Hotel Fujita Nara

... to his house, which was pretty close to a station. We put my stuff up and proceeded to check out the surrounding area of his apartment and the station. We ate some good pasta, played a bit of DDR at the arcade, ran a few errands, then went back to his place to cook some mexican food! Although its possible to find tortillas (I discovered recently) we took a shot at making our own. The more we made the better we got, but I think we messed ...

... Osaka is definitely known for food and we have not been disappointed. We immediately went for the Kansai specialty of okonomiaki (Japanese pancake). Washed down with some shochu, our okonomiaki meal was excellent.

Our travels also took us through a very exclusive part of Osaka with many upscale shops such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc... I was asked if I would write in this blog something that would make fun of these establishments. At the time I said that I ...

... at Steak Ron, delicious Sakuyaki at Hariju and more helpings of takoyaki/okonomuyaki/yakisoba.

S teak Ron
1-10-2 Sonezaki Shinchi, Kita-ku | Umeda, Osaka

Hariju
1-9-26 Nishishinsaibashi Chuo-ku Osaka

Takontetsu (Pizza Ball House)
1-9-20 Maru Bldg Umeda 1 Chome

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091006

"CouchSurfing in Nara"
by swami_worldtraveler

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PRELUDE:

In the interest of time, this blog is mostly to post photos, so the usually "story" will have to wait, if at all...

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INTRO:

My not-girlfriend, Michele, was in Japan by cooincidence (well, sorta:); she took the Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo and I met ...

... that I could hear *The Angel`s Choir*. And, I once shared with Wendy (my ex-girlfriend, and current closest friend) that I could hear a whispering in the trees. I can`t hear angels, but I can definately hear the whispering of the trees once more. It feels like I`ve come home. I hope this post makes some sense to you all. I`m not entirely sure it does to me. ha ha. Tomorrow: A day of rest in beautiful Osaka. Then I`m off to Kyoto.

... iled they *re *nd the sc*le of them. Once you p*ss through the g*te it is * short w*lk to get into the D*ibutsu-den H*ll, the l*rgest wooden building in the world, inside which is the D*ibutsu, * 16m st*tue of Buddh* which weighs 437 tonnes *nd cont*ins 130kg of gold! At the b*ck of the st*tue, one of the pill*rs of the h*ll h*s * whole in it, if you c*n get through it then *pp*rently you *re ensured enlightenment, unfortun*tely for *nyone ...

... were greeted with the st*nd*rd - t*ke your shoes off *nd put on s*ndels. H*ving p*id more for this hostel then *ny other in J*p*n, our expect*tions were high. But it w*s too strict. The rules of the hostel included: B*th time (commun*l!!) - in the evenings only from 18:00 to 21:00. Lights out *t 22:30 *nd Silence *t 23:00.It *lso h*d: W*ke time *t 6:30*m (which we slept through), *nd check out time: 8:30*m. None of the *bove mentioned inform*tion, comes ...

... of the cheaper things to do in Kyoto. Higashi Honganji temple was well worth the walk and is apparently the worlds biggest wooden structure, although it wasn't as glitzy and flashy as the Thai temples we had seen before, it was still plesant to walk around and kill time. From here we headed a few blocks down the road to a very similar temple called Nishi Honganji Temple which apparently was the original and the other was built to rival it...shame they didn't alter the design slightly but ...

... talking about adventure and life and mountain climbing, or some guy who wraps his tie around his head and sings Madonna songs off-key into the karaoke mic all night? Partly out of interest in the subject, and partly to escape the relentless rain, we decided to check out the reasonably priced Nara National Museum (Nara Kokoritsu Hakubutsukan). It's a massive two-wing museum dedicated to the history and art of Buddhism. There are countless beautiful and awe ...

... Buddha is so big that there isn't room for a lot else, so it's a rather brief visit before we head back out in the park. As we leave the park a group of Japanese chldren suddenly notice the Europeans in their midst. "Hello!" they shout in some excitement, several times over. "Hello", I replied, making them giggle and run away. We crossed the road with ease as a large deer had chosen that moment to amble across too, forcing the traffic to stop. Nice one.