Day 23 - 21st of September

8:48am　普通電車
天気：曇り

I can't believe how lucky I am sometimes; I just made the bus. Whoops, I'm going the wrong way!!! I'm on the train in the wrong direction. Oh well, I'll get off at the next stop and ride back. Pfft, so much for luck... Oh well, only have to wait 5 minutes to catch the train back in the other direction. That's the good think about Japanese public transport; very frequent. Silly me, and I thought I had it sorted!

9:02am　普通電車
On the train, and almost back to Hirakata-shi where I started. Basically what I've done is instead of sitting around in the station for this exact train, I just went down two stations and caught it there! So I haven't lost ant time at all, just a little energy. Wow, I just realised I'm in the front carriage; never been in the front before. It's really cool to see out the front windscreen. I'm standing up at the moment which is a bit of a pain with all my baggage. Hopefully I can sit down soon!

9:33am　普通電車

Oh my gosh. Standing next to me is a kid, no more than 3 years old, watching TV on his mobile phone. No wonder Japanese people are so tech savvy.

9:53am　快速電車

Changed lines at 東福寺 (Tofukuji). I'm now on the rapid express train to Kyoto; just one stop away.

10:11am　京都駅

Here I am in the sky garden on the 11th floor of Kyoto station. I'm supposed to be waiting for Alex here because it's a spot we both remember from our previous trips. It's sunny and hot here, so I think I might go down to somewhere with shade. As long as I'm in an open spot I should be able to find her pretty easily. She might well be another 30 minutes away anyway. I'll take a few pics first though.

10:19am　京都駅

Now I'm at the bottom of the 9th floor steps. It looks like it could rain, so I may move again. I'm going to eat the last of my bread...

10:32am　京都駅

Aww, "Tale as Old as Time" (from beauty and the beast) is playing over the intercom. They're advertising the stage show throughout the station; that would be interesting to see. Wow, now I'm waiting at the train exit for Alex. She rang me up, freaking out a bit, but I think she'll be fine. She should be able to spot me pretty easy.

11:28am　マック

Since Alex was on the Shinkansen, she ended up exiting on the opposite side. So... I decided to walk around to the other side, across the train track's overpass. She was waiting in Mcdonald's. Guess who I bumped into soon after I got here? Tamblyn!!! How unbelievably crazy is that?! That we ended up in the same station, on the same day, in the same Mcdonalds. So yeah, I'm flabbergasted. He's just come from Tokyo on his school trip. He's using Alex's Japanese phone now to call his parents...

11:42am　マック

And just like that, he leaves. That was probably the strangest interlude I've ever had...

1:14pm　普通電車

Phew, we just made it on the train to Ogoto Onsen! After leaving Mcdonalds we walked back around to the other side. As we were coming to the station entrance, this old Japanese guy came up to us and started speaking in English. He asked about where we came from, and how we felt about certain things, like putting soy sauce in rice. Apparently that's a bad thing? He also continuously asked why English is such a hard language. We must've been with him for about 30 minutes, helping him make sense of a number of sentences and phrases he had written in English. Until, lo and behold, I spot another familiar face. Coming out of the station with a group of friends was Luke! We talked for a bit, then had to rush off the get to the train; leaving the old man with Luke's group, xD.

3:28pm　湯元館、雄琴温泉

We are in our room now and It's great. I'm here in a 浴衣 (yukata - Japanese light robe) just lounging on the bed! The service here is excellent. They picked us up from the station, and gave us a full tour around the expansive inn. It's so amazing, I can't wait to get it the hot springs tonight. I'm so happy to be here and amazed that I made it.

9:08pm　湯元館

Just came back from the onsen. Wow, it was so beautiful. There were rocks and gardens surrounding the pool, to imitate a natural setting; there was tunnel of rock over the water. And everything was supplied: shampoo, soap, towels; and for afterwards, hair dryer, disposable razors, combs, foot cream! It was great. I spent about an hour in there. Alex came back after about 25 minutes; she's sensitive to the heat. The one I went to was on the 5th floor, and Alex went to the one on the roof; each day they rotate from male-female use.

Before the hot springs, we had the most amazing dinner. Soooo much to eat: miso soup, rice, fish, chicken, vegetables, and heaps of condiments. And for dessert, apple pudding. And the service, excellent of course.