Today I left Beppu for Hiroshoma. My plans for an early start fell apart when I went to a bar near the hostel with some　people from there. The bar specialised in unusual Japanese bear - I had one that tasted like ginger and a Dutchman had an Espresso beer! Each beer has its own glass, very European! We sat on the floor on tatami mats which is more comfortable than you think! The lady who runs the bar seemed very pleased we were there and even took our photo to display on the wall. We returned to the hostel to drink sake and more beer (beer is surprisingly cheap. The hostels all sell big cans for 200 yen, about a pound). You may think that with an English person, a Dutchman, a German and an American things could have got a little heated but surprisingly the German had a sense of humour! He liked Blackadder, Monty Python etc. In fact they all loved British comedy which was a bit strange!

I got the train around 10am and it was packed! Eventually arrived in Hiroshima　and had to get the tram to the hostel. They all have conductors and I think I annoyed him as I tried to put my money in the card slot...I didn`t even know how much it was! Found the hostel but the reception was closed for lunch so just left my things in the luggage room and headed to the Peace Park and Peace Memorial Museum. This has certainly been a different day - it was all quite harrowing to be honest. They had a special exhibition of survivor`s drawings with their comments about the day. It was awful. I didn`t realise how many children died - 12 and over had been called up to do demolition work for the war (to create gaps in the buildings ｔｏ　ｐｒｅｖｅｎｔ　ｆｉｒｅ）　and because there were no warnings (against scientists wishes) they had all headed into the city centre. The museum has some photographs which show the devastation and pictures of burns and things. It was a very good museum - it did actually make you think about how awful it must have been and how the effects are still felt now.

I left and walked around the Peace Park and saw the Centograph, the Children`s Peace Memorial (in honour of a girl who contracted leukemia ten years after and folded 1000 paper cranes in the hope they would help her. All around is surrounded by thousands of paper cranes that people still leave there). Over the bridge from the park is the A-Bomb Dome. It is very strange to see this with a backdrop of sky scrapers but I suppose that shows it does its job - if you didn`t know what it was you would definitely ask!What was surprising was how the Japanese tour groups, of which there were many, seemed to treat it like a theme park almost. Maybe it was just the people who were there when I was but it was a little strange that I felt quite moved by it all but they didn`t seem to be (I`m sure they were though the impression was not good).

i am slightly ashamed to admit that I went to McDonalds for tea. I really needed a break from Japanese food and was so hungry I wanted something I knew I could eat! It`s cheaper here than in England and they have really nice uniforms. Even the McDonalds staff bow at you! I　met a German girl in there so we had a chat and a wander through this covered shopping arcade which was once again HUGE!

finally checked in at the hostel. I booked on the internet and it was an 8 bed dorm however i`m actually in a three bed which is nice! At the moment I`m struggling to get a hostel back in Tokyo but I`m sure I`ll manage somehow! If I have to pay a bit more than 2500 yen a night it isn`t the end of the world!