Writing about 27^th  December, 2013 (Osaka to Arashiyama)

On Friday 27^th we were planning to go to Arashiyama with Sarah and Laura. There were a few hiccups… We were leaving fairly early and I was running 5 minutes late (a personal best!) and by the time I got down to our meeting place, only Angela was there. Ange had suggested to Sarah and Laura that they go on ahead and we’d meet up.
Ironically, it was Mankee who was late that morning, because Mankee was on time pretty much every other day, and Mankee had taken my own lateness like an absolute champ.
(As a side note, I have started to realize I become fatigued way too easily, especially when I travel. I’m like the cookie monster, except for cheeseburgers and sleep. I do live in a garbage can though- that one’s for you Ange. Wait… does the cookie monster live in a garbage can?!? Oh dear.)

Anyhow, by the time we left Sarah and Laura were long gone and we didn’t meet up at all that day. We jumped on the subway to Higashi Umeda, trying to work out which train to catch. Here we met more problems- Sarah and Laura had planned the outing the way they wanted and we weren’t sure of the finer details. We were still slightly hopefully of meeting up at this point, and didn’t worry too much. This lead to us being confused when all trains went to Kyoto. Ange asked the station master which platform to Arashiyama,  (9, I think?) and then we sat. 5 trains must have left while we ate (an incredibly strange) breakfast, because we didn’t realize the Kyoto train was to Arashiyama!





[Biding our time until the “Arashiyama” train came, we headed to the cafes for breakfast, which were closed because it was about  7:30 and most of them were lunch/dinner cafes. We then went to the 7-11 type shops and grabbed whatever looked good. As I bit into my singular, boiled egg, the taste of incredible salt flooded my mouth- so incredible that I couldn’t help but think  a) ‘What the fuck?’  b) ‘Did something go wrong? Like, terribly, terribly wrong?’ and c) ‘Do people really eat this? Why so salted?’  …in the end I couldn’t eat it. But my choc-waffle, yoghurt drink and plain chips were pretty okay. Ange bought a solid meal of chocolate, caramel cake and chocolate covered chips which were confusing to the senses- but we ate the chips later.]


We finally just elected to get on the train to Kyoto and chance it. By this time we figured we must have something wrong and guessed we had to get off the Kyoto train and change trains. This assumption was correct (after an hour of watching trains leave!).  The image of the train lines shows one track from Osaka that splits- one to Kyoto and one to Arashiyama. However, that isn’t quite true! The Arashiyama line is just a side line from a station on the Kyoto line, and because they’re all coloured the same on the station map, it’s a little confusing!  Sarah and Laura no doubt knew this, but because we’d split up, we were ignorant!

^^ And here we have the beautiful shots of the day section. First of the winners right here...^^



^^I have real affection for this one. It has character!^^

We finally got on the train successfully (although we weren’t sure we were successful until we actually got off at the middle station- just ‘winging it’) and the Arashiyama railway was so cool! The trains were different – reminded me of our old red hen trams- except working and not rattling so much - and the station had amazing lamp posts that I immediately fell in love with. The other thing we noticed? It was freaking freezing! I’d debated leaving my coat home in Osaka because it was a pretty mild day, but in Arashiyama we immediately started shivering. None of us had gloves and we were sooooo cold. So we headed to a 7-11 and bought gloves, and I bought a cheap 1000 Yen ($10) beanie. I’d like to say I looked dashing, or in popular terminology “Swag” but in truth I looked like a cheap gnome.  (A cheap gnome munching on undelightfully shitty tasting hot chips with ketchup on my chin.)

^^ How cool I thought I was.^^

^^How cool I really was.^^

Then we had to decide where to go. “Old man Kyorai’s Grave” was an instant hit, although sadly not a destination we managed to get to. When we were there, the wind was up and the boats that we were going to go up the river on weren’t in use. (This was particularly annoying because they were operating before and after we were there. In the end, we didn’t go on them, but by the afternoon, this was almost a relief because it was so damn cold.) So we wandered across the bridge and instantly were distracted by the shops. Needing to compete with my mad gnome style, Angela went full “Old Lady” with what I believe to be an extraordinarily unattractive shawl thing. It naturally did not match anything else she owned, but this has never bothered her.

