Sunday to Wednesday

Sunday BBQ
For Fumio’s birthday we were invited to a BBQ, which we thought we should attend since we missed Linda’s. We told Fumio we probably wouldn’t eat much (i.e. ANYTHING) but he still made us pay- between the two of us it was $25 and it was the biggest rip off ever. We will never again be going to any kind of BBQ. First of all, we walked about 45 mins (a slow group walk) to the river, Sarah and I talking to Ida and Ayumi. The river itself was nothing spectacular, I was pretty underwhelmed. It was about 30cm deep and you couldn’t even see it from the banks. It did seem to be a popular spot though, as there were other families and groups of friends having their own BBQs. We actually had to pay $10 just to be there. RIP OFF!

^^Fumio, Sarah and I^^


^^ Sarah, Ida and Ayumi^^

Since we had to pay, Ayumi insisted they put food on for us first as we had to leave about 20 mins after we got there! They had “Aussie beef” (cows tongues), Taiwanese meat (intestines) and some other beef in a sauce, which was the stringiest, fattiest, most unappealing “aussie beef” I’ve seen in a while! Sarah and I glanced at each other in horror as everyone waited on our verdict. Our verdict? “Ooishi” meaning delicious (in reality: absolutely horrific). Ida too glanced around in dismay, whispering to us “The last BBQ just had normal stuff, like hot dogs and hamburgers, I thought this one would be the same!”


^^ Ida and I cry tears of horror ^^


^^ Sarah and Ida didn't do anything wrong! Why are they punished?!^^



^^ The sentence: Death penalty ^^

Umeda Sky
Luckily though, after some BBQ corn (the only nice thing), we bailed, heading to Umeda Sky to see the Mexican Festival. The Mexican festival too was underwhelming, there was a big stage with performances and booths with Mexican food (looked kinda greasy and dodgy to me…) and we left the BBQ so late we got up to Umeda Sky just after dusk rather than just before dusk, but we got up there!
Umeda Sky is two 40 storey buildings with a giant donut shaped “floating observatorium” smacked on the top. It’s very high, and the elevator ride on the way up had me thinking “I really don’t want to die! If the cable snaps….”. I realise heights are not so bad as heights + see through elevators for me!

^^ Umeda Sky from below. The things going across the gap are escalators^^


^^ Comforting to know we were suspended over 39 storeys of NOTHING! ^^



^^ But the view was magnificent! ^^

Anyway, we got up to level 39 and took the “across a giant 39 storey chasm of death” elevators to the other side of the top. Well, the view was awesome, as you’d assume, and there were speckles of glowing paint and black lights on the footpath. At one stage, they turned on a giant white light, and we waited in vain for Batman to appear.






^^ BATMAN! ^^

They also had a platform where couples could take photos in front of a giant, glowing loveheart. It was pretty tacky, but we went with it anyway 'cause that's how we roll.
Then we headed down and grabbed some soft cream (we tried Strawberry- it was quite awful) from a multi-flavour shop. Soft serve is different here, each flavour of ice cream comes in a small tub, and is inserted into the machine that then turns it into soft serve. It’s way cooler than our one-flavour soft serve!






Sumiyoshi Taisha Grand Shrine
On Monday we headed to Sumiyoshi Taisha grand shrine with Yoshida and Noriko. We caught the subway to Tennoji and then a tram. Sumiyoshi Taisha is apparently the number one shrine in Osaka/Kansai. It had great greenery and all the buildings had wicked bright red-orange railings and accents. We washed our hands first (as is common at shrines) then stopped at a table. We paid $2 to shake a box of sticks with a hole in it- then we tipped the box and only one stick can come out of the hole. It has a number on it, and you then take the piece of paper with the number you chose. Sarah pulled 13, which Yoshida and Noriko said was one of the worst and very unlucky! I pulled number one (to anyone who watches Bleach, I sang Ichigo’s “number one” theme song the whole time! OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!) which is the luckiest! Yeah! Because of that, Sarah had to tie her bad luck to a tree, but I got to keep my good luck!




^^ "If you want to be the best... something something center OF ATTRACTION..."^^




Then we went to the temples, where you toss a coin, shake a big rope attached to a bell, step back and clap twice, then pray. (Though I have seen people pray and then clap). The shrine was very beautiful and had a river with a very high bridge over it. There were turtles and carp. There was also a sign that I felt strongly was telling me that the water wanted to eat me.




