travelling allrite

When most people think of Japanese railways it is of the high speed Shinkansen trains racing across the countryside. As much as I love the comfort and speed of these engineering wonders, my favourite journeys are on their slower, local cousins as they climb slowly into the mountainous regions of Japan. B has her shopping days and I have my train days. Today was a train day, a chance to rest my feet and enjoy watching the Japanese landscape unfold gently outside of my window. The ride from Okayama on Japan's eastern Sanyo coast to Izumoshi, on the western Sanin coast should take three hours direct on the Yakumo Express. We'll be doing that route tomorrow. But today's trip took nine hours with six changes of train. It began with a high speed Hikari RailStar Shinkansen ride from Okayama to Hiroshima. We left our large bags in coin lockers at Okayama and just travelled with Alex's backpack carrier and a couple of day packs. Once at Hiroshima we had a half hour wai...

I've really messed up planning this trip. When I went looking for somewhere to stay today everywhere was booked out. I ended up with a double room in the second Toyoko Inn of Okayama as our existing hotel only had smoking rooms available. That was still better than any of the other cities on my list to visit. Moral of the story: book Saturday nights in advance. I'm very sleepy and somewhat addled right now. I wasn't sure what to do today; there were too many choices. So we just hopped on a local diesel train up the Kibi line for no good reason. It was only a short ride chugging past rural towns and rice paddies. The line terminated at Bichu Takamatsu, a town dominated by a giant rust-coloured torii. We followed the signs towards the ruins of Bichu Takamatsu's castle. By the way, the Bichu designation refers to the region and distinguishes the town from Takamatsu in Shikoku. The town itself seems utterly undistinguished. The day was hot and clear as we walked along t...

I've got my bag back. More than two hours travel for a transaction that took ten minutes. But it wasn't just my computer that I was missing. My camera battery charger was in there as well and my battery was down to one bar! We began the day with a Japanese breakfast of rice cakes, miso soup, pickles and salad at the hotel. I called the Kyoto lost and found office and arranged to pick up my bag at around 3pm. Then we crossed over the railway tracks to the eastern side of the station. First stop was Bic Camera, where I wanted to buy a second battery for my camera. The attendant apologised profusely that the battery didn't come charged but offered to charge it for me, a process taking two hours. A fully charged battery would have been nice, but it was not expected.We left them to charge it and caught a tram down to the Koraku-en garden. Koraku-en is considered one of the top three strolling gardens in all of Japan. We have visited all three previously, but each changes...

Strewth, I'm a bloody drongo. No photos tonight because the daypack with my computers and rechargers is in Kyoto while I am in Okayama. Fortunately, this is Japan, so hopefully it is safe and intact in the lost luggage centre. The reason that I am still able to post is that we are staying in a Toyoko Inn. No real luxury, but free computers, free internet, comfortable rooms and, most importantly right now, a coin operated laundry. Oh, and a vending machine that supplies grapefruit Gokuri Juice. We have a real problem with the weight of our luggage. Fortunately, Cathay Pacific have not complained that one of our bags is almost 8 kilograms overweight, but maybe that's because Alex gets his own 10 kilogram limit. But lugging around our bags is a real hassle, especially in travel-light Japan. Today was the first opportunity that I've had to actually wander around Hong Kong's International Airport. It's quite impressive, with some seemingly decent dining options a...

Not much to report about today. We slept in while outside the waterfalls around the swimming pool were falling horizontal in the gusty wind and heavy rain. It was a good day to stay indoors. I woke up with a very painful left shoulder blade, probably caused by dragging or lifting the heavy luggage. It caused a lot of discomfort when carrying Alex. The little fellow played in the hotel room, then had a two hour morning nap. I actually read a few pages of a novel! When he woke up we walked across to the Federal Restaurant at the adjacent CityGate mall and had yum cha for lunch. Unlike in Sydney, instead of carts of food trundling between tables you need to order the dishes from a menu and they are brought out to you. I prefer the cart method, it's more fun, and truth be told, out of the three yum chas that we have eaten in Hong Kong, none were up to the standard of some of Sydney's better restaurants. We went to change his nappy in the adjacent children's change roo...