On Yer Bike

We've finally come to the end of our too short trip to Japan. The last leg of the journey was a real race; we had to go from Hiroshima all the way to Tokyo in one day, so we could pick up our passports with our Indian visas. Just to make it even more of a challenge Elaine's back went so I had to carry both our rucksacks, so now my legs are like tree-trunks! We got two bullet-trains to Tokyo and after dropping our stuff into our hostel in Tokyo – with the smallest room ever – we made a mad dash to the visa center before it closed and made it with a whole 2 minutes to spare.

We stuck around in Tokyo for a couple of days, staying in a traditional Japanese ryokan. Elaine's back got a little better so we had a gander around some of the parts we'd missed the first time. Harajuku is a bit mad and hectic, it's where all the cool kids in Tokyo go to hang out and shop. It's pretty hectic even on a Wednesday afternoon, so we headed to the peace and quite of the nearby Mejii Shrine. It's a lovely wooded area with temple complex in the middle, filled with monks and maidens, which was a nice break from the rampant consumerism just a few hundred metres away.

Our next stop is Singapore, but to get there we had to go via Bangkok, which meant a night in Bangkok airport. Leaving Japan is a bit tough, especially with 24 hours of traveling to do. Hopefully I'll get to come back some day and see more of one of the most amazing countries i've been lucky enough to visit. As ever photos on Flickr, so check em out!