Thursday, August 28, 2008

Izu

The weekend of August 2-3, Keith, Rumiko, Steph and I planned to head to Izu. For the guys, we live maybe 2 hours away from where we were going to meet, Atami. But the girls lived across the country. They had several options, Shinkansen, night bus, or local train, the last being the stupidest option since it takes a million hours and more transfers than I care to count.

The girls took the last option.

The initial plan sounded good on paper. They would get there at 3am, since that`s how the trains ran, and Keith and I would meet them at 9ish. So waking up at 6, I got everything ready, only to find my cellphone had a text that said the following:

We will be there at 10.

Well not exactly, but thats the gist of it. So after killing some more time, I grabbed my bike, rode down to Hon Atsugi, and just as I was going to buy my ticket, I get another text:

"Theres orcs and balrogs all over Hamamatsu, the trains have stopped, we don`t know when we`ll be able leave."



Rumiko sent me this photo of Steph fighting a balrog at Hamamatsu.

Now, if that was the reason, it`d be legit. Balrogs and Orcs are scary as hell. But truth be told, the trains were stopped because of rain.

Being in this perdicament, I rang Keith, and we decided we`d head to Atami first and just wait.



When we got there, we searched for some food, but decided to just go with coffee. After that we went to Atami beach to catch some rays and enjoy some water.





Around 12, Steph calls and reports she`s at Atami. We wait a bit and eventually see the girls. Seems as though they had an adventure of their own. But it was beach time, not story time.







That beach ball was fun for about 15 seconds. But with the wind and all, it kept flying out of bounds. I was long distanced X`d by the lifeguards while fetching it. After some swims, we were famished, time for food. We strolled back to Atami and picked a random place.





Please note the following:

I have no food
Weiner coffee is on the menu

With our stomachs filled, we decided to head to Shimoda, our main destination. We saw some good views on the way.







When we got there, we needed Ice Cream and a place to live. Somethings are more important than others.



There were actually two flavors, but by the time anyone took a picture, only matcha was left.

After getting ice cream, it was time to head to our Ryokan.









At the Ryokan, we all settled down, took a shower, then decided to get some dinner and decided what to do for the night...

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Steaks and Ice Cream Spinoff: USJ

After touching down in Kansai Airport, we were not ready to go home from our weekend yet. We still had one more item on the list to crossoff: USJ. For the acronym impaired USJ is Universal Studios Japan. First we had to train to USJ. The train ride consisted of the following:



USJ



At the gates, we were super hungry, so food was in order. Food holds priority to fun. Soba.



Once we were at the ticket booths, we hung around like a bunch of cheap bums because we wanted the half day pass. After about 20 minutes, we were on our way.







We met up with Rumiko and her friend Nobu before embarking on any rides. The day consisted of given`r in between rides. The coolest ride was the first ride, a pretty sick roller coaster. The rest were themed rides with some simulated thrilling element. Except for the terminator "ride" which I fell asleep in. Being in an airconditioned room in comfy chairs is a recipe for sleep no matter how loud the gunshots and post apocolyptic robots are. Highlight of the day includes Waterworld not being shown. Here are some pictures I stole.



Its my hand, serious.



Searching for a picture for everyone in the group is like mining for gold.









At about 8, the Kanto boys had to go home. Work was still on the next day so we had to get home. Me, Keith, and Thomas grabbed the next train outta there and Shinkansen`d our way home, to end a busy weekend.

So theres still like a million things I need to blog about: Haircut, Japanese Steakhouse, Izu, Hakone, Kyoto, My stuff in Japan. It`ll all come in time. Masu.....

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Steak & Ice Cream Continued...

Carrying on...

After drinking Snake wine and catching some winks, the gang and I planned to hit up Zamami Island. However, feeling hungry as ever, we had to prioritize. Breakfast first. Strolling around Naha, we found the following for breakfast:



Steak: 3 Ice Cream: 3

This island becomes exponentially awesome with every occurance of steak.

After the breakFEAST, we grabbed the ferry to Zamami. The pictures will tell the appropriate story about this ferry ride.

















Kickass comes to mind when I see these photos. However, these photos do not even match the amazing sign we saw on the ferry.



I tried to follow instructions. But got confused. On a side note, I saw posters up for a party of some sorts. In english it says "SAMMER PARTTY". With double Tees and all. Might have something to do with summer.

Anywize, we got off the ferry, and the plan was to rent some Mopeds. We armed ourselves with 50cc mopeds and prepared to rip around the island. The following events ensued:











At this point the group split up and Steph and I continued to explore the Island.



There is a story behind this photo. Its hilarious.





The mountain roads were quiet and we were able to go top speed on our mopeds. A blistering 35km/h. The ride was amazing. Every so often there were observatories.

















After covering most of the island by Moped, we decided it was beach time. The beach on this island was different, but amazing. The shore was made out of white coral, the water was blue, and there were Suplexes.



Me, having a good time.



Steph, having a good time.



After about an hour, me and Steph headed to the ferry, with 5 minutes to spare, we met up with Keith and Tommy Gun on the ferry and proceeded to head back to Naha.

We had ice cream just before we got on the ferry.

Steak: 3 Ice Cream: 4

On the way back I found a Coconut shaped like a football, which provided hours upon hours of entertainment. It now sits in my room basking in its own glory.



On the ferry back home, please note the football.

The ride home was spent catching some rays on the deck. I already saw all the scenary going to Zamami, no need to see it twice.

Back at Naha, we were all famished and grabbed some eats at the resturant next to our hostel. I had the this:



Taco Rice. This was not awful tasting. But it was definetly not mindblowingly tasty. The Oishi level was definetly lacking.

For Dessert:



Green Tea Ice, with red bean and condensed milk. We kinda went bananas on the condensed milk.

After eating, we decided to spend more time at the International Street in Naha. While there we saw several intense shows. The first being:





Where the premise was the guy with fire was warding off this ghost thing with fire. Very intense show.

The second being:



Some dude hitting drums, pots, a guitar, the side of the building, and causing general mischief and having alot of fun. Intense, in a different way. I gave him 2 bucks I think.

We checked out a couple more stores, did a bit of shopping, ate 2 additional ice creams that night. Both Blue Seal Brand name, one flavor was Beni-imo and the other was Honey. Friggin delicious.

Steak: 3 Ice Cream: 6

We were a bit tired and decided to head back to the Hostel. We played some guitar, threw the Okinawin football around, at about 1am Tommy Gun had fallen asleep, Keith was no where to be found, but Steph and I decided to sneak out of the hostel for kicks. I nabbed the communial guitar and with some stealty manuvers, which included laughing and banging the guitar on stairs, managed to get out the door. The next 5 hours was spent having good times around Naha being barefoot, since we forgot our shoes and did not want to return. Sneaking back in with the same stealthy manuevers, we went back to our rooms to catch some sleep. In the morning, we ate another steak and grabbed the plane ride back to Osaka.

Steak: 4 Ice Cream: 6

Final Score. That was my Okinawin experience. Fun is an understatement. However the weekend was not over yet, USJ awaited.