Today was the day I travel and meet up with my final friend during this trip - Mie in Kobe! Before I left Ly's house, both Ly and Kei wished me well before they went to work and of course, I said my thanks for everything they had done for me. However, I said my remarks while lying half-asleep in the futon... at least they didn't mind - well, I really hope they did not mind. :P
Anyways, I decided to watch some more Japanese TV again. It's kinda weird that I watch all these shows, yet I have NO CLUE as to what they say. Anyways, there was a fever pitch in the sports scene - baseball was ready to return and soccer had gain the most attention in Japanese sports right now. The Japanese are CRAZY about soccer ever since World Cup 2002. However, the main reason for the great hype in soccer was because that the Japanese were going to face an actual political enemy in North Korea in World Cup qualifying in a few days' time. There's MAJOR tension between Japan and North Korea over a number of things, but I ain't gonna cover it - I rather type about my vacation, not politics. Anyways, it's crazy that the Japanese would actually analyze how North Koreans would cheer on its team! (Again, I can't understand Japanese, but the diagrams and non-verbal actions the analyzers demonstrated made it easy to learn).
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A view of the town Ly lives - this shot was taken from the entrance of her home. |
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Fuck - more stairs. This is the stairway from Ly's place. They had to live on the top floor... |
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After another train ride, I finally arrived in Kobe. More specifically, I was in the district of Sannomiya. This is the Sannomiya train station. |
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Another view of Sannomiya. Anyways, here's a brief overview of Kobe - it's a well-known port town and many structures have a strong European influence. However, this city is also infamous for The Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 which flattened the city and killed 6,000 people. But it's amazing how the city rebuilt itself so quickly to become a nice cosmopolitan city. This city tends to be more attractive towards local Japanese than foreigners, but any meat lover with a bit of money in his or her pocket MUST come to Kobe to try the ultimate in steak - Kobe Beef. |
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A very large bowling ball. |
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The main lobby of the Toyoko Inn Kobe Sannomiya. This is one of a chain of business hotels in Japan - it's a really good place for people who are looking for a simple, cheap hotel without any extra costs added for unnecessary amenities. Also, there's free internet in the lobby! |
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MORE chocolate parfait to enjoy! I decided to take a picture of this one to show people that I DO eat fruits! Yeah, that's it... :P |
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Hello Mie! She is a wonderful friend that I met at University as well. I knew her for 2 years before she went back to Japan, but she has a great personality and attitude - overall, she is a great person to hang with! |
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I KNEW I would find this particular vending machine sooner or later!!! |
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Another picture of Mie. |
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The Oakley Icon Backpack 2.0 - The Official Backpack of The Japan Tales! |
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A view of Kobe via a ropeway - we were headed towards a mountain viewpoint. |
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This is Nunobiki Herb Park - it's on the same mountain at the end of the ropeway. You get to learn a lot about herbs, what each smell represent, and how it can describe your personality. |
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Another vending machine - this time, it's for disposable cameras, film, and batteries. |
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The Mt. Rokko Cable Car station. To tell you the truth, we accidentally went to the wrong mountain prior to taking this ride - we were meant to take this one, but we went on the ropeway that went to the Nunobiki Herb Park. No matter - both of them offer a really nice view of Kobe; however, the Mt. Rokko viewpoint does offer a better view. |
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The Mt. Rokko Cable Car. |
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Interested in hot cream of corn soup or random coffee? Yes, in Japan, you can get a can of cream of corn soup and pick a randomly selected can of coffee! Crazy, eh? |
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This is the Kobe Tower lookout point at Mt. Rokko. Unfortunately, it was FREAKIN cold - there was a cold front from Siberia that moved into most of Japan and it brought over a windchill of -36 degrees Celcius; therefore, it was VERY hard to take a stable picture. Also, we were at the top of the mountain, so it just made things MUCH colder. |
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Trying to take a night picture of the Kobe area - it's VERY tough to get ANY stability because Mother Nature just kicked my ass. |
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Another bad attempt to take a night picture of the Kobe area. It was so cold that once my bare fingers were out of the jacket pockets, it felt VERY numb... I was afraid that I was going to get frostbite if I left my fingers out in the open for 30 seconds. |
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The lesson to learn here: NEVER wear fingerless gloves when a Siberian cold front moves in. |
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After Mother Nature whooped ass, Mie and I went to this restaurant to try out Kobe Beef! The main difference between Kobe Beef versus other beef is that the Kobe cows are raised and fed differently such that the cow's fat manages to spread all around the meat instead of a concentrated area; therefore, a steak with have a really nice and tender taste to it. However, Kobe Beef is super expensive - one can easily shell out over $100 Cdn for Kobe Beef. But Mie carried a really good discount book that listed special rates for Kobe Beef dinners at a number of restaurants. Man, am I ever appreciative of her for having that book around! :-) Anyways, the meat is in its preparation stage - the bits on the left side of this picture is animal fat that is used for oiling the teppan. |
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*Drooling*... SHIT, MY STOMACH IS GROWLING FOR KOBE BEEF RIGHT NOW... SO TASTY... |
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The taste test... |
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Satisfaction level (out of 10) - 10000000000000!!! It's that DAMN good! And man, do I ever look happy. WAY too happy... |
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After the wonderful dinner, we went through a little bit of Kobe at night. Mie told me that prior to the Great Hanshin Earthquake, this area was family-oriented; now, there are alleys in this sane area that are lined with adult services. |
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Outside the Toyoko Inn hotel, there's a convenience store called Lovely. Hmm... what can I say about this place... uh... it's Lovely. Yeah. :P |
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My room at the Toyoko Inn. Small, but efficient. |
Unfortunately, the night had to come to an end and Mie had to work the next day. It's unbelievable how much work the Japanese have do here - in fact, out of the 2 years that Mie worked for her company, she has got only 1 day off. DAMN. Also, when I went to Ly's school, the principal of the school was surprised that I managed to get all that time off for vacation - she would have been VERY happy if she managed to get a week off at most!
However, I would meet up with Mie again on Sunday as we were going to visit the famous Himeji-jo, or Himeji Castle; therefore, more fun times are expected. So what to do for Saturday? I decided to take advantage of the JR Pass and ride the shinkansen to one of the most famous cities in the world - Hiroshima.
