After the ice caves, we had enough time to wait for a mini bus to take us back to the hostel. during that wait, i happen to see a happy japanese baby boy with his mother at a small restaurant. his mother was a cutie therefore i tried to grab the boy's attention. so i waved at the boy and he waved back. he responded to me with proper gestures. at this time, i was riddled at how intelligent this kid was, even at the age of 2 or so. he acted as if he was a 12 year old. he was obedient and courteous, where i later observed how most of japanese toddlers are.
by night fall, we arrived at the shinkasen station on route to our next stop: osaka. during our trip, we sat next to a japanese student of whom i offered my sesame rice cake to. after breaking the ice, we found out that she was a graduate from Brown Music school in Massachusetts. Brown music school happens to be the top music school in the states, where musicians such as john mayer graduated from. she happens to play in an orchestra. i think the trip lasted for about 2 hours and finally we got off in osaka.
since it was late night, my first impression of osaka is of vacancy. seemed like no cars nor people were on the streets except in the shinkasen station. it was quiet and time went by real slow. we hiked to our hotel about 15 minute walk from the station and happen to conclude our night at a traditional japanese restaurant adjacent to the hotel. our waitress was dressed in a kimono and i instantly fell in love with her beauty. perhaps, she was the most beautiful japanese lady i have ever seen.
day 5: again, with the help of keith's expertise, without getting lost, we find our way to our first tourist attraction: the osaka castle. it was funny in that once we got of the train, we were amongst thousands of school girls. i thought i was in a dream. there were no guys to be found, not that i am complaining but we were basically lost in a sea of women. and they were also walking in the same direction as we were. later i discover their queue led them to a convention center, of what i do not know of. keith and i went to the other direction towards the osaka castle.
the castle looked more of a pagoda. i think the word "castle" is better utilized in Europe. the pagoda was 8 stories tall, with the option of us using the elevator or stairs. looking at the line for the elevator, it was an easy decision. we started at the 8th floor and descended down 1 floor at a time learning about the artifacts and history about the castle. just like every other castle, to sum it up, it defended the good guys from the bad guys.
after roaming the castle grounds, keith mentioned how the osaka aquarium is one of the biggest ones in the world so we planned on that. finding the train station was the hard part, i think we walked about 3 miles in circles before finding the train station. that is best part of going on a vacation: getting lost accidentally and not complaining about it.