^^ The boats we were GOING TO GO ON, but didn't, because they closed in vaguely rough wind, but apparently opened when snowing. Go figure...^^

Then we bought sugar candy. Lots of sugar candy. On the list next was accidental Yukata- I was not planning to buy any, but then all of a sudden I was down $50 and had a Kimono, belt and some shoes. Funny how that happens to me…  Finally, we headed up on the walking trails on the way to find the scenic train and Sagano Bamboo forest. About 2 minutes after we started, we stopped for a hot chocolate & toilet break (separately, I assure you),  and Angela, deciding she was a child of the forest (or at least that her shitty shawl was tribal enough to make an Indian reference), decided to sing the Pocahontas theme song.  Can you paint with all the colours of the wind? Indeed, most of the people walking past preferred to laugh rather than paint.

^^ Mankee! You're rowing the wrong way! ^^

 So… 15 minutes later we wandered up the mountain and took a quick photo break. (Yeah, there’s a theme here…). We met some pretty nice girls who asked to take pictures with us, and headed on. After a while of wandering and hoping we were headed in the right direction up a hill, we happened upon the Bamboo forest. It was… nice but I felt a little underwhelmed. We took some photos but it was very crowded so we did our thing and then left. Then we headed to Tenryuji temple which was quite nice. Again, I managed to throw my coin in the ‘good luck’ sort of bowl/area of the pond (I was surprisingly gifted on this trip, which is odd, because I am awfully ungifted at any sort of movement based thing in general) and was happy with that!

^^ Old cat lady we saw en route.^^

^^ I'm laughing hysterically because Angela told me to move ("Get out of my shot loser!") and I just wouldn't. I just sat there and laughed, and laughed. ^^


^^ Our new friends happily prevented Angela from strangling me.^^

Heading around a corner, we reacted both impartially and maturely when a group of hot guys asked to take photos with us. (We’re now Facebook friends but I don’t think they speak much English?). They were from Nagoya, and we were going to tell them when we headed to Spa Land, except spoiler alert: We never got there! Gah! They were pretty nice- holding their umbrellas for us when it started to rain and Mankee grabbed their Facebook details in a display of bravery that we applauded. Then we headed off, (crowing about Maika being jealous of our TOP meeting… eh, EH?) and after a few false starts, managed to somehow find our way to the Scenic Railway. This proved difficult, due to IRRATIONALLY CONFLICTING SIGNAGE. At least, after much debate, we didn’t accidentally walk through the graveyard trying to get to the train. Alas, this did not seem to be “Old Man Kyorai’s Grave”. (A real regret of the day was missing that one.)

Outside of the Scenic Railway we saw a man dressed as a clown. No idea why, but he seemed to be having a grand old time. We then sat and waited for the next train, eating Angela’s chocolate chips, before heading off down the mountain. The train was slightly odd- it was clearly a couple train and had fairy lights strung up for when it was dark in the many tunnels. I think the scenery would have been even more lovely on a better day- as it was, it was gray, miserable and rain filled. At this point, we saw the boats going again, but it was so cold we couldn’t bring ourselves to care. Instead we spent the trip taking a variety of fun-filled pictures out of the windows (Hint: They’re all of a gray day, wild looking river and blurry green trees… so…. Pretty much 34 vaguely identical shots) and taking stupid selfies that ended up mutatedly blurred due to bad lighting as the train rattled along.

^^ This dude knows what's goin' down! ^^

^^ Chocolate chips... it's a bit like that...^^

^^ There's seriously like 30 shots that are slightly more blurred than this- but nearly identical.^^


^^ Aaaaand about 30 shots of Ange making faces in the dark...^^




^^Oh... and the creepy, creepy little bear things. Coupled with the weird music at the station it was just... well, creepy.^^

Good times eh? Well, it got better because the Sagano Scenic Railway doesn’t quite meet up with any other railway- it’s a reasonably short walk… but of course it started snowing! It was the first falling snow we saw in Japan (I think) and explained why it was SO BLOODY FREEZING. (Made me feel a bit better about being a wuss/gnome). By the time we got on the train, we somewhat halfheartedly decided to try and redo stupid Nijo castle. Naturally… despite the train guy’s advice, when we went to get in a taxi, the driver said it would be closed. After some confusion, we found out that if we got there at 4 we could stay until 5, but if we got there after 4 they didn’t let people in? It was all a bit weird and uncertain. So at that point, we pretty much turned around and headed back, not before indulging in some (admittedly fairly uninspiring) KFC.

