Japan

Its been a while since our last update so here we go.. i would recommend getting comfortable and possibly a coffee - this isnt going to be short folks.

last tuesday we went to Disney "the happiest place on earth" land. and it was a long day! we were able to conquer every ride except for space mountain, which im pretty sure would of been the best ride in history, due to some fast pass ticket scam, though the nice lady said we can comeback and use it another day (sigh) however all in all it was a good day and we were pretty exhausted by the end of it.

later that week we headed off to Mt Fuji with great expectations however our spirits were crushed like small helpless animals under the tread of a tree clearing bulldozer of environmental hate. it was a cloudy rainy day and couldnt see anything at all. the highlight of the day was the violation of a small rabbit / badger mascot by Josh and Darren while wearing disney cowboy hats.

Luckily the Nagano day trip was amazing. After a brief train trip, bus trip, mountain hike we arrived at monkey paradise aptly named hells valley due to there steamy gysers and rocky terrain. our first interaction with a monkey was josh being attacked and chased so we knew we were onto a good thing. it was pretty surreal being able to walk right upto wild monkeys and watch them go about their daily business of laying in hotpools and fighting each other (monkies are somewhat cruel) The day ended with some naked bathing (no monkey).

Well after all that the intinery has been thrown out the window and things got alittle crazy over the last couple of days.

It started off Sunday morning with the plan to take a 4.5hr train ride from Tokyo to Takayama in central Japan.
Upon arriving in Takayama we quickly hired some bicycles from a local and set off. It was quickly agreed upon that bicycles was the best idea of the holiday so far - we made great time and saw the entire city in an afternoon. so instead of staying the night - we packed it up and changed our course to Osaka.

We arrived in Osaka around 8:30pm and made our way into a pretty seedy part of town (ofcourse without knowing!) and finding a capsule hotel. we decided to give it a try - though the locker space couldnt fit our suitcases so we had to upgrade to a normal room. (not without jumping into some capsules first though)

Today we went in search of new accommodation and somehow found a place built into a major stadium which is home to the Osaka Football Club. its pretty strange to be staying in a stadium!

After dropping off our bags we ventured off into Osaka to check out whats for offer. starting with a trip to the Aquarium. it was pretty good though the much hyped whale shark cause abit of disappointment. i was expecting to see something godzilla like.. but it was just a fatter than normal fish.

After that it was into Osaka Castle, and with a trip to the castle came more rain (we seem to have bad luck with weather so far) the Castle was somewhat impressive but i think the weather made everyone abit disgruntled.. we made for shelter and went over to Dombomtori (sp?) and walked around what seems the largest street mall in the history of street malls. eventually getting lost.

anyways the last few days will see us visit Hiroshima, Miyajima and Himeji and exploring more Osaka.. expect more photos soon!

Well we just got back from a day with the Ninjas. We left early this morning as Iga-Ueno (ninja hangout) was a good 2hr trip and what seemed liked 45345 different trains. We were lucky enough to stumble across a pleasent japanese woman who guided as in the right direction, which i think was lucky because im pretty sure we were set to go in the opposite direction altogether.

A day at the ninjas consists of firstly a quick demostration of a ninja house which is what seems a typical farmers shanty but it has a billion hidey holes and places of advantage to launch a formible attack on your local milkman or possible rival ninja spy!

After that we got to view alot of ninja clothing / weapons and read up on the history. this was the calm before the storm however as soon enough we were watching a live ninja demostration with real weapons. We all left pretty impressed and josh and darren were so amped that they decided they would be wannabe ninjas if only for 5minutes and chuck some ninja stars around.

We finished off our ninja excursion by a quick visit to a castle. it was very impressive from the outside and made for pretty cool photos however the inside was abit of a letdown, pretty much consisting of nothing.

On the way down from the ninja mountains in the hunt for food we seemed to of stumbled upon a local market / parade. there was plenty of food and game stands and darren felt compelled to blow 500yen on a rigged shooting game, he did score a pitty prize from it though being a rather cool BB gun.

After eating some dodgey street vendor food and joining the local parade we waved through the 456423 trains back to Kyoto.

Tomorrow we leave for Tokyo on a first bullet train ride. Kyoto has been great and if things continue to improve its going to be pretty epic!

WOW

Well today was pretty awesome, we managed to squeeze in an Imperial procession, the path of philosophy (Brad contemplated society, Darren wrote some poems and I invented the interstellar messaging system - more info coming later), a large ensemble of temples, multiple shops and a few eateries.

Brad used chop sticks for the first time yesterday and is already shoveling in the food like a pro! Darren is regretting bringing a bad pair of shoes and my beard is going on strong.

The flight over was pretty good, I managed to get told off by a small child and she re-affirmed our holiday mantra
"ITS A GOOD HOLIDAY, ITS A HAPPY HOLIDAY". Brad got told off by an elderly lady about forgetting to pack a bomb and we are still waiting for Darren to be yelled at.

We are currently at the hostel with the other two having a snooze (possibly an extended nap since they turned offf the alarm and continued sleeping). It is very cramped and Darren has already managed to tear the bathroom door off in a feat of wild bear like strength.

With a large portion of Kyoto done we are planning a day trip tomorrow to check out a deer park and a few local temples at Nara. It is about 50mins away so after a hearty breakfast of miso soup and rice balls we will chant our holiday mantra for a while in the zen garden then make tracks for the day.

Pictures will be coming tomorrow and I will try to make an entry whenever the guys are taking naps