A Woodland Day

Good Day all how are you all doing

Well to day was my favourite so far and somehow it all went according to plan which is scary to think that something i planned came together, anyway it started out with me trying to navigate the Osaka train system to get to the closest stop to where i wanted to go this took my much longer than i want to admit but i finally figured it out and got there without a hitch, my camera was lashed to my Arm the whole day not chancing it again.

so the place i wanted to go is called Minoh waterfalls, and to get to it there was a nice long walk through the Woods and there were a few other things along the way including a temple and a butterfly sanctuary... odd yes but it was cool.

the walk is around 6km so not to bad and its all paved so no need for hiking boots. the hill in places is steep but it is all worth it. to be honest nothing out of the ordinary happened. no interesting tale of me loosing things i just really enjoyed walking through the woods. right i'll stop talking, onto the pictures.

The Manholes are great

He's like their little mascot

Start of the Trail 

Lots of little houses on the side 

And some businesses as well

The colours are just incredible 

The Sanctuary was amazing some super rare butterfly's

this wee guy was hard to photograph 

He was harder never stopped moving 

these ones were everywhere but still look cool

Back on track again and it just keeps getting better

Distracted again by this cool wee house for the spirits 

Now back on track again 

Yay the waterfall its amazing 

Trying to make it look fancy 

Going back down now still looks amazing

Looks different from the way up not sure why

The Temple, it looks new, but its just been renovated

Has the monkeys on it

Dragon always has his spot helping

Lovely little bridge to more of the temple 

The guardian looks like it could be renovated i loved it

Town just round this corner you couldn't tell

 All in all a great day feet are a bit sore but i'll survive

What possible adventure could i have tomorrow. tune in and find out next time.

See you all tomorrow

A Long Day

Konbanwa chappies

So Today i had planned to get up early and get lots and lots done, But last night in the dorm was a guy whose snore could be measured on the Richter scale the bloody building shook, so basically i never got any sleep till around 7 this morning and i slept till 10 so early start was not happening, never the less i tried to fit in my original agenda anyway.

so the plan was a temple stomp see as many as i could, now Osaka it's self hasn't many in it but there are a few to the south so that was i went. My map wasn't very good of that area, by that i mean i didn't have a map so in each train stop there luckily was a little map showing the area. now at this juncture i'll like to remind you all my Japanese isn't very good even worse it my reading of Japanese is even worse. every thing in this area is in Japanese, there is no romanji translation.

so i head out into the concrete jungle to find some temples using only a picture on my phone of the map at the train station as guidance i think out of the whole day i only found 1 of the temples i was actually looking for, but i found many others instead. i have alot of pictures so they will be added in after with a wee description below them.

Today i did the stupidest thing i have ever done i believe. I Left My Camera On A Freekin Train. my nice big dslr. i was so sad i thought it was gone forever, but on my way back i went into the office to just (try and) ask if it had been handed in and low and behold, it had i had to wait for an hour for it to come from another station but it arrived all in one piece. YAY. i was so down when i realised i left it somewhere but i'm all good again.

this was the first temple of the day. quiet but nice

This part of the temple was dedicated to Teeth. Hence smiling man there

main hall was closed but still looks nice

I love these tori's 

Lunch time and more Takoyaki different place taste different. still good 

This was a small place, but had a really nice garden next to it 

the detail on the lamp as usual is amazing( thought the cicada was real)

A very clean Shrine very organised 

Gaurdian. Keeping everything under control 

Still love tori's so bright 

 Well if you made it this far you get a nice wee video.


that has been my day. a good day of getting lost, loosing things, and finding things and places so all in all a great day.


 my cheeks are hurting from all the smiling

Anyway see you all tomorrow...

A Nice Quiet Day

Konichiwa Everybody

 Well where to start, i suppose right after i finished writing the blog last night i went out to find some food but i was not wanting much not very much  i stumbled upon a little place i thought looked good, turned out to be a bar. Let the drinking commence. There were two Japanese fellows sitting at the bar already just playing some weird game on their phones so i bought a round and we sat and chatted and drank having a good time till around 10pm when 1 had to go to a surfing tournament the following day, and the other was under the thumb, all and all a good night.