^^ You can only really see a tiny bit of snow if you squint at my shoulder area...^^

 The next day, THE FROST. (Not really, but REALLY.)

xx from... not sure about the name of a famous gnome. All I can think of are the seven dwarves. Xx Gnome-face?

Japan, Hiroshima- Currently 4.1.14 Writing about Osaka, 24^th -26^th December, 2013

**Warning! Approaching novel length!**

On the 24^th we decided to head to Kyoto. I’d advised our friends on Facebook, so Austin and Maika decided to come with us. Because Austin had been to Fushimi Inari Taisha already, we decided to head to Kinkakuji first (this in hindsight was a mistake- Fushimi Inari Taisha was the only one I hadn’t done and really wanted to and I was sick and didn’t end up going later!) Although we initially planned to leave at 9, Maika wanted to leave at 8:30 and there was some confusion about the departure time. Due to this Ange was still making breakfast as Maika was trying to pull us out of the door. (I was… I think vaguely on time? It’s normally me who is late.)




^^Kinkakuji: Austin, Angela, Maika, Mankee & I ^^




We were supposed to meet Kon at Umeda, but Kon (whose name is actually not Kon at all- just like Kei’s name is not Kei) hadn’t specified where to meet. We were late, but I honestly don’t think we’d have managed to meet up anyway, because we didn’t know which station or which exit we were supposed to meet at. After looking around for Kon for a bit, we headed from Higashi-Umeda to the Hankyu Umeda station. This proved an interesting experience- Hankyu is cheaper than JR, but also less English-friendly. It took us a good deal of effort to work out which train to actually get on (and by “us” I mean Angela and Mankee) but we did manage to get on one, and there was a saving of at least a few dollars! (That’s like, 2 things at Daiso!)





From there we headed to Kinkakuji, the Golden Temple. This too is on the list of “Nice things I would nonetheless not do a third time… unless I had endless time and money… in which case… I would.” (It’s an inconsiderately long titled list, I know.) I think Austin and Maika were pretty let down by it- I remembered it fairly clearly so I knew exactly what to expect. It delivered exactly that for me! We took some nice photos, headed through some nice scenery, I got some free gold flecked green tea (I am definitely not a tea person) and then we headed out where Mankee and Ange got some ice cream and I think Austin and Maika got Dango? I almost forgot...



We also managed to secure our fortunes by buying charms- I bought "Dreams come true" and "good match" (set for 2014, I think!),  Mankee bought "Dreams come true",  "Healthy long life" and Ange bought "Dreams come true", "Good Match" and "Study Well". (I guess some people need the help of more charms than others... *cough*). Also, you could throw coins into a little rock-basket thing. I think it was good luck? I don't even really know. The point is, I GOT IT IN (which should be near impossible for someone of my -lack of- sporting talent) so that's got to be good, right?









We then headed by chance to Ryoanji, which I’d heard of before but not connected with the famous rock garden. Maika and Austin didn’t want to pay because they have to save money and are staying long term, but because we were there for such a short time, we wanted to do as much as possible. We went in and the gardens were really lovely. It’s famous for its very serene rock garden, which left me underwhelmed to the point that I thought it was but one of many. Angela looked at me like I was retarded (an unpleasantly common habit) and said “No, this is it. This is the garden.” It was nice… but not really my thing. Ironically, I much preferred the lovely surrounding gardens and lake.





