Thursday is the
official bus tour to Himeji Castle and the Japan Toy Museum. After an early
breakfast we find a happy bunch of puzzlers queuing for three buses – we opt
for the last bus along with Frank, Chinny and the Pawliger-clan and we’re soon
joined by the Chinese contingent. Markus is also there and he’s dishing out
folding puzzles to amuse us en route.
Louchen and I find ourselves comparing notes for the various folding challenges
– after a slow start I finally crack the first one, and find the next two go
down reasonably soon after, but then things slow down a lot and it feels like
ages before I finally manage to get the next in the series folded properly –
and by the end of the day I find I’ve still only completed four out fo the 7
challenges. Score one for Markus!
I do manage to entertain Markus for a while on the bus with
my copy of Haleslock #1 – I think he really enjoys the solve and gets through
virtually all of it without any suggestions.
Our first stop of the day is at the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge for
a little sightseeing -it’s blisteringly hot after the cool of the aircon in
the bus so we take a couple of quick snaps and then pile into the
(air-conditioned!) visitor centre work our way around the various exhibits
showing how the bridge was built and how it compares to similar bridges around
the world… a little fact for you: during the construction, the area suffered a
serious earthquake and one of the spans needed to be lengthened by a metre
because the gap between the towers had changed!
Back on the bus for the ride to Himeji Castle before a hot
and sweaty hike up to the top of the main keep – had to be done, if only for
the stunning view of the ant-people down below, oh, and the cheesy tourist
pics!
The walk down feels a lot more pleasant than the hike up and
we wander across the road for shaved ices and iced coffees – as good a choice
for lunch as any! 
From there our buses take us to the Japan Toy Museum that houses a
collection of around 100,000 mainly Japanese traditional toys and games.
Frank
managed to find the four Kumiki puzzles on display (think he has some sort of
spidey-sense for them!) and then most of us crammed into their classroom for a
hands-on lesson in making a Jacob’s Ladder - apparently a traditional Japanese
toy.
We stop at a nearby motorway services on the way out for
some dinner – ordered on a big electronic picture board that spat out magic
little pieces of paper (all in Japanese) that you could exchange for your food…
if you could recognise it!
The bus trip back to the hotel was a long fight against the
urgent need for some sleep, but managed to have a really nice chat with Chinny…
Back at the hotel we run into Wil sitting all on his own,
after a quick hello we head to the room to disgorge rucksack before going to
the Design Competition room and all that that holds… :-)
I try my hand at a few other puzzles before Dick sits me
down and shows me two lovely old Chinese locks that are looking for a new home
– and he lets me take them off his hands, kind gentleman that he is!
When I decide to call it a night there’s still a throng of
puzzlers merrily puzzling away…
On Friday Gill’s organised an informal Fabric & Fibre
tour for a few of the SOAPs based on our earlier recce – and eight ladies head
out in search or fabric, fibre and adventure… and I know for a fact that plenty
of fabric and fibres are purchased – I shall say no more about the third…
The air-conditioned train ride is great, but the short walk
in the 39 degree heat requires a stop at one or two roadside drinks vending
machines along the way…
We find the appropriate staircase and head up and into
Puzzle-In, Osho’s puzzle shrine: part personal collection, part puzzle shop,
part play area … and truth be told there’s a pretty grey line between them all…
I picked up a few flat packing puzzles and when I tried to
pay for them Osho told me how much he liked reading my blog – Gosh! Day made!
We all puzzled and chatted and generally visited for quite a
while – at one point the doorbell rang and Hendrik walked in and seemed a
little surprised to find the place already jam-packed with IPP-folk.
I spend a couple of hours getting organised for the puzzle
exchange the next day before finding the usual suspects waiting outside the
hotel ball room for the Founder’s Reception. Jerry does a smashing job of
welcoming the new comers before declaring IPP36 officially opened. There is a
lot of milling around and catching up and some great grub, before most folks
retire to the Design Competition room for some more serious puzzling and some
less serious banter.
I head up to Chinny’s room for a bit and find myself
acquiring a couple of his rather unique barcode burr adaptations…
Back down at the Design Competition Big Steve is bragging
about just how organised he is – telling us all that in the morning his
exchange assistant will be knocking on his door to wake him up and make sure
that he’s going to be ready on time… What’s yours going to do he asks me,(clearly temporarily forgetting that Gill is my exchange assistant this year…) I
can’t stop myself from saying that she will be rolling over and whispering
“Wake up darling, it’s time to exchange” – the ensuing banter had several of us
literally crying with laughter for ages …
For the record, Steve sounded a
little rough in the morning – and we shall speak of this no more!
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