Days

April 20th
I woke up on the hillside of Tsumago and stretched my legs, turning toward the morning sun I took a deep breath, grabbed my pack and set off on the trail. I walked another 6km to the train station and passed some of the most beautiful places I have seen in Japan. There were small houses with friendly occupants, fields stretching into the green mountains, and beautiful vistas. Unfortunetly, my camera died right on the top of Tsumago castle overlooking the entire town, but I will always remember it clearly. I arrived at the station an hour later and walked into a small grocery store that sold the most delicious fried chicken I have ever tasted. I liked it so much I went back for seconds, at which point the woman laughed with me, then waited around the train station for a couple of hours to catch the express train back to Nagoya.

From Nagoya I got a train to Kyoto and stayed at this really nice Youth Hostel called Tour Club, which is owned an operated by a fellow traveler who was appaled at the lack of youth hostels in Kyoto that were close to the train station. I didnt have a reservation, but lucky for me I could stay in the living room. When I arrived I met some really great people, named Ben and Eileen. Ben was a english man who was in Japan studying the Japanese flute. Eileen was also english, but her nationality was Chinese, she spoke both fluently. We all went out to dinner at a sushi train where I tried everything that looked inedible. I double dared Eileen to eat the baby squids with me, grimacing we both did.

After dinner I went with Ben to hear him practice his flute. I have a little on camera, so hopefully I can share that with you guys when I get to a place that has a photo program in english, for right now I can tell you it was magical. Especially since I was drinking two forties that I got out of a vending machine. Yifei had a couple days off, so I called her and we arranged to meet up the next day...