the b Kobe

Hello, Tom again.<br><br>So having arrived late at night in Shanghai we attempted to guess our way to our chosen hostel from the vague directions they`d given us. Our first impressions were that it was a lot more manic than Beijing had been - thousands of motorbikes (which apparently dont stop for any red light!) threaten to knock you over at every junction and there is a constant sound of drilling from the huge construction sites around the city.<br><br>It turns out that ...

Seconds please. I had to go back to Osaka, one way or another (my return flight was leaving from here). Ate just as well if not better than the first go around. Went to the Takoyaki museum at Universal city walk but it was more tako vendors than museum, not such a bad thing. Had simply amazing Kobe ...

... to see me, and queried hopefully, "You stay one week? One month?"<br><br>It felt nice. But I had to tell him, "No, only a couple nights, I'm afraid:("<br><br>We were still glad to see each other, again, though:)<br><br>"Did you eat?" he asked.<br><br>"No. Actually, I'm a bit hungry," I replied.<br><br>"We have Korean kimchi dinner tonight," he invited.<br><br>Looks like I arrived at just the right time, I thought to myself!<br><br>-----<br>#403:<br><br ...

... ab** das war ja eh nix neues.D** Fäss**machen war gleich nebenan, echt sehr int**essant, die sind noch aus Holz gef**tigt, wie dazumals. <br>Wir waren auch wied** in einen Daiei Sup**markt und haben uns zu**st gewund**t wo die Onigiri und Sushi usw. sind...bis wir drauf gekommen sind, das d** 2 Ebenen hat d** Sup**markt (also ein Sup**Sup**markt). <br><br>W** auf alles steht, was KAWAII ist (od** auf Ghibli Zeugs steht) od** auf Bentozubehör, d ...

... to me because i was in tokyo for only 2 days ... tomarow will be our 10th day in japan i really didnt notice we were here for so long.... the morning after i wrote we left tokyo and started using our jr pass we took the shinkansen [reallllllyyyyy fast train- about300 km per hour] and a lot of other trains until we got to kobe. it was so hard! we get along with finding our trains pretty fine the problem was the bags! we got to cobe half dead it was so ****** hard that ...

... in Japan. For example, a bag of rice crackers and peanuts that we bought in one of the convenience stores said, "It is very easy to eat this nuts. It is because it is wishing you want to spend great time, this nuts will help your wish." Japan is extremely clean and safe. We saw homeless people but none of them beg for food or money. There is very little crime in the country. We learned a little bit of the language and a lot of people spoke a little bit of English ...

... food is obviously some of the greatest in the world. We eventually returned to Osaka and spent the evening resting, watching more Hanshin Tigers baseball and eating at a pub -- actually one of the best evenings of our trip, despite the fact that Hana and I ended up getting lost while walking around Namba! No worries though -- we eventually found our way back and did not encounter one bad neighbourhood...

... friends (not an easy task on a full stomach). Next? Nothing better to follow a free all-you-can-eat feast than one you pay for. Years of food abuse in America had trained me well for that day, when I truly tested the limits of consumption. We ate at a traditional Japanese restaurant where we were served course after course for an hour and a half. With day turned to night we set out for karaoke. My comrades planned to sing until sunrise but I opted for just one hour ...

... but I finally made my way down the mountain to the trailhead, where I see a map, which shows the local area with about 50 different trails! It was a great hike and I'll definitely be heading that way again. It was nice being out in the woods with no one else around and not having to dodge and weave my way through people...it is a very rare thing to find yourself alone in Japan...only 20% of the land is populated and over 120 million people live in that 20 % of area!!