From there, after much pondering, (we sat at a bus stop for a while, eating some cool sugar candy that Austin bought) we realized it was time to walk. Where? Well, we weren’t quite sure, so we set off in what we thought was the right direction (this NEVER fails… *cough* every single time… *cough*) and actually made it to a tram stop. After a bit of confusion about  which way to go, we went to get on the next tram… only Ange, Mankee and Austin were on one side, Maika and I were on the other, the boom gates were down and there was no getting across. So we caught the next tram after that.





The trams were pretty rattly, and a bit more authentic Radelaide (the platforms were the highest quality asphalt, just like home) so we had fun. At this point, we were headed to Nijo castle and Maika and Austin thought they might head home. We got off the subway one stop ahead, only to walk out of the subway to see a “Nijo castle: Closed” sign. I was like “WHAT? THIS IS BULLSHIT!” and so we got back on the train and met back up with Austin and Maika. (Incidentally, Sarah and Laura had the same thing happen to them- except they were halfway to Nijo in a taxi and ended up at Toei Uzumasa instead.) We then took the train home, hoping for some sweet, sweet Christmas KFC. You heard me, Christmas KFC- it’s really big in Japan. Unfortunately, it is so popular in Japan that you can only pre-order buckets of $40 or more. I was like “Filleto burger?” and they denied my plea. I was enraged, bought a crap make your own pizza from Aeon instead and vowed not to return. Angela, inconsolable, bought some knock-off KFC from the local shop. (It was such a big thing that the shops kept bringing out shelves upon shelves of fried chicken… KFC must really have marketed well.)







From there we had the opportunity to Skype the family at Nanna Mussger’s, who looked joyous and seemed to be celebrating with all the usual pomp (none- just a lot of food, alcohol and terrible caroling) and had a fun talk. Jemma had her exchange sister over from Denmark, who seemed surprisingly delighted to meet us over Skype. She and Jemma are obviously pretty close friends and she seemed both cool as a person and delighted to be in Australia, which was nice.






^^ Wrong side Maika, wrong side.^^


The family were delighted (and unsurprised) by both our tales of epic, valour filled Karaoke and our astute rendition of “Good King Wencesless.” I do not know how to spell his name, and I do not care to spend even one minute Googling it. There’s a reason no one knows the words to your song, dude. Anyhow, it was good fun and I organized to go hang with Anna in the Mt (looking forward to the #1 Worst Club in Australia Anna!) and then we got a chance to catch up with the others. Unfortunately, this was the time when we found out Sarah and Laura had organized Christmas day- and it was in direct contrast to how we’d organized it. (We’d shared our plans but none of us have internet until we return to J&F.) So unfortunately we couldn’t coordinate because we’d organized to Skype mum and dad, and we were a bit sad to have our first Christmas without them (and we were worried they’d be lonely. We needn’t have worried *indignant huff* - but more on that later.)




^^ Gold tea. Like a boss.^^


On Christmas day we had a nice mini-sleep in and then Mankee began the traditional gift exchange. We’d originally thought of doing a Daiso gift swap but that never eventuated as we weren’t all in one place and we couldn’t find a Daiso! But Mankee came in with some souvenirs from Hong Kong, then I felt really bad at not having anything, so handed over KitKats (don’t mock- they cost a tonne!) and Ange did a bit of a “IOU”. (To be fair, she got me a New Years gift on the 2^nd and I’m still an IOU for that one- update- 1 hour later and a dodgier New Year's gift you never did see. I wrote random Japanese words that I know on the envelope in toxic smelling permanent texta, shoved pocky and $5 in the money envelope and three 1 cent coins.)



^^ Softcream #1: Strawberry, Chocolate, Grape.^^






 So then we headed out to Osaka Castle- on the way out from the train station we paused for a traditional Christmas brunch- the Big Mac. Enjoying this heartily, we made our way to the castle only to discover- Ange left the camera behind in J&F! Woah, major faux-pas! (*blithely ignoring the camera charger I left back home*) So  Ange was a bit glum for a while, but I had my iPhone and Mankee had her camera, and soon… we had soft cream (soft serve). Instant cheer up! We started our ambitious plan to taste all of the softcream- we began with a delightful first serve of strawberry soft cream, chocolate soft cream and what Mankee hoped was Taro, but turned out to be Grape (a delightful turn around on my KitKat experience in Beppu).



