Day 8, last day in Osaka

15th October 2008

Osaka tower

Day 8

Well it`s my lasy day in Osaka. Eli and I went up Osaka tower today. Nice views. It was pretty cool as from the tower we could see in the distance Osaka castle that we had been to the day before.

On the t-shirt spotting front, I saw an old Japanese man with the words 'Captain Santa' across his jumper.

We had a pic on a bench and asked an old Japanese lady to take a pic of us. As she was takingit the camera was pointing in the wrong direction. It was funny, we posed anyway and the picture that came out didn't even have us on it.

Then we came across a shop that sold t-shirts with English writing on them. I found some good ones, but Eli found this-

Hilarious! The funniest thing I had seen in ages. Needless to say we bought one each!

It was my last day in Osaka today so we headed back to the stadium and I got my bag. We chatted for a while and I left to get the train to Kyoto. It was so sad! I felt like I was saying bye to one of my best friends! We had so much fun and went to so many places. Eli taught me some Japanese, which I thought I was really good at but Eli said not (still can't pronounce Tsurugoaka - the place name where we stayed) and I taught Eli how to talk with a British accent, which he thought he was good at, but wasn't (in our own heads we sounded perfect!)

Anyways I don't tend to make friends that easily so got a little emotional on my way to the train station on my own.

Got the train to Kyoto and was in the hostel there by 8pm. Found the hostel quite easily (it was right next to the station!). I checked in and they said there was a pub crawl on at 8:30pm so I went along. Didn't drink too much but it was good to meet so many people.

Walked back to the hostel about 1am ish with a girl called Helen, who is from London. We planned to go to a shrine the next day as there is some sort of traditional dancing thing on there at 2pm that I saw advertised on the hostel notice board.

Osaka was fab! Now for Kyoto...

Day 7, Osaka Castle

14th October 2008

Day 7

Osaka Castle

Rainy today, but warm. Eli and I went to Osaka Castle. It was beautiful. We got to the top and walked down through each level. It was a bit like a museum with all old armour and artefacts. On the last floor was a dress up bit. We got dressed up as Samurai and were still in Samurai mode when we left.

Then we went to the largest covered shopping place in the world and to an arcade. We played a joint guitar game but I don`t think Eli was very good as we lost quite quickly (ok, I`m crap) but the drum machine game was so much better. Anyway I don`t know if I`ve already mentioned this but we are always looking out for funky Japanese t-shirts with English writing on them. Basically they make no sense and some are hilarious. It`s so funny!

Back nice and early to the hostel today. I bet the staff were pleased.


Tomorrow I am going to Kyoto for a couple of days, then after that onto Tokyo again before I leave on 22nd October.

Osaka is so cool

Day 6, NARA!

12th October 2008

Day 6

Nara

OK so on waking up today I had no idea it was gonna be the BEST DAY EVER! The night before, Eli and I agreed to go to Nara. So I waited for him in the morning for quite a while, and thought he had gone out for the day, but apparently not everyone wakes up at 6:30am. We got the train through some beautiful countryside to Nara, a town about 30 minutes east of Osaka. Nara seemed really tranquil compared to Shinjuku (God, anywhere seems tranquil compared to there!). There were some men with huge mallets making rice cakes and lots of little shops on the way we were walking from the train station to Nara park. When we got to the park there were wild deer just walking around. It was mad! They were just trotting around in between all the people. We bought some deer biscuits (not made from deer) to feed to them. The whole thing was like something out of a dream scene.

The biscuits were wrapped up in paper and one deer ate the paper from Eli`s pack. One dead deer (LOL). Then we saw someone give a deer a whole banana (inc. skin) from their lunch box. The deer struggled, but ate it whole with no chewing. Do deer eat bananas? Two dead deer.

Eli and I were walking on a path through the park and saw a huge queue for something, like a sort of show. Didn`t fancy waiting in that huge queue for whatever was going on so we took a short cut through the woods and went into the area through the exit door to see what all the fuss was about. There were some deer with big antlers just trotting about that everyone was looking at, but we weren`t too bothered so we left. Glad we didn`t queue but now we had to cut through the woods again so the guards near the front wouldn`t see us. But as we were walking back, we walked into a HUGE SPIDERS WEB! God, it was bigger than us! Ew, ew, ew. I may have screamed a little. Eli saw the spider run off. It was black and yellow and HUGE. The rest of the way out of the woods we were chopping our arms about like Buzz Lightyear so we wouldn`t walk into any more spider webs, and were a lot more vigilant. It still makes me a bit quesy thinking about it. Eli saw one later that looked like it, so here is a pic!

