Day 2: Kobe to Kyoto

After all the shopping from the first day, i think we drove all the way to Kobe and stayed at the hotel there. Not quite sure where since everything was in Japanese and the itinery was in chinese. The breakfast came with the hotel room stay, and all of the meals were buffet breakfast. They will have Japanese breakfast, rice with preserved vege, nato etc and the typical bacon and eggs.

After breakfast, we took a drive to kyoto. So bye bye to Kobe and Hello temples. The first thing was to take a train into the mountains, then the walk through the bamboos to get to the other side of the kyoto area which has quite a few different temples. BUT! we did not go into any of them. Instead, we went for lunch after only 30 mins to walk around in the town, absolutely not enough for a beautiful place like this

Bamboos and a big... HUGE bamboo shoot

This is bento for the day. The normal lunch you get from a japanese place. Except that they have this wasabi shitake.... yumm very nice. Anyway, after lunch we went on the bus again and this time off to the famous temple.

these are the entrance, pagoda and another little shrine.

This is the actual temple which sort of hangs off the cliff and many many people hanging off the side too. After the temple visits, that was pretty much the end of the day. so off to the hotel now. We are staying at a hotel next to the largest lake in japan. The hotel has a common bath with hot spring and every customer is provided with the robe to wear for the bath. Supposedly, you take a bath first, then come back for dinner. But most of us went for dinner first. Dinner was not too bad. At least a lot prettier than lunch. Small little squid sashimi, a little hot pot, unagi, tofu, tempura, miso soup, etc. So that kind of ended the day.

Day 1: Osaka

The japan trip consists of relatives and friends from both taipei and kahsiung, so my sister and I and a couple of aunts departed from the Taipei airport to meet my mom and another aunt. Anyway, less details and more about the trip. We took JAL and the food is fantastic.

I had unagi with rice and the other option was meat balls with rice. The entree and sides are cold soba, and some curry chicken. The plane landed at osaka, Kansai airport (i think), which is a huge airport built on a reclaimed island. We left the airport quickly for the first stop. LUNCH!

According to the guide, this is where Takoyaki originated from.

Entree was Takoyaki (Octopus balls), the Tako was huge, unlike those in australia and was cheap too. Next! Ramen! We had Cha Su Ramen next from also one of the older places. Not too impressive. Very very salty. But the soup is tastier than those from Ichiban Boshi, and also comes with free flow of rice with kimchi and chilli preserved chives.

The rest of the day was mostly shopping, but guess what we found. Taiko-no-dazijin the playstation game in arcade. It was really fun. Though it took us a while to figure out what the instructions are. but it was fun.

Dinner: Pre-Japan in Taiwan

Left Sydney on the 9th of May for Taipei. Carried a bottle of tempus two Muscato and Pig's Peake Shiraz and found out that no fluids are allowed on the plane. So alan had to bring back the two bottles, and i had to buy new wine in the airport. So... no the best start for the trip.

Reached Taipei airport. Waited and waited for the luggage, enduring the very loud taiwanese tour groups and finally found out that my luggage was missing. Well, me and another 7-8 people from the tour group. I went to the people at the airport and asked them if they knew where my stuff might be, but they had no idea. When.... earliest tomorrow morning. Ah! but i have to leave for japan in the morning. How is that going to work. I asked them what am i to do... nothing... sigh. I left all my details with them and left, preparing myself for a quick shopping trip to the malls to pick up whatever i need for the trip. Another let down.

My sister and I were in the car and trying to decide where to go to buy stuff, since everything closes in 1 hour. So we had to be quick, but we decided to call the airport people just to make sure that they send the luggage over regardless of what time it arrives. And "Lucky" me, they found it and it is already being processed and they delivered to my sister's place at about 12 midnight. Sigh. Very very relieved. so finally, i can sit down for a good dinner, which my sister "cooked".

Yeah! good sashimi and tiramisu (not so good)

Sigh. the "exciting" day ended well.

Pebble! Again!

Just something i doodled. I think i dont have to tell people what the sketch is. Yes! It is me doggy.

This is the pencil sketch transferred onto a tracing paper, then scanned into the computer.

Then using photoshop to colour. Have never done digital art, or any art for that matter. But i think it looks like me doggy. Hmm... now thinking of getting a USB pencil to do all this.