Japan - Kyoto & Osaka

Well, the Japan leg of the trip is over. I'm currently in Stockholm at Nathan's flat (more on Stockholm later). Japan was a cool stopover, I found the language barrier a bit of an issue, but in general you could get the message across.

Kyoto was great - I arrived via train from Kansai Monday night about 8pm, I found my Hostel with pretty easily. The hostel was sweet as, they hooked me up with good maps which made finding my around really easy. I went out for dinner and had a bit of a wander around town - a couple of things that really took me by surprise was the number of cigarette vending machines and "slots" (gambling establishments, hundreds of machines each).

Tuesday morning I headed out sight seeing, I had a list of 3 temples I planned on visiting before heading back to Osaka for the night. First up was Nanzen-Ji temple, see photo's and comments.

This is a snake I saw on my way up to the temple, I didn't even soil myself!

This is me posing with a group of school girls on top of the Sanmon Gate at Nanzen-ji.

Next on the list was Kinkaku Temple, otherwise known as the Golden Pavilion. The top 2 levels of the pavilion are coated in gold leaf - the place really does glow!

The golden Pavilion

Another posing shot with schoolgirls. It was like I was a celebrity or something!

My final tourist stop was the Kiyomizu Temple, the temple buildings did not seem to be too amazing or anything, but the view was fantastic - it overlooks the whole city. There were literally thousands of people at this place, a bit overpowering for a simple country boy like me!

The gate building at Kiyomizu Temple

After the day's sightseeing, I busted off back to Osaka (which i travelled through on the way to Kyoto). My intention was to find a capsule hotel (New Japan Sauna and Capsule Hotel to be precise) and stay there for the night. things didn't quite go to plan...

I arrived in Osaka about 7pm, the information desk was closed, i didn't have a map. long story short, I walked around town for ~ 4 hours trying to find someone to give me directions/an internet cafe/somewhere to stay/... Eventually after getting some good directions I found the Hotel, only to be shoo'ed away (aparently it was full). I ended up sleeping in some bushes outside a train station...

So, in summary, Japan is pretty cool - go to Kyoto, it's awesome and friendly. Skip Osaka if you're short on time it's not quite so tourist friendly...
Overall - worth the experience, I'll go back!