Back from Kansai

Writing this on a very happy tummy, it's been a great day for homemade food ;) pork and century egg congee with a sesame white radish, carrot and cucumber salad. Some crullers would have been nice, but.. well, a person can't have everything in life.

Anyway, I've just recently returned from my week's trip to Kansai, and had a fab time. I spent 4 days in Kyoto and 1 day each in Nara, Kobe and Osaka. The hostel I'd stayed at was pretty decent, and you can't go wrong with free sake in the evenings ;) and great company too.

Truth be told, I'm not a great companion to go on holidays with as I tend to switch to sightsee-at-full-throttle mode i.e. wake up before 7am and get back to the hostel at dark. Strangely enough, when I got back to Tokyo, I wasn't feeling exhausted. Actually, one day at work, and I'm already dead on my feet... boredom really kills a person, I should think up more ways to be on the go. Okay, moving on, here are some photos of my trip, just of the one day trips, I'll post pics of Kyoto later.

Nara

The big buddha inside Todaiji. There're deer in the park, the best time to feed them is in the morning. Why? Come afternoon, they'd be sick and tired of these two-leggers who try and force deer crackers on them when they can't eat any more. Oh right, have to mention the sign warning against deer. From what I understand, deer like to bite, kick, butt and knock down little girls and little old ladies.

Matcha ice shavings sweetened with milk was absolutely gorgeous! I had mine wih red bean and shirotama.

Osaka

The Dogusuji-ya Arcade was utterly amazing. It sells everything a person could possibly need to equip their kitchen or furnish up their restaurant. I've been meaning to get a stainless steel dough scraper for years, and now I have! I wanted to get some muffin rings, a senbei iron, a mixing bowl, mini cake tins and a traditional sandwich pie iron... the taiyaki irons were screaming at me to buy them. There was no way I could have carried all that home *sob*

The Organic Building is covered in potted plants... Namba is full of singing takoyaki and takoyaki merchandise and massive 3D takoyaki shop signs... on that note, crabs, octopi and a running man too. The castle wasn't anything special, finding oyster sauce in cans and whole wheat flour in a supermarket was far more interesting.

Kobe

Iron Man to the rescue! Gotta try the beef at Wakkoqu, it's a little on the expensive side, but boy was it worth it. Had a look at Kitano, Tezuka Osamu Museum, a sweets festa and Meriken Park before watching the sunset at Akashi Kaikyo Bridge.

[Sunset at the world's longest suspension bridge]