It's OK, I'm back

I'm not dead - although I appreciate your concern - I'm just in Kobe. It's similar, but not quite the same. This is my fourth leg of a tour of the Kyoto region of Japan, which started, oddly enough, with Kyoto. Kyoto is a wicked city. It gets a bit of stick in the Lonely Planet but it's got a decent urban sprawl. However, the reason people go is the temples. If you wonder a little bit to the east it's really old style Japan, with shrines, temples, pagodas, little wooden teahouses and cobbled streets. It gets a bit Temple Disney at times with hoardes of Japanese tourists, but generally its peaceful and beautiful. It also has the Shoegun's old gaf, which is really interesting as the former corridors of power in Japan. The floorboards were intentionally creaky so they could hear would-be assassins creeping in.
Nara was the capital of Japan before Kyoto, for a century around the 700s, but is not as good. It also has more temples than you can shake a stick at but the only real one of note is a beautiful old wooden building. It is the largest wooden building in the world and wouldn't last five minutes in the UK, scallywags would be queuing up to the torch the thing. Thankfully it's in Japan.
Osaka is like a girl (or guy, sorry, don't mean to be sexist) who knows she's not that good looking but also knows how to have a good time. I was out all night last night with a friend I met in China then got the train to Kobe this morning. Not slept yet so off for some kip. Really sorry about the pics situation, they're all on my camera, wish I could load them.