Kobe to Kyoto

The journey to Kyoto wasn't far and as we couldn't access our apartment until the afternoon we needed to fill our morning. We walked up to Ikuta shrine which has been reconstructed following the 1995 earthquake.

Lucky charms to buy;

We took the local train which entailed 3 changes and was a bit of a challenge but we emerged into light rain 30 minutes walk from the airbnb apartment. The first action when we arrive anywhere is to put the kettle on. There were 2 mugs and a kettle......no teaspoon? We searched the tiny apartment inside and out - no cutlery, no crockery, no cooking utensils nor saucepans. An empty space where the 2 ring cooker should be according to the photos on the listing.

We've stayed in 19 different places so far on this trip and taken numerous planes, trains and buses and this was our first hiccup. We wasted the afternoon trying to contact the Chinese owner and quoting her own listing to her "fully equipped for guests wishing to cook their own meals". She eventually admitted her mistake and asked me for a list of what we needed so she could bring them and asked us to leave the key in the postbox as she didn't have her own key.

Jess and Ryan came to the apartment so we could have dinner but, of course we had to eat out. We decided on a place where you order your meal on a machine;

There was some fun working out which tray of food belonged to who when it all arrived. After the meal Jess and Ryan caught the bus back to their hostel and we walked to the apartment. The lights were on and the door locked. We knocked and rang the bell several times - no answer. We were just starting to get a bit twitchy when there was the sound of footsteps hurrying up the communal stairs and a young man, apparently the owner's friend apologised and let us in. Some of the stuff he had brought was inadequate and dirty. At the time of writing we are 'in dispute' with the owner and airbnb are involved.