Last few crazy nights!

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As promised here are the last few things that happened while I was in Nara and Osaka Japan before coming back home.

Nara first:

The next day was our full day in Nara (after going to see the big Buddha). We got up early and walked down to the Museum. It was really interesting and the first section that we saw had something to do with a big cultural event that happens at a certain Temple in Nara. They gave the history and scrolls and pictures and variety of other things. Really had us think about the fact that America is so young and we don't have any traditions at all similar to what we were looking over.

Some other parts of the museum had some old pottery and clay figures that were excavated back around the time Nara was capital and even some good amount before. (Nara was the orginial capital of Japan for close to 100years around 700A.D.) Another part of the museum had some amazing Buddhist statues, in no part of the museum we were aloud to take pictures so there are none from this place. Some pottery also but most of these items had come from China. One cool part was when I recognized one statue and was like, "I swear I had seen that in one of the shrines in Kyoto!" I read what little discritpion was in English (Eego) and sure enough I was right. I believe it was one of the statues from the great hall of Buddhas where there were close to 1,000 Buddhas (after going over the booklet I had bought I found out that as amazing as that number is, I was in fact off, there are 1,001 Buddhas!).

After finishing up with the museum, we walk around towards to the 5 story pagoda and the small temple behind it. There were still some people out saying their prayers and paying visits to the shrine so we got to see many people pray and ring the bell!!

Afterwards we walked around the city, visiting some of the old neighborhood and doing some shopping! We found a Sonic World, and Jeff went in and played a video game, very cool 😊 I also found Sonic hanging out in front of the store. While Jeff's experience was pretty good of the place, mine was mixed, mostly because I had to use the public restroom ... yuck. They only had the eastern style stalls (a pit in the ground) and this was nastiest one yet! Ewww. I truely felt like I needed to wash my pants afterwards.

OHHH and I never mentioned one of the COOLEST things we did in Nara (Too bad I didnt have the camera to take pictures!) Convaury belt Sushi! Thats right, it is what it sounds like. You have all these peices of Sushi just rolling by in front of you and you pick up what you want, each plate costing 100yen, or about $1. You got two big peices normally and it took about 8 plates each for me and Jeff to have our fill, with out bill only coming out to $16 for the both of us! Nice!

Now to Osaka!

We left Nara really early, and the train ride wasnt a long one, so we ended up getting to Osaka around 10am. The hotel could hold our bags for us, but nothing else til 3pm when we could check in. We both really needed a shower, but got over it and went out and about! First stop: Osaka Castle! Very cool place. This one had a big mote around it like the Imperial Palace does in Tokyo. It ws also up on a big hill like Himeji Castle too! Very pretty in white and green and gold colors. They turned the place into a museum type thing, and once one the different floors, no pictures! The first thing they want you to do is go up to the very top, seeing as how there was a 30+ minute wait just to use the elevator, we took the stairs, climbing a total of 8 stories before making it to the top! Ohh yeah, and before we made it to the Castle an old man, and awesome man, came up to us and were like "Hi! Hey! How's it going!" And then pointed to Osaka Castle in the background and said "Ohhhhh Osaka Castle!! Very big!" And then pointed in which direction Nara, Kobe, Kyoto, and Osaka were once we made it to the top. He also said things like "Take camera, go click click click click" and then tried guessing where Jeff was from in America, this guy was awesome! So once were at the top we try figuring out if we can spot those cities. Nara wasn't too hard to figure out, but everything else was just covered in Buildings and kinda reminded me of the view of Tokyo while on top of the Tokyo Tower!

From there we found a place to eat for lunch and then made our way to the Osaka Aquarium! There was another museum that had prints that was behind the museum but the line alone would have taken us over 60min. before we were able to just get in! Crazy, so instead we just make it to the aquarium. In front of the place it looked like there was a little track set up and lots of people crowded around, my guess was a penguin race, and it turned up, I was correct! Very cute! Once that was over, and yeah there was more hype then action, we made it towards the entrance. This place was by far cost more to get in then any other place we had gone, but was really worth it!

They had a bunch of animals that youd expect to see and they did a good job with their 'mock' environments and I got to see some cool things. One of the coolest of the big aquarium in the middle of the place. It had I cant even rem. of think of how many TONS of water in there and so many different kinds of fish. We saw a huge manta ray, and the coolest fish of all was in there, a Whale Shark. Yeah I hadnt ever heard of one before, but he was so pretty. Also towards the end we found the cool jellyfish display and got some great pictures. I was a little upset that I didnt get to see any Seahorses, but hey, thats ONE thing out of hundred that wasnt there that I wanted to see.

From there we make it back to the hotel and then walk the street beside our hotel looking for food. We find a really cool, and real sushi place and take our chances with that. Wow, it was soo good. I had one fish that was awesome, but didnt know it's name (no translation for that and a few others on the menu), there was one that I told Jeff he could have both pieces, after seeing that there was raw beef on the menu, and that looked like it but kinda didnt, I didnt want to take chances. He kinda conformed my idea and said it was kinda strange (I guess just because he was eating raw beef, we cant pull that off in the States).

The next day:
We walk out and look at some of the shopping areas. We find one area that has some cool adult toys, anime, and even electronics. So we hang out there for the mornig, realize that most places wont open til 11 or 12pm we realize we should go back to where we saw we, mostly I, wanted to eat lunch and then come back afterwards. By the time we make it to the place its a bit after 11 and they are opened, we stand outside and figure out what we want to eat, go in place our orders and get ready for our meal.