Soon though we forgot about this and were in a shop that sold swords, check us! Ready for battle, or ready to face some spiders...

Then we went to a few temples and got to one called Todai-ji, which is the largest wooden structure in the world. We weren`t sure whether to go in or not as there was an entrance fee, but decided to go in anyway. I`m so glad we did.

Eli and I didn`t think anything was insdie the temple, we just assumed there wasn`t so imagine our faces when we were confronted with this -

It was AMAZING - the coolest/craziest/maddest thing I`ve seen in my life!

Eli remembered he was meant to be meeting one of his friends in Osaka, so we left and made our way to the train station. On leaving the park there were some street vendors selling food. Eli suggested I got some Takomiake (spelt wrong), which is a food Osaka is famous for, apparently. So I got some. They look like dough balls with syrup and flakes of something on them. I had trouble cutting one open so I shoved the whole thing into my mouth. While chewing it, I notice a big squishy lump of something inside. "What`s in it?", I mumbled. Eli replied, "flour, vegetables and octopus". OCTOPUS! Yes- the big squishy lump in my mouth was a bug lump of octopus. I didn`t know whether to keep on chewing or spit it out. There was no where to spit it and there were people around so I had no choice. All I could think about was octopus tenticles stuck in my teeth (a bit dramatic maybe?). Eli ate the rest of them (there were about 8). On the last one though I cut it open to look inside abd there it was... a section of octopus tenticle, white with purple suckers on it. Disgusting. I felt ill. I would have preferred to walk into another spiders web than eat another one (ok very dramatic now).

Anyway we dashed back to Osaka and met with Eli`s friend Ichico, and we all went to a club called Cell Block. They had a belly dancing show on, which was fab! Even learnt some salsa steps. I was a bit crap but it was fun. We realised what time it was and if we weren`t back to the hostel by 11pm they lock the doors. It`s a curfew they have you see. If you are out past 11pm you can`t get into the hostel and are effectively homeless for the night. We raced back through the train station, up escalators, down stairs, up stairs, down escalators it was quite comical really. We got on the train and worked out we should make it back just in time. Then the train stopped. It was the last stop for that train for the night so we had to get off and wait for another train in Tennoji station. It was almost 11pm and we were sure we would be sleeping under the stars for the night! We got a train and made a plan that Eli would run to the hostel as soon as we pulled up to the station and I would phone the hostel from the nearest phone box to tell them to wait for us then run to the hostel. Eli dashed off like Speedy Gonzalez and I phoned the hostel. It was after 11pm. No answer. I ran too and when I got there, there was a guy waiting by the door for us, just about to lock up, we made it - just. Close call!

Today was so much fun!

Day 5, OSAKA!

12th October 2008

Osaka

Day 5 in Japan

It took about 8 hours by night bus to get from Shinjuku, Tokyo to Osaka. I arrived about 7 or 8am ish (can`t quite remember as I was knackered). Had to get 2 trains from Osaka station to Tsurugoaka and then walk a few minutes to my hostel (the stadium!). Managed the trains ok somehow and found the stadium quite easily as it was HUGE! Well after all it is a stadium. Check this-



I got there, had a shower (defo needed one) and read someliterature about Osaka that a worker at the hostel had given me. It turned out that there was a parade going on sometime soon. I asked the receptionist about it and a guy who was also staying at the hostel overheard me and was just on his way to the parade too! So I tagged along with him.

His name is Eli (short for Elimelec) and he`s Mexican but has lived in Canada since he was 7. Anyways we went to the parade (called the Midosuji Parade- see above pic). There were some quite crazy sights, like this guy in a bin just walking around the streets!

It was a nice day and it was good to have someone to hang out with plus he speaks Japanese really well and is really good with the subway/train systems and knowing where to go. Bonus! After the parade we went to the Umeda Sky Building. To get to the viewing deck at the top we have to get in the lift. So we went up one way but the Japanese lady said we were in the wrong place, so back down 36 floors and to the other lift, but at the top another lady said it was the wrong place too. Argh! So back down 36 floors and to the other lift... and what a view! It was fantastic. After here we went for some dinner and beers, and after a loud, slightly drunk conversation on the subway went back to the stadium (I like calling it the stadium, it sounds better than `hostel`). It was a good day.

Umeda Sky Building

The View





Eli & Kelly

Me in Osaka