^^ Noriko, Sarah, Rieko/Yoshida ^^


^^ "If you fall in the water... it will eat you." ^^


We then had dinner at a “Japanese Pub” with Yoshida and Noriko. I was lucky they had furido potato and gohan (chips and rice) but we also had Gyoza (dumplins), Tori Karage (fried chicken), yakitori (chicken skewers), some sort of weird eggplant stuff. We also had our drink of choice for summer 2010- Cassis Orange! Then Noriko had us try Umeboshi, a plum that’s sat in salt for a year. It is very, VERY salty. Kind of like eating a salty-plum-lemon. We finished with delicious waffles and ice cream!


^^ Gohan (rice), furido potato, beef, tori karage (chicken). More food came later!^^



^^ This is served with drinks before the meal. It's actually eggplant. Gross! ^^


^^ Noriko and her dessert ^^

Chizuko’s Birthday
Wednesday was Chizuko’s birthday (Happy Birthday!) and we went to Miho’s to give her the present… only we forgot the present! *smacks forehead* We spent the day watching the rest of season 3 of America’s next top model (riveting stuff, I assure you) before heading out to take some pictures and video of Miho’s area. Also, maybe, to get soft cream. Then Chizuko suggested we go out for dinner to celebrate her birthday, and we went to a place around the corner from their house. Despite not having furido potato, the gohan was there and they had prawn crackers! I dislike prawns, but those crackers are oiishi!


^^The three boxes are the accompanying dish for drinks, the other, a PRAWN wrap^^


^^Birthday Feast!^^

I also had what I personally think may have been the nicest cocktail I ever had, and can’t wait to try when I get home. It had Strawb and Banana liqueur with pineapple juice! Way cool! There was pizza, but I much preferred the prawn crackers and Miho had something like a chicken schnitzel only with spinach and fish eggs in the middle! Eugh! Sarah had Karage again, and we had the nicest butter corn ever! Plus I think my horrendous chopstick skills may be improving… a little…
Then, we had some of the cake Chizuko’s boss Kelly gave her and it was so nice! It was a chocolate cake with chocolate cream, and it was the first time I’ve ever eaten cake with chopsticks!



^^Saros and I show we can pick up corn with our chopsticks... even if it takes a few tries!^^


^^We eat cake with chopsticks, 'cause we're badass, yo!"


~*~

This morning we were woken up by a storm- we didn’t go to Kyoto today because it was forecast to be raining, but the lightening was incredibly bright and lit up the whole sky. The thunder was the loudest I have ever heard! Maybe it’s because of all the tall buildings amplifying the sound? We tried to get the thunder on video but the storm was quite short.



^^ Look at the escalator! ^^

In other news, Happy Birthday Mandy! We would like to wish Sarah’s mum a very happy birthday (23/9) and hope she has a great day (and gets lots of cool presents)!

We miss our friends and family, and are starting to count down the days until we leave Osaka- that sounds weird now, we’ve been here for so long! Coming up on our itinerary are Kyoto again on Sat, Sam n Dave’s on Friday, and Parque Espana on Sunday, whew! Miss you all, and missing pizza,

Xx Carly

Rain, Rain Go Away

Currently sitting in the JF house kitchen watching a baby headbang to death metal on the TV...Japanese shows never cease to amaze haha

So Tuesday marked our epic trip to Nara for the annual Candle Festival that is held there. Chizuko had warned us of the possibility of rain, so first thing in the morning I headed down to the 100 yen shop and got a 55cm umbrella, so I could cover my camera and stuff if need be - and thank God I did! (Carly took her Gortex and travel umbrella. My travel umbrella was from Kmart, so it kind of collapsed in on itself when I tried to use it the day before. Once again, Kmart Quality at its best!) The weather in Nara reminded me of Australia when it just changes weather conditions so much in one day. By the time I got back from the shops I was so hot and sweaty that I actually wondered why the hell had I bought the umbrellas for! Carly noted that I looked like some kind of sweaty beast as I back in our room and collapsed in the cool on my bed. On the way to the subway Carly got shat on by a bird, which I found quite amusing. Nanna Vause's tissues came in handy once again! haha PS that bird gave Carly crappy luck...It still rained!!!! We met up with Chizuko at Tanimachi-QueChome (for a while there we thought it was pronounced 9 Chrome...didn't realise there was no 'r'...our bad!)

