Well I finally made my way to Japan for Chuseok. I've been in Asia for a year and a half now, and Japan has always been on my list of countries to go to (since I was just a little one, all thanks to my old man). Chuseok is Korea's Thanksgiving basically, so we had a long weekend. It was something we had planned all the way back in about April, and talked about since this time last year. The hard decision was deciding between Osaka and Tokyo (life is rough over here I know!). In the end we chose Osaka though!
I booked my flight with Helen (this was our third trip together since coming to Korea). We went up to Seoul early on Wednesday, had a delicious South African meal, a couple glasses of wine (which almost cost us our flight), and a run yes literally a run through the subway and the airport. We arrived in Osaka about 11pm Wednesday night, which only meant 1 thing, more running to catch the very last train into the city. Thank god we met some really cool guys that helped us make our way to the train and had a good chat while we sat on the hour long train ride into town.
We arrived to our hostel around midnight and had our friend Tara greeting us at the door with a bottle of wine ready for us. We had a quick catch up and another bottle of wine before heading off to bed. We had a big day ahead of us the next day.
Day 1: Exploring Osaka!!! We had a whole list of things we wanted to do this day, which didn't get everything scratched off of it, but we did still get to see a lot. Our first stop was the Floating Garden, which had an absolutely amazing view over most of Osaka, then we made our way to the Osaka Castle, which again had another amazing view and a lot of history (I'll admit I'm not a history person so I skipped a lot...oops). After a little sight seeing we went and got some food and of course an alcoholic beverage to go along with it.
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| Women only car on the subway |
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| Looking up at the Floating Garden |
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| Looking over Osaka from the Garden |
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| Osaka Castle |
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| Okonomi-yaki | | | | | | | |
After our meal we went back to change our clothes for the evening and
wanted to head to the ferris wheel for the night to see all the lights.
However, that plan did not happen because we got to talking and 7
bottles of wine and 2 things of sake later we stumbled out into the town
for a night out.
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| Osaka Lights |
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| Our little group |
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| Noraebang |
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| Noraebang |
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I know this may come as a surprise to everyone reading this. BUT, after 7 bottles of wine, 2 things of sake, a few beers, and unlimited drinks at the noraebang.....we did not make our 8am wake up call to head to Kyoto the next morning. Friday consisted of talking, a trip to Subway, and laying in bed having a good chat most of the day. Some may say it was a waste of a day, but I really enjoyed myself. Friday night we just went back out, looked in some shops, and had a few drink, while trying to meet up with the two guys that helped us on the train the first night. We ended up in a sushi restaurant, where all the sushi was on a conveyer belt.
Finally Saturday rolls around and we have finally made it to Kyoto! It was a completely different feel from Osaka. It wasn't as city like, the buildings were different, more culture, but still touristy. We went to a temple there, saw some shrines (we think) and then went to the Golden Pavilion. The Golden Pavilion was absolutely stunning as was the surrounding area. That night we went back to Osaka walked around the main part of the city, sat along the little canal, had a few drinks, ate some more delicious food, and reminisced on our amazing trip we had.
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| Hello Kitty! |
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| Golden Pavilion |
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| Little guy :) |
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| Shrine? |
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| Osaka Station |
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| Food for the last night |
I absolutely loved Japan and I truly hope that I will get to go back there again to explore the country. 4 days is just not enough to spend there and there is so much more that I want to see.
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