Going to Oiso

This morning we had to checkout by 10am again, but we were up earlier. Before and after checkout, we went on the internet in the hotel lobby area so we could print out the hotel booking confirmations and also get the co-ordinates of the hotel locations to add to the gps.

There was also an Australian guy staying at the hotel, who had the same trouble finding a hotel in Kyoto as we did, and he was telling us how none of the capsule hotels would let him stay there because he wasn't Japanese. He also said the trains/subway system was really difficult and complicated in Tokyo, and showed us three maps of different train/subway systems, all run by different companies and with separate stations. So in one place, you might have three stations, each one for a different rail operators tracks. You'd need to make sure you chose the right station to get the train you wanted.

After doing that, we left our bags at the hotel and a had a quick look round the two nearby temples, which were both large and quite similar. We went back to the hotel to pick up our bags before 12.00 noon as the hotel was closed between noon and 3.00pm.

When I'd finished packing my tripod back in its bag along with all the other stuff I fitted into the tripod bag, we saw the Australian guy again, and he was also going to the station, so we went there with him. We asked at the station about the Japan rail pass, but they confirmed that you can only buy it outside of Japan. They do offer a couple of rail passes in Japan, but they don't cover Tokyo and the areas we wanted to see.

So we booked a ticket to Oiso, and a return two days later to Kyoto, which cost about £300-400 for both of us. The lady wrote on the tickets what station we needed to change at. We had to get the Shinkansen as the only other way to get there would be to take multiple local trains that would mean lots of changing and a journey over 7 hours. When we got to Odawara, which was where we had to change, we went down to the platform and looked at a sign that showed there were two trains running the route we wanted - a local train and an express train. The express train didn't stop at Oiso, but the local one did.

So we got the train that Moccle thought must be the local train, but when the bloke came to check our tickets, he said the train wasn't going to Oiso, so he had to stand by the doors and get off at the next stop or pay 1000 Yen to stay sitting down. So we went and stood by the doors, and waited for the next stop, which took ages. When we eventually got off, we found this train wasn't listed on the information board at the last station, and actually went past even more stops without stopping than the 'rapid' train did.

We managed to find the right platform and train that was 'local' and was going back towards Oiso. But at one station it stopped, and didn't seem to be going anywhere. We got out and checked, and the train now said it was going to Tokyo. Oiso was the next station along in the opposite direction to Tokyo. Moccle asked a woman, and she said the train to Oiso went to platform 4, so we went there and waited for the next local train. Eventually we did get to Oiso, and bought some drinks from the vending machine on the station platform (drinks Vending machines seem to be everywhere in Japan). We got to Oiso probably about 4.00pm (would have been more like 3.00pm if we hadn't got the wrong train).

After that we walked to the hotel, which took quite a while, and was painful carrying heavy bags. On the way we went into a shop and bought some food, which was very expensive - about £10 just for a few things! Eventually we got to the hotel about 5pm and checked in. The hotel is pretty big and posh, but you have to pay 1000 yen per day for internet access!

I wrote up today and the last few days worth of blog posts, ate some food, and did the washing with Moccle, which cost 400 Yen (we accidentally used the dryer first, so it should have been 300 Yen - 200 for the washing machine, 100 Yen for the dryer). After the washing machine had finished we realised that actually we should have put some washing powder in, it was shown on the underside of the washing machine lid, which we had looked at before, but had looked at the steps to using it (which didn't include adding washing powder). I'm not sure where you'd get washing powder from anyway as there wasn't anywhere around to get it from (unless you're meant to bring a box to the hotel with you).

Food
Tea (Well, actually, if you count yesterday's meal as breakfast, that would make this lunch, tea, breakfast, lunch, and tea): ½ spicy vegetable pot noodle style thing; ½ packet of chicken something flavour crisps; ½ iced chocolate sponge cake thing; ½ banana cake; 3 Oreo Chocolate pie minis (Like Oreo sized Wagon wheels, and a total rip-off - you only get 5 in a packet that costs about a quid; Coffee; Green tea; Water.