Hello all!! This is Mahal writing!! This is my first time putting in a blog. And my first time being in Osaka, Japan. I must say it took my breath away! I had to take the train from Osaka to Kyoto and the ride was fun because I got to see the city. The buildings have lots of signs with blinking lights and venting machines on every block. The cars are designed differently, smaller. Reverse driving, left on right, right on left. Lots and LOTS of bikes everywhere.
Once I arrived to Kyoto, I was lugging my suit case all over the subway and had to bring it down a flight of stairs and was having some trouble, but a random guy offered to help carry my bag. He was really nice. He even pointed me into the right direction. He asked me where I was from, and when I said Hawaii, his eyes grew big and he said “Honto??????” that means “Really?????” and he said “I wish I could go to Hawaii” and I told him that I always wanted to go to Japan. He told me which stop to get off before my stop and I was super relieved I had some kind of direction because the subway platform was HUGE!
Once I got to my hotel, it was pretty high tech, keys just hover over the pad, automatic doors just to enter your floor, automatic lights, there’s a nice little slot at the entrance of your room, just to hold your keys. That’s so SMART, tell me who always loses their hotel key amongst their things?? So ingenious to invent it’s own slot! bahahaha. Okay, so once I arrived, I was STARVING. And for the people who know me, they know I am ALL about the food. So I asked the info desk where was a good place to eat. She told me this restaurant bar across the street.
The restaurant I ate at was called Watami. It was very authentic! I loved it! Right at the entrance, there was a cubby hole to leave your shoes at the door! It was so Kawaiii!! (cute) The food there was amazing! I had to take a while before deciding because there were SO many choices to choose from! I even took a picture of the menu to show how much of a dilemma I was in. In the end, I ordered seasoned scallop with mushrooms and a dipping ramen tonkkastu meal. It was AMAZING!!! I could of died happily there. I took a picture of the scallops too. =] so Oishii! (yummy)
After my two entree plates and my drink, the bill came out to about $15~1,465 yen. I don’t know if that’s bad or not considering I’ve never eaten in Japan before. Does anyone know? Anywho, after my delicious dindin, I went exploring around the area and it was pretty cool. I thought it was interesting that cabs sit on the side of the road, with their door wide open, with the engine running.
Okay, so I’m going to end my first blog and update once I meet my host family. I hope they have internet either at the school or home… eeeek! Peace out a-town down!
~Mahal
So many pictures!
Yum yum!