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Day 15 - Osaka: Andrew vs the Death Curry
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Leaving Himeji this morning. Apart from the castle, there is very little worth mentioning in this town. Although I did learn this morning that the majority of the film The Last Samurai was shot on location in this town, at the castle, and all of the Samurai village scenes were shot in a mountain monestary called Mount Shosha, which is about 15 minutes to the North. If we had an extra day here with nothing to do I would make the trip up there to see it, as apparently it is a very picturesque location, but I'm not shedding to many tears leaving it off the itinerary.
We made our way to the Shinkansen platform in Himeji station, which we could have hit with a stone from our hotel room (and yet we did not hear 1 train while in the room). We were about 15 minutes early, so we sat in one of the air conditioned glass boxes which are common along the rail platforms.
I've never really appreciated the speed of a Shinkansen until today. While riding on them, yes they seem fast, but they are very smooth, ultra quiet and usually some distance away from the scenery, so you never really get a feel for how fast they are actually travelling.
When you are standing on the yellow line about a metre from the tracks, and the 12 car long Nozomi super express Shinkansen comes barrelling through the station at 260km/h from behind you (without your prior knowledge that it was coming), you very quickly come to terms with how quick these trains are. Once my heart had started beating again, after I realised that it was just a train, and not a bomb going off, I was in absolute awe of how fast the thing was going. I literally could not focus on any part of the train, as the whole thing went past in a blur. Then the swearing started. I'm glad I was by myself and the girls were still in the air conditioned room.
After the 40 minute trip to Osaka, we exited the train and found our way to the hotel with no problems. We still talk to other foreigners who complain that the transport system is too hard to navigate. Most of the signage is supplemented by English, the maps are in English, the announcements are quite often in English, and at each station there is an English speaking information desk, who always have knowledge of not only the train station and the trains, but also of the surrounding city and hotels. How much easier can it get???
We checked in and dumped our bags at the Toyoko Inn, with a very friendly girl completely fluent in English. We mentioned that we wanted to go to the Umeda Sky building, and she got us a series of maps and information on exactly how to get there.
Once again we entrusted our baggage to the space-age security measures consisting of a net with bells attached, and we set off. By this stage, midday, it was damned hot. There is no other way to suger coat it. It was probably the hottest day we have had since we have been here.
I'll give the Japanese one thing, they are inherently courteous and helpful by nature. Our first task was to board a local train to get to Umeda, which was a few kilometers north, and too far to walk in this heat. The local train station ticketing system was completely in Japanese, with little to explain the process to newbies. With no hesitation at all, a young guy explained the system, and showed us exactly how to get the tickets, and how much to pay etc (there was different fares for different trip lengths). Its easy after someone shows you how.
Onto a ye-olde rattler train to take us a few stops up the line to Umeda. Exited the station, and we started to realise why they call Osaka "Japan's Kitchen". I would hazard a guess, without exagerating, that 4 out of 5 shops that I passed today were restaurants or food vendors. This city is like one giant food court. Immediately out of the station, we had to walk past no less than 30 restaurants (in a place called "food alley") before we actually made it out onto the street.
Heading towards Umeda Sky building, I spotted a shop that I just could not walk past. Yodobashi-Umeda. This building, which takes up an entire city block by itself, is devoted entirely to all things electronic. And at this point I was wearing the money belt with all of our cash!
So while the girls went and got a coffee, I explored. The entire first floor (remember, the size of one city block) was devoted to computers. I'm sure they had every brand, and every current model of computer and laptop currently available for sale anywhere in the world, on display. It was staggering. Think of the Computer section at Harvey Norman or other similar retailer, and multiply it by 100, and you are getting the idea of this store. And this was only 1 of the 8 or so floors. Floor 2 was devoted entirely to cameras. Floor 3 was TV, DVD and Home Theatre etc. You get the idea. It was huge. I wasted enough time in the computer floor that I didnt have time to explore them all, which is probably a good thing, because floor 7 was the games floor. Not sure Veronica would talk to me if I came out with a Playstation 3 under my arm.
So we ventured back out into the heat. Lots of people, even more cars, and even more bicycles, made for a rather crowded and fast paced city, which to be honest we haven't yet had to deal with on this trip. We should probably start getting used to it though, because Yokohama and Tokyo are the 2 next stops on the itinerary.
