Sheng, me have pictures too =p

Presenting~~~ Japan!

Himeji and Osaka, August 9, 2008
Koyama sensei told us about this "Young 18 ticket", and so we bought it and upgraded it to Moonlight Kyushu which allowed us to take the night train. The journey started from about 8.30pm till about 6am in the morning, and we arrived at Osaka. And we were being surrounded by second hand smoke the whole night because there were no more space on the smoke-free trains...


This is the fish dish I ordered for lunch. The tofu was nice, but the fish too salty... We literally drained their water supply =)


We headed for Himejijo after that. This is one of the few original castles that remained till today since the Edo period. And it was beautiful.



Later at night, we went to Dotomburi, the night city of Osaka. It was a place brightened by neon lights, waitresses shouting their promotions, young people with strange fashion, and tourists like us searching for food.


This takoyaki (grilled sotong??) was just one word: delicious. See the thin layer of things on top? It's made of fish, and it's really good when eaten with takoyaki, and also really good when dipped in soba sauce together with wasabi and eaten with cold soba. (This is making me miss the food...)


We also had Okonomiyaki, an osaka dish made with vegetables, meat, and flour. And we put mayonaise and special okonomiyaki sauce on top. There is also a Hiroshima style of making Okonomiyaki, and we tried it while in Hiroshima. Both are special in their own ways I guess... But believe me, this okonomiyaki thing is really filling (I had the experience twice =p)


After stuffing ourselves, we picked up our luggage (which are stored in the Osaka station lockers) and took the train to Kyoto, our "base" and next destination.

To quote Yun Qing :" I can't believe I am on vacation in Japan now."