A Needed Holiday!
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2006
1
8
19
Trip End
Aug 2007
Kobe,
Japan
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
01. The Bridge
. Our hostel was only like 4 blocks from the longest suspension bridge in the world. We could kinda see it from our hostel. We head out in that direction to find the bridge and the beach. Which we found both in no time flat!! It was the best afternoon. Walking along the beach (a clean beach, with nice sand and few ppl cause its starting to cool down) with our feet in the water and the smell of the sea!! It was great. Plus we got to marvel at how big the biggest suspension bridge in the world is! It was a pretty cool view. Jessie in particular was excited because she is from New Zealand and is used to being very near the sea. And this was the first time she`s seen the sea since we`ve been in Japan. She collected shells and I sat on some rocks with my feet in the water watching the kids try to catch things. It was SO relaxing. A great start to our weekend! We chilled there for awhile and decided to move on a bit reluctantly but there are other things to see and a shower to be had! We get lunch and then venture to Arima Hot Spring Town which is a bit North from where we are. It took us about an hour to get there with like 4 train changes but it was so worth it!! The town is adorable, nestled in the mountains. And there are Hot Springs/Onsens everywhere. But, of course we cant find the one we are looking for to save our lives and realize we have made a complete circle and are back where we started! It was good though we got to see tons of tiny shops and the overall cuteness of Arima and I bought the cutest little purse
02. Me and Jessie
! And we still had plenty of time to find our onsen. Which we did. After realizing we walked by it in the first five minutes of our walk! I am so excited. This must be like the elite of all onsens because we had to wait in line for like 15 mins before there was enough space. Really, there was a man at the door and everything regulating. It was like entering some elite club or something I guess! Anyway, we ARE in!! Its Jessie`s first time at an onsen so she`s a bit shy cause you get naked and shower in a room with tons of other naked women and then sit in a hot mineral bath with them. Its really relaxing once you get over the nakedness of everyone. And she did and I did, and we were good to go! It was great! I showered twice just to make up for the day before! Ha! After our complete relaxation we went downstairs and there was massage chairs the best massage chairs I have ever been in!! WOW!! It was amazing!! Things cant get much better than this!! I used the massage chair twice and the foot massager once. It was so relaxing. I cant even explain how relaxed I am after this day. Some more shopping and then heading back to a more central area of Kobe for some din-din. Kobe is famous for its beef so thats what we were looking for. At one of the stations where we change trains to get back to our hostel we decided to wander a bit to find a restaurant. We figure if its famous for its beef it cant be that hard to find right? We pick a street that looks busy and has lots of lights and head down it. All of a sudden Im like oh God, where`s Jess
03. The Rocks
. I spot her taking a picture of a banner hanging on a light post. Im like what is it? She`s like you gotta read this. And she was right I had to! It was absolutely hysterical apparetnly we were walking down a street for meeting lovers. One line said `meet the interesting experiment`. Ok then! I guess this explains why porno`s were being sold on the corners. Nonetheless, we spot a restaurant! And it was so cool! You sit at like a bar, but instead of there being a bar there its a grill and you order your beef. The people there were so kind cause we were asking for the set we saw in the pic outside and the boy waiting on us must deal with foreigner`s often cause he pointed to the set on the menu and then pointed outside all with a very pleasant smile on his face and we were like yeah thats what we want! Then, they cook the meat right infront of you with veggies and you get juice for dessert. It was crazy awesome. Our chef was really nice and of course they asked us to come back again, Which I hope I can. I think that would be a pretty darn good birthday meal!! Dinner got done pretty late and we headed back to the hostel. It was such a gorgeous night, even though we were totally tired and it was really late we were tempted to go back to the beach just to look at the moon. It was HUGE! But, we decided we should be rested for tomorrow since we are heading to Kyoto. It was a good decision cause we were tired enough as it was!! 