Even with all of the fast paced hustle and bustle,
Osaka still had some quaint touches, like rows of water mist jets, similar to those at the mist tent we sat in yesterday at Himeji castle. A strange, but very welcome feature.
We made it to the Sky building (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umeda_Sky_Building) , and for $15 we climbed aboard the glass elevator and began our rapid ascent. 37 floors in 25 seconds or so made for a pretty interesting vertical journey.
After the elevator, for dramatic effect more than any practical purpose,
you must take a steep escalator through a glassed in tunnel from one tower to the other, which made Veronica more than a little nervous.
When we finally made it to the observation levels, tte view was worth it. The air conditioned 39th floor was a blessing. 360 degree views, viewing lounges and other interesting tidbits made it fantastic. There was a darkened multimedia room, which consisted of 3 bench seats, and a giant screen in the middle, which lit up and reacted to what the people on the seats were doing. If this makes no sense, then think of the patterns
which are displayed in Windows media player, and how they pulse, jump and react to the music which is playing. The screen on the floor of this room would pulse when someone would bounce or sit on the seat, and each seat was randomly given different colours, which made the floor pretty interesting when all 3 seats were being bounced upon.
If this still makes no sense, then just remember to ask me when I get home and I'll explain it then.
We then went up the 40th floor observatory, which to be honest, was still pretty, but because it was set back 10m or so from the edge of the building, did not have the same impact as viewing out of the windows on the 39th floor. Plus it was a fraction hotter on the roof.
So back down the glass escalator, and down the super quick elevator to the ground floor, and out into the heat. Trekked back to the hotel via the exact route we came in on, stopping every 50m or so to buy another bottle of water or pocari sweat.
Made it back to the hotel, and I relaxed with Angela, while Veronica and Charlotte did some much needed clothes washing, and mailed some postcards.
At about 7pm we ventured out to get some dinner. The hardest part was finding a restaurant which a) had seats for 4 people; and b) looked like they would possibly serve something Charlotte and Angela would eat. We wandered down to what must be the rough part of town, as the mood got less friendly the more we pushed on. We were never in any kind of trouble, but it wasn't a super friendly looking neighborhood either. Had the girls not been with me, I wouldnt have had a problem with it, and I'm sure we were perfectly safe, but we decided to venture to somewhere a little more well lit, and a little less seedy in order to get something to eat.
We made a mental note of a nice looking, but very busy curry house, just around the corner from the hotel, and as we walked back past it there were tables available, so we decided to give it a shot. I have a thing where I dont like being told what I can and cannot eat, so when the menu at this place told me that I could not order any curry over a "5" rating, without previously finishing a "5" meal at a previous visit, this sounded to me like a challenge (the normal heat rating of their curry is apparently "3", which is apparently a little hotter than the hottest supermarket sourced curries).
So when we ordered, I asked that the waiter make mine a "10". The waiter blinked a couple of times, looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and wrote down the order. My opinion is that it is my money, and if I choose to die by curry it should be my right. I used to have a firm belief that the Japanese did not know how to make a hot curry. I was proven wrong. Veronica's meal came out first, and it was very nice. One of the best Japanese curries I've ever tasted. My meal came out, and curry sauce appeared to be etching itself into the plate. It was a dark brown, and it was HOT. Hotter than the hottest vindaloo I have ever had. But strangely, amongst all of the heat, it still had very nice flavour. I could feel the chefs watching me, so I would have eaten every mouthful even if it had set my head on fire, but it was fine. After the first few mouthfuls everything north of my shoulders was numb anyway.
And with that, we ventured back to the hotel. Universal Studios in the morning, which should be an excellent day and a highlight of the trip, provided the weather holds out. The bad news is that we are supposed to be getting a decent amount of rain tomorrow. If we get too much rain, we might put the park off until the last couple of days which we have free, in an attempt to get some better weather.
Where I stayed:
Toyoko Inn Shin-Osaka Chuo-guchi Shinkan
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| 17. | Day 15 - Osaka: Andrew vs the Death Curry - Osaka, Japan Sep 04, 2008 (  10 ) |
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