Luke Ketley

With only a morning left in Kyoto we headed to Kinkaku-ji using the bus. This is the grounds of the famous golden pavilion. It was cool to look at but notB lot else to do here. There was a pot set up next to some marked stones that people could throw money at. CHris had a go and missed. I had a go and in it went, booyah! We also got to ring a massive bell here too. Trained it across to Hiroshima and another down to Miyajima-guchi, where our next hostel was right by the ferry port. Dumped the bags andd hopped a ferry straight to Miyajima island. As…

Started the second morning in Kyoto with a quick train ride to Inari. There we spent a good hour and a half walking the shrine of Fushimi-inari of the Inari Cult. Dedicated to rice and sake. The paths here cover 4km with more than 10,000 torii gates, thae famous orange ones. These gates are an offering by local and national business’ asking for sucess, that are put up for 10 years. Humid but sheltered by the gates we walked up the path to the plateau overlooking Kyoto, checking out the shrines all around. Not stopping here for long we made our way to the top, which was a shrine surrounded…

Well after the travel day before from Tokyo, we awoke to our first day in Kyoto. The clouds were covering the sky but due to the humidity it was still boiling. I kind of get what lobsters must go through. Just over the bridge to the east from our hostel was Sansusangendo, which has featured in a lot of Samurai films. The temple houses over a thousand statues, which we were not allowed to take pictures of. A main statue of Kannon flanked by 1000 smaller versions to left and right, whilst around these stand 28 deitiesas well as Fujin and Raijin. Across the road was the Kyoto Museum, which…

Well its very impressive. At exactly 1:15am everyday the garbage truck arrives outside our window. Everything runs on time here, puts our Country to shame. Started off by heading to the Tokyo District of Tokyo, just to get our rail passes for the next 21 days and book our seat on the train for the next day. one stop over was Ginza with the Sony Tower. How could we say no to that?!? The stairs leading up were musical, like a big keyboard as we ran up and down, well who said we had grown up yet. A quick look at the new phones, walkmans and cameras, we came to…

Day 4 was a Monday. One tube stop away was the Sumo stadium and after a quick walk we found out it was closed, after a quick check we found most things were on a Monday. Reading up, the only area that seemed to be open was the Roppongi District. Some quick tube hopping and there we were. A quick look round the Midtown shopping building and it was lunch time. We dived into a Vietnamese Restaurant and 10mins in the lights went out. Chris said that this felt very traditional. A walk round the corner was the National Art Museum. The building was cool to look at, as was…

Chris awoke this morning with tails of rainy dreams. He had a dream that started raining then awoke to the top bunk dripping through to his. Luckily it was only water that the guy spilt. our 3rd day saw us heading to the wooded grounds of Meji-jingu. We walked throught he grounds and garden, following the crowd we ended up praying at a well that supplies the grounds. We then checked out the shrine, which started with us cleansing ourselves before entering. Wash your left hand, right hand, rinse mouth using left hand, rinse left hand then ladle. Entering we saw a wedding ceremony about to take place, the guest…

After waking we got changed and headed out. The first thing we noticed upon leaving was the shear heat that blasted us, you think we had a heat wave back home? that’s nothing. Quick breakfast and jumped on the metro system, which is so efficient compared to London. The latest we have seen a train arrive was 1 min late so far. First stop was the Imperial Palace. We exited the tube and started walking. 10 mins later and we find out we’ve only been heading the wrong way and on the wrong side of it anyway. A few tube stops later and off we get. You can not enter…

Well after our nap on the first night, we headed out. After a quick walk Chris had taken me to a Japanese BBQ. We spent 5 mins trying to decipher the menu before the waiter came over and gave us an English menu. Still not that clear we ordered anyway with the typical pointing and nodding of heads. The BBQ was brought out and as soon as the lid was lifted we were blasted by the heat. quickly followed by some refreshing beer. The first plate arrive which was Salted Beef tongue, which was deliciously. Then the plates kept coming, flames were getting high, quickly doused by ice cold water.…

After setting a 4am wakeup call, then excitedly being awake till half 2 I finally drifted off. The shock came when I rolled over and saw the half 5 being displayed on my obviously unset alarm clock. Springing out of bed I rushed into the hallway where me and Chris almost collided, both saying “we gotta go” 2 quick showers later and we were out the door. Luckily I set my alarm clock an half hour fast for such situations. Picked up my Parents, so they could bring my car back home, and proceeded to get stuck in the good old M25 traffic. Have I mentioned I hate traffic. Even…