Wow, gotta start writing earlier so I don’t forget stuff… It has been a busy week since the last time I blogged. And yes, once again I filled my quota for meeting random older men this week. But that’s later on!
Friday was a bit uneventful, I stayed in and relaxed. It was nice. I played video games and chatted on MSN… mmm Playstation emulators. Early to rise Saturday morning, I was off to have fun and excitement in Osaka! I met with Keith and Tyson (a fellow CJP member) at Tennoji station, and we decided to check out the Umeda Sky Building. Very cool looking building, you can go up a great glass elevator 35 floors, then take an escalator (which has nothing beneath it) up another 4 floors. Not a bad view from up there, unfortunately the view from the roof is a bit obstructed (you’re not allowed at the very edge).
Next we were off to meet Tongxin and Boon-hau, and we went to the shrine right near Tongxin’s place. She’s been here a month and hadn’t been there yet. There was quite the path behind the temple, we decided to hike it up there. Took us about two hours and 15 bug bites for me to get up, boy was I hurting the next day! Allergic to mosquitoes sucks, I just hope I never get stung by a bee. And it was hot too, we were really hoping for a vending machine on the top… since they have vending machines everywhere. On a side note, climbing up Fushimi Inari shrine is quite the hike… and yet they have cigarette vending machines halfway up. So if you’re out of breath and really need a smoke :P. Anyway, we were outta luck, but we got a good view of Osaka from the top.
It took us way less time down… maybe 30 minutes max. After a quick stop for popsicles at Tongxin’s we went to an isakaya for dinner. The outside was quite interesting, it was shaped like a pirate ship (niiice). Inside, we got the top floor entirely to ourselves, it was pretty early, and the owner/waiter person was quite nice, helping us with the menu. We order drinks, and he explains some of the stuff on the menu. We end up getting… let me think. A Pirate Salad which is mostly various sashimi, yakisoba, okonomiyaki, yakitori, and Tyson decides it’s a fine time to order a plate of horse sashimi. Yes, that’s right… I had to try some just to say I had. Very interesting texture and flavor, I don’t know how to describe it. Not bad tho, but expensive.
Anyway, the owner guy saw that I was very quiet and polite, and wanted to be specifically my friend. I shook his hand and said Ok! He was also impressed that I sat in seiza position for the entire meal. Not many people can pull that off apparently (least without hurting themselves), but I have no problems with it. But you all know I’m not exactly normal anyways. So yeah, obviously my friends wanted me to get my picture taken with him. Yes, I know I’m not looking at the camera, but there were 4 cameras going off at once and I had no idea who was going when. We get a group picture too, but not on my camera, sorry. After I head back to my place in Kyoto, and made shower curfew by literally a minute! Which was very lucky, after the sweating and the bugs and the sweating.
Onto Sunday I guess… after spending half the morning deciding whether I should bother goin out or not, I decide I might as well… so I get to the grocery store and decide to get food and go home. It was very hot, and I figured studying my Japanese would be the most useful way to spend the day.
That was until I talked to Anton, who wanted to go exploring and practice his mad Photography Skillz in Kyoto. So I headed down to Takanohara first, so we could go Yukata shopping. Unfortunately for me, they only had one style left for guys’ yukatas, so Anton got his, and I’m going back to get mine tomorrow (Got it! Picture up later!) when they get more stock in. So after we head to downtown Kyoto.
So we get off at Shijo station and walk through one of the back streets looking for a place to eat. Not finding anywhere cheap we settle for (yes Erin, it’s true) Wendy’s. It was not bad, got a bacon cheeseburger, nice to have something familiar. And mmm bacon. So then we check out the Gion area, against my better judgement (still scared of the English prof). Not too lively for a Saturday night, I imagine it’ll change this weekend though! Mmm, Gion Matsuri! But I’ll discuss that later.
Heading back to downtown we saw the ultimo in cool. What the hell, my Word 97 has the word Ultimo (which is apparently a suburb in Sydney!) but not popsicles, or terraform, or Wendy’s! Anyway, Ultimo in Cool! Yeah, we see a large old American car (sorry, don’t know my cars, couldn’t tell you what kind). Anton stops to take a picture, and the driver, a young Japanese guy, sees us, and turns on the hydraulics! Didn’t expect to see that in Japan! A few minutes later we see another guy that had pimped his ride, with lights all around, and a laptop mounted on the front playin some American hiphop (sorry, don’t know my American hiphop, couldn’t tell you what artist). He was wearing a red jacket with a leopard print on It I think? Oh yeah, his ride was a bicycle!
So we decide to check out the river. There’s an area right beside the river, and at the time an amateur jazz band was playing. We take a few pictures and walk down a bit further, where there’s girls in yukata and guys not in yukata lighting off some fireworks! They start talking to us. And by us I mean Anton, since I’m inarticulate in the ways of Japanese. Oddly enough I can understand waaaay more than I can speak, while Anton claims the opposite for him. Anyway, after talkin for a bit, we part ways, and we head back up to downtown, passing by a Jamaican guy playing the drums.
We got drinks at a vending machine. Anton got a fruity rainbow drink outside a place that sells… Canadian whiskey, among other things. And then we went in search of pizza. Not having any clue, we ask a guy at a convenience store if there’s a pizza place nearby, and he says the closest one is a 30 minute walk. Then I start thinking… I kinda know where we are, and I thought there was a pizza place maybe 15 minutes away max. So I start leading the way, only to get to the exact store I was thinkin of 2 minutes later ><. Dunno what the guy at the convenience store was thinking. Anyway, it sure wasn’t Pizza Hut, thin crust, no grease, I was kinda disappointed. Oh well.We head back home, I’m always a fan of making shower curfew, so people don’t have to smell me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment