Weeks 3 and 4 - Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima and Osaka

Following on from my last post.... our next few days in Kyoto were spent quietly checking out the many sights on offer. Well, quiet until I managed to accidentally set off an alarm at the imperial palace!!

Trust me though, its not as dramatic as it sounds. There were no gun toting guards running in my direction. In fact, I refused to believe that the loud siren and me stepping on to the other side of a gutter which surrounded the palace wall were related until we noticed the laser sensors and hi-tech security cameras mounted on the wall a bit further up. Pretty stupid though.

We then skipped town and headed to Nara, just 30 minutes away by train. The little guesthouse we were staying in was directly across the road from the first large-ish sized supermarket we had come across, so we felt compelled to explore it for products with hilarious names and the like. What really impressed upon me though was what a large part fish plays in the diets of the Japanese people. Their fish sections was twice as large as our meat sections and their meat sections were half the size of our fish sections. That being the case, this supermarker turned out to be a good source of reasonably priced sushi. Its a bit pricey everywhere else.

Being one of Japans oldest cities, Nara is full of important historical sites, but having had our fill of temples and shrines, we were more interested in the 1200 Deer which inhabit the park in which these sites are located. We quickly discovered that although cute, the Deer are also very spoilt and demanding. Maddie experienced a firm head-butt in the thigh and one unlucky man received a two-pronged attack in the rear from one of the few Deer whose antlers had not been removed. I was very amused.

We saved ourselves a six hour wait the next day by making the last morning bus to Hiroshima with only 3 minutes to spare. Would have been a very boring birthday had we missed it.

Hiroshima was a pretty and quiet city. The main reason to be there was to see the Peace Memorial Park Museum which explained in graphic details, the events surrounding the Nuclear Bombing in the 40s. It was well worth the visit. Being in that spot and imagining everything around you for 2 kms completely levelled by such a blast was a weird feeling.

So now we are in Osaka. The final destination in Japan before hitting China. Its just another big city, but a fun one. Lots of funny signs and neon lights. Good food too! Probably the best Ramen we have eaten... in my opinion anyway.

I think the only negative thing about Japan is that it gets a little bit samey after a while. I think we could have done with maybe a little less time here. 3 weeks probably would have been the perfect length of time. From Tokyo to Hiroshima, everything looks pretty much the same. Both cities and country-side. Its definitely not a land of constantly changing landscapes. Not like I expect the US and Mexico to be anyway. Thats not a critiscism though. I mean, you cant criticise a country for what they naturally cant help, but it has contributed to that samey feeling ive been getting towards the end. Thats not to say japan isnt awesome though!! I dont want to end on a sour note. Its been a really cool place to see and I would recommend it for sure.

Highlights -

Ramen noodles
Kyoto
Transport system
Bad english translations
Red, orange and yellow trees
Traditonal Accomodation

Lowlights -

Lack of rubbish bins. One per city?
The aussie dollar

PS - Any bad grammar can be attributed to this crappy keyboard!