To Osaka!

Sat morning after breakfast we were off to the train station. As usual I had to stop to take various photos.

The Kuala bears are saying Stop! Look left and right! Its on the ground beside the road.

And this one is rather self evident.

It was insanely hot, as usual actually, and my shirt was pretty wet already before we even got on the bus to the train station. While at the bus stop I am pretty sure about 90% of the car drivers would slow down a bit and stare at me as they went past. Especially the obasan's (old ladies).

Nothing eventful to report on the way, so heres some train pictures.

After getting off I finally got to see some of those more stereotypical streets. Made me happy.

We stopped at a stall so I could get a snack. Its called Chigiri Mochi. Basically...baked sticky rice with a sweet sauce on it. With seaweed wrapped around it. On a stick! I know the face you might be making, but trust me it was good.

That old lady serving was also sporting the single tooth look. Old chomper as they call it in the south! (America, not Japan).

Also want to point out, those streets feel insanely dangerous. As you can see its basically a single lane, with cars going both ways, bikes zooming all over and people waking where they please. The cars almost brush right up against you. A tad unsettling.

We had about 2 hours to kill till we had to be at her sisters house so took our time walking around. We stumbled across Sojiji temple on the way and decided to pop on in.

It was a big place. Lots of different shrines for different purposes. Its all very confusing really. The atmosphere is a tad ruined when on main building there was a bunch of posters and adverts plus vending machines at the gate..but I guess thats what happens when modern times catch up. But it doesn't do much to take away from it all. There was also a coy pond that also had turtles in it too. All in all it was a really beautiful place.

We still had about an hour to kill and desperately needed air conditioning, so we found a nice little cafe/bakery and went there. Was a good 'ol mom and pop joint, with dad in the back baking and mom and daughter serving/cashier. I enjoyed a nice coke float and naomi had some chocolate bread sticks (soft bread) which were delicious.

We spent about 45min or so in here then finally headed to her sisters. Which will be documented in the next part!