On the Road

(Tokyo - Osaka 403km/250 Miles)
Total distance traveled = 403km/250 Miles

The journey has begun!

I'm still in Japan, but on route to the ferry which will take me to Russia.

On Tuesday night I took a night bus from Tokyo to Osaka. I generally don't sleep well on buses and planes. Being pretty tall, I find there isn't enough space for me to relax. Sitting upright also means that after what little sleep I do get, I often wake up with a sore neck. Paying a little extra for a slightly roomier seat helped a little with this. A couple of hours into the journey I also bought a kind of sausage shaped pillow that you can wrap around your neck. It's another item that i'll struggle to fit in my bag,but it seemed to help me sleep a bit better than normal and may come in useful later on too.

I arrived in Osaka at about 7am then got a train to meet my friend Neil who lives in nearby Nishinomiya. Neil came to Japan just after me,and for a while worked at the same company and was my neighbour. Over the years we've both changed companies and moved a few times. This was my first time to visit his new home since he moved East a few months ago.

I stayed with Neil for 3 nights, during which time we ate and drank too much! I also got to visit Kobe, which is seen as one of the nicest cities to live in in Japan. I did a little sightseeing around the port and in the old quarter,were there are still a few old European style houses. It was nice to see a familiar face and my worries of the trip ahead were forgotten for a few days.

I left Neil's home this morning and am now on another bus on route to Yonago, where i'll catch a train to Sakaiminato where the ferry departs from.

Although I could write this blog on my phone, I'm not keen on racking up big international rate phone bills. Hopefully I can make notes and access the internet in most hostels I stay in. I hadn't realised before I left Tokyo that I have 3G on my kindle ebook reader. I'm not sure how much coverage i'l get in different countries, but it's another free method of accessing the internet and i'm writing this post as a kind of test to see how easy it is. Of course, there's no way of adding photos, so i'll have to wait until I find a computer for that.

Added photos, but don't seem to be able to link them to the title. Here's a link.
http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc250/davingtonsmythe/Japan%20to%20Russia/On%20the%20Road/?albumview=slideshow

Closing in

Only two weeks before I sail from Japan.Work has been pretty busy, so I haven't been as organized as I would've liked. Slowly getting there though.

Got a Russian visa and train tickets for the Russian leg of the journey and the ferry from Japan.Booked some accommodation in Russia and Belarus too. I'll hopefully get a Belarussian visa next week.

The timing is a bit tight in a few places like Ekaterinburg and Perm where I want to visit the grave of Tsar Nikolas II and go to a former GULAG prison camp, so I might have to book tours to make sure I can get to them.

Beyond Belarus I'm not entirely certain of my route or timing as visas aren't an issue.I've also yet to decide when I'll actually leave home to get to the ferry terminal on the other side of the country either.Still, with all my student reports finished at work should have a bit more time for internet research and reservations, so long as I don't get distracted by killing zombies!