^^ The infamous 'Hunt for you' Engrish jumper.^^






There, we were even more delighted by the Osaka Castle gift shop, which had Octopus (I may or may not have bought an Octopus hat) things, Purikura (Japanese photo booths) and a NINJA THROWING STAR GAME. Unfortunately, try as we might (and we did try- I went for “brute force” rather than “aim”) none of us succeeded. We did however, get an awesome plastic cheap-ass blow dart gun, which I have a great fondness for. (Teaching tool?) But by far, our greatest triumph was at the Purikura booth, where we took some amazing photos. The first two, with a strong Osaka-Jo theme, were “Normal/Smile” and “Funny face”. Finding ourselves unsatisfied with these alone, we reentered the bear bit to take “Cute” and “Korean Drama”, which turned out stunning, no doubt due to the octopus on my head. It was a splendid effect.



^^ Normal/Smile + 'Funny Face'.^^



^^ 'Cute' and 'Korean Drama'. Note my intense expression, underneath the Octopus hat.^^

From there, we entered the castle, which is rich in history (we may or may not have power walked through it, due to having seen it already… and not having much time) and has wonderful views. I think I’d do OsCas for a third time. Being at the top was very refreshing, though it was here we realized it had a special light show at night. Too late! From there we wandered down- took some casual photos DRESSED UP AS FORMER JAPANESE CONQUORING LORDS (still don’t know the name of my guy but went strong for the same one!). Again, we attracted quite a bit of attention, as I get the feeling mainly children try these on. Whatever, it’s 300Yen, you get a kickass hat, overcoat and we got swords! BAM! People were very entertained around us.







From there we headed to Shinsaibashi, but now we were on a timeline. We stopped for soft cream on the way out (Mixed Berry and Cookies & Cream were added to the lofty list, which is, at current flavour tally, 10) and then caught the train to Shinsaibashi.



^^ Soft Cream round 2: Mixed Berry & Cookies n Cream.^^




^^ Pretty!^^

The shopping was fierce, but in the end, we only made it to H&M. I still got an AMAZING green fur, which you will see below. Dad and Mum had been extraordinarily unhelpful in trying to manouvre Skype times, and then surprisingly uncaring if it even happened! What do you mean “Oh, we don’t have to Skype on Christmas Day…”?! LIES! FILTHY LIES! So Mankee stayed out shopping in Shinsaibashi, and we headed back to Kire Uriwari with just minutes to spare. We log on… and IMAGINE OUR RAGE when it took Mum and Dad (busy partying… without a care in the world for their daughters… their young, lonely daughters, who were really keen on shopping more in Shinsaibashi…) an hour to make it on! Phoah they were lucky we still had some Christmas spirit, that’s all I can say! We had a good talk and it was good to Skype them on Christmas, especially because it really didn’t feel like Christmas at all in Japan.





^^ The FAMOUS Octopus in Shinsaibashi. One eye lights up and smoke drifts pathetically out of one of its nostrils when it feels like it.  In 2010, we paid good money to go on the shittest boat tour in the world that ended with this junk. I feel a sort of hopeless affection for its retardedness.^^




That night, we went out to Karaoke but I felt a bit tired so I left early. I know Mankee and Angela had a lot of fun. Because of the late night, we all slept in, but went to Shinsaibashi with Maika the next day which was a lot of fun. Mass shopping ensued. It was amazing and the clear standout was the amazing accessory store Claires, though I do like GU (Book of… get it? Get it? Eh eh). Clear winner of the shopping stores so far: Etude, Korea (Makeup), Claires, Japan (Accessories), Clothes… maybe  Uniqlo? Maybe Gu? Maybe Malaysia will triumph! We’ll have to see. We’re planning on using every Kilo of our 30K on the plane home!





^^ Shinsaibashi on 25th with Maika^^

Anyhow, Flashback Saturday (Yeah, so what if it’s supposed to be Friday) ,
Annoyong,

xx Carlos, the one pigeon to roost among them all.

^^ How can you not buy donuts when Mister Donut is around?!^^