Miyajima - Miyajima is a little island off the coast of Hiroshima and is considered to be one of the top three most scenic destinations in Japan.

The natural environment Miyajima hits you immediately as soon as you step off the ferry from Hiroshima as there are wild deers roaming the pier looking for handouts. The deers were quite accustomed to human company as they were quite willing allow themselves to be petted.

But the deers are very persistent in their quest for tidbits. They will zoom in to your bags and your person to sniff out food. On one occasion, while enjoying the attention of a couple of deers, I heard a huge ripping sound coming from behind me. I had the shock of my life thinking the deer must have ripped my pants apart ! Luckily for me, my pants did not fall victim to the deer but the map that I had in my backpocket succombed to the deer's probing. The deer had ripped off the top half of the map and promptly devoured it. Its attention was quickly turning to the second half of the map which was still in my pocket.

Just as I had pulled the remaining half of my map out of my backpocket, the deer grabbed on to it and we engaged in a tug of war which the deer got the best of. After that experience, I learned not to keep any pieces of paper within snatching distance of a curious deer.

In Miyajima, we stayed in a Japanese inn which was nestled half way up the mountain in the middle of the Momijidani (Maple Leaves) Park. It was a great location as it was only 10 minutes walk down to the waterfront and only 5 minutes in the other direction to the Miyajima ropeway station. The ropeway is a series of cable cars that take the public up to the top of Mount Misen. The photo of the four monkeys were taken at Mount Misen where there is a monkey and deer park and these creatures roam freely. There were also quite a collection of shrines on Mount Misen but it was quite a hike to get there from the ropeway station on top of the mountain. Miyajima was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Owakudani, Hakone - Owakudani is the mid-way point between Sounzan and Togendai and can be reached by the ropeway that connects the two towns. Owakudani is an active volcanic area that features a number of bubbling hot springs. I've never tried bathing in a hot spring and I can't understand why anyone would ! The water is clearly simmering at near boiling point and even if I could withstand the heat that must follow when one jumps into the bubbling cauldron, it was the smell that I couldn't stand !

The sulphur gases released here are so pungent that I was gagging when I came within 50 metres of the area. This is serious stuff ! But there were throngs of people here and it seemed that it was customary to buy an boiled egg and to consume it on the spot.

Path of Philosophy, Kyoto - The Path of Philosophy is a 2km long narrow path that follows an old canal from the Silver Pavilion (Ginkakuji) all the way down to somewhere near the Heian Shrine. This was my favourite experience in Kyoto.

I had always (naively) imagined Kyoto to be a place untouched by the march towards modernisation. To my shock, Kyoto Station was a behemoth of a station filled with multi-levels of shops and right outside the station is a scene reminiscent of Tokyo - big neon signs everywhere !

Fortunately, the Path provides an excellent respite from this modern assault to the senses. While following the Path, I really felt that I was in the olden Kyoto that I had imagined.

Unlike the other popular tourist destinations like the shrines and the castles, the serenity of the area was not broken by the throngs of other tourists nor marred by countless tacky souvenir shops. In contrast, we encountered only a handful of people and the Path was lined on one side with very tastefully designed residences and on the other by very nice craft shops.

Nijo Castle, Kyoto - The photos were taken in the gardens of Nijo Castle. As Japanese gardens go, I did not find these gardens that impressive. In fact, there were many parts of the garden which seemed rather unkempt.