Japan (my chain of events), the current state of affairs re: Photographs.

So, having ditched Laura at Osaka station, myself and Sinead took off to Kyoto, cultural capital of Japan. We arrived, had a delicious lunch from Seven-Eleven, waited for the hostel to open, and decided the best way to see the town was by bike. (it's a flat enough city, there was readily available bicycle rental)

Now, when you don't know the rules of the road, it's very easy just to do what you would at home. Turns out - in Japan, it's highly illegal to cycle on the road. We didn't know this, and that's why we ended up pedalling like maniacs along a motorway. (in our defence, it didn't look like a motorway on the map)

Anyway, it got dark, and we figured we were dangerous enough by day, so we called it a night, retreated to the hostel, and spent the evening doing less and less flattering impressions of Mr. Shan.

The next day, in a perfectly timed example of 'you'll get your comeuppance' or 'the laugh will be on the other side of your face' He cornered me, about a hundred and fifty miles from where we'd last left him.

So while Sinead took off to Odate City to meet Laura & Louise. I headed south, down as far as Sera, to meet Gearoid (DUUUDE!) another chancer on the JET programme.

While in Sera, we did a lot of magic. (much easier when you speak a language your audience doesn't.)Picture the scene - a tiny Japanese bar, there's us, and a drunk Japanese Nurse...

Gearoid: Ok,pick a card
Drunk Japanese Nurse: Ah! *picks 3 of diamonds, shows it to me, puts it back in the deck*
Gearoid: Now I will guess your card! *does magic-ey movements*
Me: Dude, it's the three of diamonds.
Gearoid shuffles through the deck, pulls out the three of diamonds, Nurse explodes with amazement.

Gearoid and his friends also brought me to a tiny okonomiyaki place, run by a lovely japanese woman, who tried out all sorts of wierd and wacky japanese food on me. (it's a small town, not many white folks) Salted, fishy prune anyone?

So, after hanging out in Sera for a few days, having the craic, watching telly (up to speed on Lost & family guy now!) I hopped the ole'shinkansen (that's bullet train to you...non japanese folks) and headed for Tokyo.

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Some of you may have notice a slight increase in the rate of posts. That's because we're in Bangkok, it's a million degrees, we're mostly a little wrecked from the night before, and there's air conditioned internet right down here near the swimming pool.

I've been working on trying to get photos up from here, but since I have to install drivers & can't reboot, it'll probably be later on.

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The...uh...mormon issue. I'd like to clear that one up right now. As laura says, we were on our way to the halloween party, and I was wearing a 'fro wig. And this pretty girl next to me turns to me, smiles and says 'Happy halloween!'

Now, I don't normally check for Mormon badges, and I try like hell not to stare at girls chests when I'm talking to them. So that's how I...uh...missed the fact that I was chatting up an on-duty, returning from knocking on doors during her missionary work Mormon.

So Laura's telling of events is as usual, completely accurate.

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Sinead's promised to do Tokyo!

now, breakfast! And we've a team talk this morning, we've to figure out where to go next.