I will have two more prawn tempura Mr Shinkansen

So there we were, two little river rafters bound by an inflatable dinghy and undiluted terror. Well if I am honest the terror tipped the scale more to my side, while more of an enjoyable rush weighed down Roland`s. Imagine if you will, a super tube big enough to accommodate two people on a rubber duck with two holes cut out for two bums, now have that ride take as long as Roland ordering something from a menu and have it twist and turn along the outside of the building, oh and before I forget, paint it all pitch black. You would think that being tossed and turned while absolutely blind, at an insane speed would be enough to terrify Roland, but alas, while I was scared to the point of not even screaming, the only thing my senses picked out of the abyss was the sound of giggling coming from the blond sitting in front of me.

Out of the five super tubes we braved that day, the aforementioned monster was by far the worst and while it was terrifying, it was also exhilarating enough for me to ride that Kraken of the super slide world twice.

The American/Japanese/South African alliance.

The emperor was kind enough to give us Monday off to pay our respects to the aged and so we scored a 3 day weekend. We made the most of Saturday and went to see some tame monkeys that roam around Takasaki Mountain and invited 3 Nakatsu residents to come keep us company for the next 2 days. Our Sunday was spent going up a mountain (just noticed we had quite a thing for mountains this weekend) in a cable car, along a very long ropeway. It was pretty damn high but it is impossible to panic while they pump out Disney music and light jazz all the way to the top. I am not going to lie to you, the view was something else and the only thing that broke the spell was my eventual shouting that I could see my house from there (in my defense I really could see my house). Thanks to one of our guest`s Japanese skills we all drew our fortunes from the little shrine right at the top of the mountain as he translated. Mine was ok but for the second time in a row Ducky got one of the worst fortunes on offer and while she did tie it to a pole to dispel the bad voodoo a wasp followed her and only her for a good 10 minutes.

Getting our fortunes on.

Near the cableway we discovered a little tucked away restaurant and all feasted on rice, onion, beef and broth in different combinations and cooking styles. That evening we all went to my favorite Korean restaurant and Roland and I confidently ordered the wrong thing. Said wrong thing turned out to be pretty good but the party really got started when the right thing finally made an appearance. We love that place so much that Roland has said that the best Japanese food he has had so far has been Korean.
On Monday the South African-American alliance made our way to Umitamago, our aquarium named, sea egg. Here we heard as many sugoi`s (awesome) as we did tabetai`s (want to eat) and if I were any of those fishies I would count my lucky fins that there was a plate of glass separating me from the tourists. I have to admit that when lunchtime strolled over we were all ready to swap the live fish for some of their rice and soy sauce covered cousins. We stopped at sushi train, where a little Shinkansen (bullet train) delivers what you ordered. After stacking up a decent amount of plates it was time for Aquabeat, or as I like to call it, the waterlogged hall of horrors.

Ok, ok I have been known to exaggerate a teeny tiny bit so in all fairness it was not that scary. They have a wave pool and lazy river for those incurable scaredy cats such as myself and the onsen and Jacuzzi really hit the spot after all that sliding and screaming. We were literally the last 5 people out of the pool and while old langsyne was playing as the goodbye music all the staff lined up to bow and say thank you

The next day I served as a judge at a speech competition and tomorrow is autumn equinox day or as Roland and Ducky call it, wooden roller-coaster day. I will be buying a grandma ticket since even the kiddy rides at the theme park we wish to visit would give me post traumatic stress syndrome. I will let you know if those two daredevils make it alive.