Springing into Singapore and Japan.

[GarrettM]

So green!


No simple stamp here. Getting the full jobby.


One day she will appreciate the significance.

 

[GarrettM]

So the renos are clearly restricting access, and the crowds are a little mental. But you can still get a good walk and some nice views.

 

[GarrettM]

And of course the three springs.
View attachment 98251

Naturally I intended to partake. The line was rather long though, and not helped by people ignoring protocols.
My understanding was it's considered improper to drink from more than one of the springs, but almost everyone was filling their ladles from all three. Aside from being greedy it certainly kept the line waiting.
Plus people were also disregarding the rules about drinking directly from the cups. Sigh.

Still I got up there, and since bub wanted to climb the steps I decided to make sure she had a taste of the water as well.

 

[GarrettM]

 

[GarrettM]

Obviously many women dressed up in traditional gear. And some cute kids. Definitely would not have worked for ours.


And having come up the hill, it's time to go down. But there's plenty of food to try on the way!



We got some potato cake on a stick which was good, and some squid on a stick which was also tasty. Bub preferred the squid oddly.

And then these little green beauties. Piping hot but bloody sensational!


And some mitarashi dango. Again very pleasant.

 

[GarrettM]

After our snacks it was back on the loop bus to Kanazawa Station, and the short commute back to Osaka. As it was late in the afternoon we decided to head straight to Dotonbori to find something for dinner.

This evening we opted for sushi, as we'd been keen on some for a while, and we got a table in a pretty energetic place called Zushisanman.

Some tempura prawns.


California rolls.


A noodle dish for bub, and assorted nigiri sushi for us.


And some fugu! Just deep fried small specimens. Bony and nothing to write home about. But we didn't die.


I was tempted to wash it all down with a beerlike beverage, but stuck with the tried and true beer.

 

[GarrettM]

And then another exploration through the shops. Some bizarre stuff about.

 

[GarrettM]

Just realised I had a nice pic of the Golden Temple on my tablet.

 

[GarrettM]

That was Saturday. Tomorrow... a play in the park, and back to the baseball!

 

[BacchusMarsh]

View attachment 98265

Nice puddings! (Strawberry)

View attachment 98266

I don't know how well known this guy is overseas. In Japan, he was basically Psy-like big last year.

Babymetal became the first Japanese band to make the US Billboard Top 40 in 53 years, and then Piko Taro did this (shortest song ever on a less exclusive Billboard chart):

Piko-Taro's 'PPAP' Is the Shortest Song Ever on Billboard Hot 100 | Billboard

View attachment 98267

These are chocolates, really well done.

Comments inside the quote, sorry.

 

[love_the_life]

It is a spectacular temple although we didn't visit when we were there last November. Kyoto was packed for autumn leaves viewing so we passed on going to it. I was there in the 90s and even then it was really busy.
Kinkaju-ji is lovely and the grounds are great. You did well to get the shots of the pavilion without other people's heads the in way.

 

[GarrettM]

It is a spectacular temple although we didn't visit when we were there last November. Kyoto was packed for autumn leaves viewing so we passed on going to it. I was there in the 90s and even then it was really busy.
Kinkaju-ji is lovely and the grounds are great. You did well to get the shots of the pavilion without other people's heads the in way.

I think I was taller than everybody else

 

[love_the_life]

I think I was taller than everybody else

That would be an advantage.
I like Japan as I don't feel short there

 

[GarrettM]

After thoroughly enjoying Friday night's baseball excursion, I decided to see if I could get a ticket for Sunday's game. And this time wife and bub would come too! Goodo.
But first we'd discovered a cute little park just down the road from the hotel. They'd been rare so far on this trip, and we decided the little girl needed some kiddy time.

Straight to the swings first up.


There were three slides in the park. She ignored the little one, and went to the next one up.


And having conquered that, she set her sights on the big kids slide. Ages 3 and up.


Laughing in the face of fear!


And away!


She did this about six or seven times, before stacking and slightly grazing her knee, which brought her crashing to earth... figuratively speaking.
She got all upset seeing the scratches and became a little difficult. But once we put some long pants back on she settled down.

Just in time for baseball!

 

[GarrettM]

Getting last minute tickets to the Buffaloes was even easier than I expected. Took just a few minutes online. Didn't need to buy a child's ticket technically, but thought it might be handy to have the space.
Ended up right behind home plate, in the upper deck. Could be some foul balls up this way for sure!



Great atmosphere again. Plenty of noise. The perfect place for a toddler to fall asleep then.


She slept for more than an hour, which was actually pretty good. But when she woke up she needed a change of scenery, so she and her mother went shopping at the mall next door, and we agreed to meet outside at a time I figured the game would be finished.
But it was a really good game, that went to extra innings when scores were locked at 3-3 after 9 innings.
I got to watch into the 11th before I had to go, which meant I missed a great walk off victory to the Buffaloes. A bit of a bugger but couldn't be helped.

 

[GarrettM]

After the game we jumped in a taxi, dropped a couple things back at the hotel, and headed back to Dotonbori in search of some okonomiyaki and other treats.

Somehow we found ourselves here.


And it was interesting. The okonomiyaki was very nice, but not very big. The fried cheese things were also good.


That's a blueberry beer the wife tried. It was also different.


Also some corn and assorted skewers, which turned out to be chicken hearts, overcooked squid, beef tendon, and something else not overly fantastic.


What was mostly annoying though was the weird order things came out in. The okonomiyaki came first, with the fried cheese, and then the skewers.
The corn didn't show up until we'd finished all the other stuff - not that we ate all the skewers. There's only so many chicken hearts a man can stomach.

Just odd.

 

[GarrettM]

Thankfully we had to walk past Lord Stow's again on the way back. And there's more than a few places to get some excellent goyza too.

So we had a mini-picnic on the floor of our hotel room.

 

[GarrettM]

Going to be a couple days before I can add to this now. Still haven't had internet connected since we moved.

When I return... another day trip to Kyoto, a pretty decent sushi train, and on the Hikari to Hiroshima.

 

[Lemon_Party]

Great TR so far, brings back a lot of memories. Wasn't aware of the dinosaur museum so will have to add that to the list for next time!

 

[GarrettM]

Great TR so far, brings back a lot of memories. Wasn't aware of the dinosaur museum so will have to add that to the list for next time!

It's a mission to get there, but absolutely worth it. I hope to go back one day. I'd read it's better to hire a car from Kanazawa rather than train it. Might be the way to go. That way you'd drive through the mountains, which would be an experience in its own right.