Righto, there was apparently meant to be a Typhoon coming through last night and today...but so far...it's just been a bit of pissy rain. Which is a little disappointing...a bit of wind and rain would have been a nice change to the straight 35 degrees of sun and humidity we've had every single day we've been here. Ok that's a lie, it rained on Monday, but still.

Back to the story - Chizuko, Carly and my self met up with Yoshida-san and hopped onto the JR express line to Nara, it was actually only $5 to get there which isn't too bad. The views were amazing from the train as we went through the city of Osaka and up and through a mountain! Soo amazing...and the photography we took probably didn't do it any justice...as it was a bit hard getting good photos while going along in a train at the same time. Here are some on the way up anyway:





























































We finally arrived in Nara at around 4pm, where we met up with Chizuko's sister and then found what we dub DeerBaby.















Deer baby is every where, on everything, in Nara. Carly and I found it quite hilarious, and continuously pointed 'Deer BayBeh' out every time we saw it! haha

Once we got out of the station, we started walking up towards all of the temples and things where the festival was being held. On the way we found that deer run wild everywhere around Nara, in between all the hustle and bustle and cars and what not. There were a few times you had to cringe as they just ran out in front of buses and all sorts that had to slam on their brakes. We were surprised the cars didn't go slower! The deer themselves are pretty friendly and got some wicked shots of them! However, by this stage, as we reach the underground path that led up to the park entrance, the sky was starting to grey and I was very glad I'd bought the umbrellas earlier on.















































































We entered the park area and headed up the road leading to Todaiji Temple. It was full of people and deer down the middle; with gift and souvenir shops on the left, and side shows and food stalls on the right.





















Because Todaiji closed at 5 30, we hurried past everything to get to the temple. The first arch that you pass has two old carved figures that look like gods or monsters that I think protect the temple. They are around 1300 years old, and we were told that last year when they went under restoration, they found parchments from 800 years ago! We spent about 5mins there just gawking at the sheer size of them, before continuing to the temple as it started to lightly spit.

































It was only $5 to get into the temple grounds, and we were amazed at how big it was. The grounds were quite large, and surrounded by a big sheltered wall/walkway. There was also a main walkway to the temple in the middle which we headed towards, underneath the shelter from the surrounding wall. We came up to the large main gates in the middle of the wall facing the temple and took a few photos, and as we did, the rain set in. Not like any rain in Adelaide, this was almost as if someone was pouring a huge bucket of water from the sky. The kind that makes you soaked to the bone in a second. After rising intensity in the rain, the sky grew darker and mist rose up from the mountains around and the thunder and lightening began. All in all, it was an amazing mix being at the huge temple with such grizzly weather. We loved it! It made it exciting and different from the usual sight seeing.

With the rain so heavy, only Carly and my self took the side path into the temple, as the main one was out in the weather and the rain was just too hard to battle against. I ended up (regretfully) leaving my good camera with Chizuko and everyone, while Carly and I just took my green waterproof one so it didn't matter if it got wet, and we didn't care about ourselves either, because it was still humid; so we'd dry out eventually. We battled along the left hand side shelter, because it was raining on an angle, we still got very wet, maybe my self more than Carly - as she had her Gortex on, which was quite the battler against the rain. Kind of like the Superman of Raincoats! (Dennis you would've been proud!) haha

Finally we got into the temple, and it was already almost 5:30. We never seen such a huge buddha. Apparently the whole thing was infused with gold! It was just amazing to stare up at it, while listening to the rain belting down and the thunder echoing eerily around the room. To the left sat a mini Buddha, and a creepily tall staircase next to that. Then, behind the main Buddha was small replicas of the temple and wall, then to the right was more old carvings and statues.

The best thing that we found however (aside from the overly massive Buddha and creepy staircase of course) was this tiny hole at the bottom of one pillar that, if you could climb through it, it is said you will live for a long time. So of course I squished and wriggled my way through, and my god that hole was tiny as it was actually meant for children and Size 0 Japanese people. However, I successfully managed to get through and was quite proud of myself. While Carly filmed and laughed at my expense haha.

I had lined up for quite a while to get in the hole, so by the time I was through, the Temple was closing and we had to get out of there. It was still raining when we got back to the wall at the entrance.

