Album 1
Album 2
So, I got up bright and early (5:30) on Saturday morn, and quick threw on my clothes and headed on out for my Bus. Along the way (the cold way, brr!) I saw the band leaving for Tokyo for their competition this weekend. I got to the bus stop around 6:30 and caught my bus for Nagoya. Unfortunately, my height doesn't lend itself well to riding in some (not all) of Japanese buses, and this was one of them. I was just too tall to be comfortable (I couldn't sit normally, my knees hit the seat ahead of me.) Luckily I was able to catch some Zzz's here and there along the way (one of the perks of being up too late the night before). Before I knew it, it was 9 and I was at Nagoya Bus Center. I had 45 minutes to get to my next bus, as well as purchase tickets for the way home. It was going to be busy. I was able to find the central ticket area after getting a bit confused (thinking I had to go up to the 3rd floor, although I had been dropped off on the 3rd floor caused a bit of confusion.) I was luckily able to purchase a return ticket to Nagoya and then to Iijima, but the lateness of it, combined with them being individual tickets, ended up costing me a bit more i'm sure. It also added an inconvienance of me having to go from Osaka (where I was staying) all the way up to Kyoto to catch my bus. Whoops.
I then caught my connecting bus to Kyoto, and although there was a decent delay due to all the traffic of people heading to the Keihan (kyoto/osaka, their so big it's basically one huge city now) to see the sights and such since it was a 3 day weekend.
I ended up getting into Kyoto station a bit late (the biggest railroad station in the world I think) and after asking a station attendant, I was able to figure out how to get back on the old Keihan line to take me to Kansai Gaidai. Chad (one of the guys I was meeting up with, who's an ALT not too far from me) and I were texting each other, as he was about 45 minutes ahead of me, and we were getting all excited to be coming back. I got off at Hirakata (after passing Makino, where I always went as Heather's host family lived there and I bowled there alot. If I hadn't been late, I would have gotten off there and walked.) and caught a bus up towards Kansai. by this time I had a huge smile on my face, and made my way up to the school I hadn't been at for two years. Felt like old times!
Turns out we picked a good weekend to swing by, as it was the school festival and so the place was just rocking! I found Chad after a few minutes and then we just meandered around for a few more (as Alberto ended up having work that day, so he couldn't meet us there.) While doing this, I passed someone I thought I recognized, and after staring at him, and passing him a couple more times we both realized we knew each other. It was Sho! :-D I said hi and asked him how things were etc etc. Then Chad and I met up with Miho, another friend from the first time at Kansai.
She joined us as we made our way to the train station and would serve as our guide to get us part of the way to the hostel we were staying at (Banana House!) so we could catch up as well as hang out. We got to the station, had some baskin robbins, and then made off for the Banana House down in Osaka. The ride down there brought back tons of memories as well, and I loved making my way down there.
We met up with Alberto and made our way to the Banana house. we got there and were super surprised by the 'rustic' nature of the place. It was chock full of character, but also was pretty dingy. Chad and I had this idealized version in our heads, sincwe Alberto is a realatively picky guy, so we figured if he had just moved out after living there for two months, it couldn't be that bad!
Well, kinda. Chad and I ended up falling in love with the place, but it is best for short visits. :-P
We dropped off our stuff after signing in, and headed back out. We went to a Nabe place, which also had nomihodai 'all you can drink', so we got o have really well made drinks along with our delicious food. It was worth dropping the extra coin for it. Afterwards we bid farewell to Miho, and Alberto, Chad, and I walked around shinsaibashi as we prepared to do some bar-hopping.
This didn't last long though, as the first place we tried, which was kinda classy but nothing spectacular, decided to devour our wallets. Japan has this awesome deal where they give you a little something with your drinks, which you have no choice on, and charge you an absurd amount for. We paid 15$ for 12 teeny slices of burned fish. On top of 8$ beers. Ouch.
We went to a huge complex that is made up of 40 or so small one room bars, and settled on one called 'el diablo'. Of course the three cute Japanese girls inside cleared out as soon as we arrived, and we proceeded to enjoy our drink, and then had to rush out because it was getting late and we needed to catch our train back.
Chad and I had a bit of a scare as we were going home, as just after midnight, one stop from where we were going, the train stopped and everyone had to get off. We thought we were screwed at first, but since everyone else was sticking around, we realized for some insane reason they were taking the train ahead to the last stop; empty. hurr.
We then got back on a train, got to Nakamuzo and walked on back to Banana house. Alberto had warned us that they might not be toilet paper but we hadn't really paid attention, and it turns out we should ahve. Our bathroom lacked it. :-( Luckily, Chad had some multi-purpose notebook paper with him. I don't think they knew that the secondary purpose would be 'TP'. Hah!
We then went back to the room and I played PSP while chad skyped with his GF and friends back stateside, who all sounded like awesome people. I eventually crashed around 2 and chad at 4, and we slept in until noon.
I'll have to break up the story there, as it's getting late. I'll post more tomorrow!
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