using a wooden log before walking back down to the train station and catching the train back to Tokyo.