When we got back to Chizuko and everyone, we waited around for a little while and started eating…then totally got told off - ‘NO EATING IN THE TEMPLE AREA!’ ...apparently. Well, I didn’t see any signs… haaa my bad. Shortly after, even though it was still pouring, we got kicked out of the temple as it was way past 5:30 and officially closed. So trudging through the rain with my awesome 105yen umbrella, I had my camera bag and hand bag stuffed up against my chest to keep it out of the rain while from the waist down I was a soggy mess. Carly however, was still in her Gortex and had managed to zip her bag under it which made her look like a soaked and pregnant penguin. We were quite the sight as we made our way back. Fortunately, the rain started to lighten up as we headed towards the souvenir shops to have a look.

All the food carts and stalls on the other side had closed up by the time we arrived, as most were drowned out, and the ones that remained only had soggy squid tentacles on offer, which I could safely say, I did not find appetising in any shape or form. Once we got to the Nara Souvenir shop, the rain had basically stopped, and as we got to the door we even got ‘umbrella bags’ so that we could carry them easily around the shop – the Japanese really do think of everything! The shop was pretty awesome! I didn’t have a good look over at the left hand side much as it was filled with ill looking treats and plush DeerBaybeh’s! The right hand side had some pretty cool stuff though.The back part of the shop was amazing! It was dedicated to ninja and samurai accessories, and not just fakes! They had real swords, ninja stars, throwing spikes, foot spikes, batons….it was awesome! They were all pretty cheap for what they were too…if only you could actually get those sort of things through customs... Once we got out of the shop, it started to get darker as the sun sunk behind the clouds. So we made our way over to our next destination – the floating temple…I actually have no idea what it’s called…but did get some cool photos of it. I think the one thing we loved about Nara was the fact it was mostly growth and trees and not so much of the industrialist surrounds of Osaka. On the way we saw some of the lanterns that had been lit, but nothing compared to the amount that was meant to be. We also saw the section where I think the deer are MEANT to be…however they kind of just roam around everywhere – I have to say I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be driving through Nara! The mist that was rising up over the mountains from the mix of heat, humidity and rain was unbelievable and quite eery.We reached the floating temple, which was out over a bridge on the water. I was glad they had set up majority of the lanterns on it by the time we got there while the rain let up and I was able to get a few photos of it, before the rain picked back up again. We got told the lantern festival was going to go ahead, but by the time we reached the area for it, the rain was so bad again that it was cancelled for sure.

Luckily, we ended up finding a bus that took us back to the station where we went an Italiano restaurant where Carly was able to get her beloved Cheese Pizza and I had Spaghetti Bolognaise. We got a set that also came with an antipasto Ham starter platter and a Coke. We were pretty thankful for another free dinner, and the Spaghetti Bolognaise wasn't too bad. The ham was a bit weird...bit redder than usual and quite fatty...but was actually quite nice. I also found that eating salad with chopsticks is a lot easier than with a fork! haha Although, everyone used a fork for their dinner which was good (nice and easy...and made my etiquette look a lot neater) haha We also found a Daiso (another 100yen shop) and Chizuko bought us some cool playing cards to add to our collection :-)

Nothing too exciting happened on the train back besides the fact I found you can take a picture of your reflection across the seats...but only until someone comes and sits down in front of you and ruins everything.





















The rest of the week wasn't too exciting. We tried KFC here for the first time, it was horrible, except for the original recipe piece of chicken, as always. But the chips, my god! No salt, just tasted of the fatty fat it was cooked in! So we won't be going back there! We also went to Umeda a couple of times during the week and we got some imported food - Pringles, Oats, Pasta sauce, El Paso Tacos (10 of which I managed to completely burn in the oven....) and some Milky Way bars! Yoshida-san also took us to the movies again yesterday to see SALT. We don't recommend it to anyone, it was pretty damn crap, but still good to get out. We went out for dinner to another Italian restaurant, which was lovely, and once again for free! Then on the way back to the subway station, she also took us to a famous Swedish bakery to pick out some things for our breakfast the next day! We felt so guilty...but at the same time we are quite enjoying being spoilt while we're over here.

Well that's all from us for now, keep the comments rolling in! We love your comment love, and missed it miserably on our last post. Remember guys, we're the ones buying your presents...eh...EH!!

Saros Out!