Thursday 17th September

Just about got up in time but had to wizz down to do us breakfast (egg on toast) before our lift was ready to drop us at the train station. Eggs were a runny but hey ho, they did us no harm, I know my cooking is not the best, but this time it was fine. PHEWWW!

The couple running the hostel were so sweet, I think they were enjoying the peace in the hostel, was very quiet, after us four, only one person was due to arrive today, CRAZY!!

So typical - not a cloud in the sky today, would have been perfect to have gone up the mountains, but unfortunately we had to get to Osaka for our ferry tomorrow, such a shame, but we did take some pics while waiting for the train.

Chatted to the other two guys on the first train, swapping stories and notes about some of the places each of us have either been to or are going to. A Japanese guy could not help but stare at Adam and I the whole journey, was really odd. Maybe if he stared for just a few minutes but he literally did not take his eyes off of us for about 40mins, was soooooooo strange.

Managed to get some gorgeous pics of the lake area from the train, was surprised they come out so well, especially taking them out of the train window, but came out beautifully, it's a shame we didn't get chance to cycle around the lake, it looked gorgeous, but we have plenty more lakes to travel while we are away, can't do everything I suppose.

The NewZealand guy got off a few stops before us, but the Spanish guy got off with us, felt bad cos we had to get the next train straight away and he wanted to double check his train details, so we jumped on our one and it left about 1 min after we got on it, as it started to move away, we thought it was probably the one he needed as well, but for some reason he had different times written down. Oh well, I'm sure he found the right one in the end.

Slept a little on one train then finally arrived at final stop about 3ish, a nice American couple assumed we were going to the same hostel and offered to show us the way. We chatted to them for a bit and got tips on some of the best places to visit, as we are only here for tonight.

Updated a bit of the blog while waiting for reception to open and then booked in and got all excited because because our room only had 3 beds and because we had 2 of them, we assumed that the room would be ours for the taking. Little did we know that they were going to slot in a lone traveller later in the day, not a big deal, but would have been nice to have our own room for once. Oh and our room was on the 5th floor - with no lift ARRRRHHHHH!!

Headed out to Minami area, found spa world, looked fab - a wee bit snassy though, we decided not to fork out the prices, but I'm sure it was a wonderful relaxing place to be, was a bit man made though and we had already done the real thing. The Festival Gate area and Zoo were all closed, it was getting a little late, so we headed into the shopping area. Took a funny pic of Ad with a sideways cap on, next to a pair of loud jeans - he looked very American.

The Tower was starting to light up as the night was drawing in, lights everywhere, looked really nice. Feeling a little peckish we each had some Octopus dumplings, actually rather tasty, I was surprised, didn't think I would like it that much. Went through the Den Den area - which is bascially full of electrical shops, was tempted to purchase a small handbag size laptop, but figured if we really needed one, it would be cheaper in another country.

Walked around for ages, found a couple more puppy shops, one had everything, from Chickens, Birds, Puppies, Kittens to Turtles, Rabbits, Lizards etc - you name they had it.

Was getting a wee bit tired and still hadn't eaten, so we found a perfectly nice little restaurant which happened to be packed out and got ourselves some meat on scewers, tempura, veg etc VERY TASTY mmmmmmmm It's great when you leave restaurants in Japan, cos all the staff, including the chef's all shout bye to you, what a polite and friendly thing to do. To end the night perfectly Ad got a donut, while I picked up a very yummy ice cream from shop, which tasted like a Vienetta Delicious!!