Kyoto, its been a long time since i got to sit at a computer, as the connection in the hostel at kyoto was poor, though that really was the only thing about the place that was.
we decided to move over to Kyoto as we saw a cheap overnight bus transport option, which yes it took all night, but it was cheap! alot cheaper than the bullet trains which everyone else seemed to be taking
the joys of overnight travel can be summerised as follows: Japanese people can fall asleep in an instant, they then lean all over you, possibly dribble on you, and such like, they also dont wake easily, so your elbows can be as pointy as you like, but they wont avail you
there is no toilet on the bus, so the bus stops every 2 hours or so, and everyone gets woken up, which just as us none native sleepers are dozing off, we get woken up.
we had also been told that the bus would arrive in Kyoto at 7am which is a reasonable hour, this was a LIE! the bus got there at 5:30 which is what the photo of me, raul and maria (a canadian lass who took the bus with us) sat on the hostel steps waiting to be let in.
the other thing about the bus which made it very surreal, was that due to the neon nature of japan (which stretches onto its highways as well) the bus was encased in blackout curtains, they were even drawn over the driving cabin, so that the drivers view wouldnt reduce the chances of sleeping. this gave the effect of some space simulator, especially on the raised sections of highway, when you cant see the road beneath you, and the only lights are the strong city neon lights away in the distance, it was like floating in space.
