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After a bit of a sleepin I headed to Tokyo train station with Cameron and Jordan and bought a ticket to Kyoto on the bullet train. After 2 hours of a very pleasant train ride we pulled into Kyoto and made our way getting a bit lost to Ks hostel. The hostel is amazing and my private room has a bunk bed, tv and couch (pretty good for about $45 a night). There is also multiple common rooms and the front staff are incredibly friendly and helpful.
After a walk to find an ATM that actually worked (first 5 didn't until we found a 711 one that to foreign cards) and having an early dinner we chilled for a bit in the commonroom and met Debs (from Oxford working in Japan), Rose (from Netherlands), James (from London) and James (from Sydney). We drank a bit in the bar then trekked to a shop to buy more beer for the commonroom and crashed out around 2-3am.
The next day we hired bikes and rode to some Japanese gardens, a castle and the imperial palace before heading to a recommended public baths which took a lot of finding. In the end a guy we asked walked us a couple of blocks to show us where it was. The whole thing was very different as you strip off to nothing, sit on a small plastic bowl and wash yourself in front of a mirror before you can enter any of the series of baths, including an electric section which kinda massages/shocks you if you sit between the electrodes. Afterwards we rode back to the hostel and after a 30min run with james a group of us (James, James, Debs, and 2 US army guys) heading to the Gion district for sushi. The food was great and cheap (total ~$10) and a highlight was the bullet sushi train that delivered special orders.
When we left someone suggested karaoke so I again found myself singing , though this time we included 3h of free drinks (whole night cost around $45). We had an awesome time and ended up drunk and singing on the couches. The drunk related to DEbs attempt to order shots of whiskey, which ended up being tall glasses filled with whiskey which we ended up mixing and drinking in our beer (idea based on a suntory patent, though a lot stronger). After leaving we stocked up with snacks at a convenience store and went back to the hostel, where I don't remember wrestling with James.
Up at 12:30, metro to orange temple hill. Planking. Dinner at korean BBQ all you can eat. Watched Last Samurai.
The next day we checked out and James, Cameron, Jordan an I grabbed the train to Osaka and went to the aquarium. Highlights were the king penguins and a really cool porpoise. We then jumped on the bullet train and made our way back to Tokyo and checked into the khaosan kabuki hostel in asakusa (great location). We went for a wander to find Jordan some raw horse but as most things were closed, we settled for a general Japanese restaurant, then made out way to our hostel for the night.
We all slept in and spent some time walking around asakusa before catching the metro to watch a baseball game. Canadian guy John (working as an engineer in Germany) also joined us. The seats we got were right at the back but the view was still good and the atmosphere was excellent with over 30000 local giants fans chanting throughout the game. The only downside was the price of beers (~$9). after the game, which the giants won, James, John and I took a taxi to the bar/clubs area and after a couple of tries we managed to get dinner and a 2h drinks package at a restaurant without any English. Again we did whiskey-beer!
After dinner we went to a popular club which was $35 to enter but kept us amused until about 6am when we caught the metro back to the hostel for a couple of hours sleep before I had to check out
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