Day 9

Dads last full day, so we gave him a treat to remember - sightseeing tram in northwest kyoto. After a lovely walk through an amazing beautiful bamboo forest, we boarded the tram at Saga and we were taken through tunnels and over bridges, getting a view of the clear blue river. I was made to feel at home by 3 japanese ladies, i wish i knew what they were saying to me! At the end of the trip we had a lovely walk through some rice fields and then took a tour of kyoto's train station. It felt so futuristic, we headed up the escalators to the 7th floor and got on the skyway, which had a beautiful view of the city, all surrounded by hills. We went up even further to the 15th floor, starting to feel a bit queesy! Saw the Kyoto Tower and the Toji Temple - the tallest pagoda in kyoto. After spending too long searching for our luggage lockers, we boarded the shinkansen for Tokyo to get to Narita. Well lets just say this wasnt as easy as we had thought! We didnt get into Tokyo until 9pm, so we had 2 hours to check-in to our hotel before it closed! I read in the lonely planet that the narita express goes on until 10pm, but it had finished - eek! After a hard conversation with a ticket mabn as just guessed and boarded a train to narita, got to our hotel at 10 to 11! phew! hotel was very nice - in western beds for a change!

(Mandy)