Right then onto today, today was just meant as another quiet day not do too much i am a little jet lagged so step in to it easily. i started it off by going into osaka it's self and just looked around for some temples and shines to look at the first one i found had a school kids concert on so i never went in but the next one, not sure why, had a food and drinks festival going on in it. which was really cool lots of people having fun.

After walking around the shrine i stumbled on a very long street, it was in fact Japan's longest shopping only street called Shinsaibashi-suji there was tons along it so many shops with lots of different things, and there was food and drink too all on 1 long street.

I never actually bought anything from here lots of things though and it got me out of the burning sun for a while it has been super hot all the time even now at 7pm its quite warm. my saviour the trip so far has been the vending machines they are absolutely everywhere which is great the drinks are ice cold. i particularly like the iced coco mmmm but all the drinks are nice even the one called pukari sweat, its nice trust me.

So i went from the shopping street to a near by building called NHK, the TV place which i thought was cool very big building. next to the nhk building was a little warehouse by that i mean and old style warehouse they presume there was a lot before but only this one is left there now. Across the main road from the warehouse is the place of the old castle, that i presume burnt down long ago, all that was left was the foundations of the place and the grounds surrounding them. there is a very nice park there now where i seen lots of kids trying to catch grasshoppers or crickets not sure which but was pretty cool. (i met 5 bugcatchers today, it was okay i had a fire type with me :D). And there was a Father trying to teach his son baseball, and even some kids playing touch rugby all very cool.

 that is the nhk building in the back. and the father and son playing ball.

 So after all that walking which was a lot i decided to head back to the Guest house on the way back i grabbed some Takoyaki (Octopus balls) Really tasty i recommend them. i never took any pictures as i ate them. but that has been my day through and through.

now have a picture of a cat under a bike.

See you all Tomorrow. oh btw i got my bag back too

Osaka Finally

Good Day All

I have finally made it, i am in the amazing Osaka. and right now I'm sitting in my little Guest house which so far is fantastic friendly staff and nice guests too.

My flight over was as good as a 10 1/2 hour flight can be, a little uncomfortable but in general it was okay, my flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam was late and i only just made it to my flight over here, But My bag wasn't quite as fast as me, it should be arriving on the next flight and its getting delivered to the guest house, they even phoned ahead to let the owner know that would be happening very nice. At least the food on the plane was good

And whilst i was waiting for the check in at the Guest house to open i decided to go around a near by attraction well its just Osaka Castle that's all. it was so hot, for me at least i just had to get an ice cream chocolate and vanilla mmmmmmmmm. the place had lots around unfortunately for you guys you can't see all the nice pictures as they are on my DSLR and i don't have the cable with me as it's in my main bag.

there were little temples dotted around the castle as well this one was my favourite  lots of nice swoopy bits

I had just been around the castle which is now a museum very interesting things in it swordy things as well, very nice, i needed a seat at this point as that place is eight stories tall knackered going up the stairs. while i was sitting here though a very nice old man mr.haneda came up to me and started talking to me we bleathered for around 30mins was really nice and interesting fellow another part of japan that i love, the friendliness of everyone, they are willing to go out of their way to help you, which another did when i got a bit lost getting to my guest house, i never really payed attention to where i was just mouth wide open looking at everything in amazement. 

But i am here now in this comfy little place lots near by to keep me busy. as long as all my battery's last till my bag gets here.

Have fun all

Start Of A Long Jouney

Well all,

 i have just started the first leg of my journey in Japan, apart from the fact in still in Scotland at least i'm in the airport. got a wee bite to eat and am now sitting in weatherspoons divulging into an alcoholic beverage, its technically beer o'clock somewhere,my gate has just been advertised and its the gate right in front of the pub, now that's a good start.

my flight takes me to Amsterdam schipol, or something like that just a short layover a couple of hours I believe, plenty of time hopefully.

anyway back to beer and waiting, I feel there will be lots of waiting today for some reason.


YAY JAPAN HERE I COME