The reason why I mostly wanted to eat here was because Osaka was known for its Unagi and Fugu. Meaning that Fugu is easier and not as pricey of thing to find it Osaka. Even in Kyoto, all you have to do, is look for the blowfish outside the door and youll find a place that has it! Seeing as how I tried to find some in Kyoto had no luck, we quickly found this place (and 3 others within a small amount of time) and sit down to enjoy lunch. A guy that worked at my hostel told me that the Shashimi was the best, so my order came with a plate of thin shashimi fugu, rice, soup, tempura, and a bunch of other goodies. The resturant gives us our food a plate a time til finally everything is in front of us. We both try the fugu (one of the first plates placed in front) and really enjoy it. I didnt get that tingly numbing sensation that everyone talks about, but with a few peices, but overall, yeah it was REALLY good!

then...

then....

yeah... I got sick. I mean my meal wasn't even over. Stop right there: bit of a background on Fugu for those that don't know. Its a poison but has been served in Japan for hundreds of years.It blocks your Na+ channels causing your muscles to not beable to perform action potentials. For those that don't know what Im talking about: simply stated, it means your muscles don't work and you become stiff. From what I got, it doesn't cross the blood brain barrier, meaning that it wont get into your brain, but you still get fucked up. Only certain places can serve it, and then only certain people (who are very well trained) can perpare it. I figured the place we went would be safe because they perpare it SOO much on a dialy basis that these guys know what they are doing. And if it is anything like in America, know their asses will get sued if they fuck up at all.

back to the story...
I get sick. I wasnt even done, and I started to feel kinda lucid. As in, my mind and body didn't feel like one, but that lasted for a quick moment. I get up to use the bathroom and feel kinda bad, but after a few moments, it starts to pass. I still feel a little off, come back and wish only to eat my rice and fruit and drink a good amount of water. We get up to pay and after were done, I get real bad again. I mean, real quick and a lot worse. I go back to the bathroom and get sick (the two ways you can get sick in a bathroom) multiple times. We get back to the hotel, thankfully Im doing well enough to walk there, and I get sick again. I felt horrible. I was seconds away from asking Jeff to get me help and have me go to the hospital. I ask him to please go downstairs and read about what Fugu posioning was and what it did to your body. I had heard about it and read some things, but I didnt know in detail what happened. I didnt have the numb feeling that goes with it, but some early symptons of food posioning were also some signs. My chest starts hurting, I get a fever, thankfully Jeff is around to take care of me and help me break it, and I really didn't think I had so much to get out of my system. I would try and lay down and sleep, but my body just couldn't do it. I really didn't feel connected and even got scared. Thankfully after 4hours of hell, I was able to get some sleep and when I woke up I felt better. Not perfect, not great, but a LOT better. I ate some crackers drank TONS of water and told Jeff that I was better enough to go out again and hit up those stores we missed in the eariler part of the day.

THANK GOD.

We go out and look in different places and see some cool stuf, and also realize that some things that shouldnt be COST A TON of money in Japan. So for the most part, it was cool to just look. Then after a short while, I get hungry. Else then those crackers and a small pastrey, I had almost nothing on my stomach. I think about places to eat and realize that I can't eat Japanese food, I need American, I need something safe and 'normal'. So, we go to McDonalds (yup, Jeff's last full day in Japan and he gets to eat McDonalds with me in Japan!). I eat a few bites of my food, and my stomach gets that wave of feeling it got when I was sick, and I pushed my food away and couldnt even finish it. I almost felt like crying, like "Am I ever going to feel normal?" You know that feeling you get when youre REALLY REALLY sick and almost get freaked out and believe or wonder if there is an end in site?

We make it back to the hotel, and thankfully I start feeling better. The next day Jeff has to leave to go to the airport, I walk with him to the bus stop, we eat some breakfast (and by the end of that I get sick again, but at least it waited til I was close to done eating- even tho I went safe and very small). Jeff leaves, I wave him goodbye, and I make it back to the hotel to get some more rest. Soon afterwards I get a call from him, he made it to the airport safe, but looked at his ticket wrong and his flight wasnt going to take off for a long while 😞 if I was feeling normal I would have gone out there to see him, but I was too weak and still sick. I really didnt want to go anywhere that was too far from the room. He found a lounge, and it was great that he did cause I ended up getting out to the airport REALLY early before my flight and it gave me a place to stay too.

After around noon, I get up and do some small shopping, or just get out to say the least. I go in the opposite direction down one road that me and Jeff went down lots the day before and within a block I see a Kabuki theatre!! And they were open! They had a performance that night and I go up to the counter and buy one ticket for tonights performance, it seems that they had three shows going on, but I didnt have time to see em all, so I just bought my ticket for the first one. Good too, cause I wanted the exerpeince of seeing the performance, but I didnt understand the words and the style to stay much longer then I did. My show was 70min and I bought an English program and read the two page summery while waiting for the show to start. It was a good story, and I also realized that the three shows were not related so I wasnt missing anything by not going. It had some twists and was totally drama, reminded me of greek tragedy, but really neat. Only 5 main actors, and I do mean actors, to this day no women are allowed to play roles in Kabuki. Even tho it was started by a female and only females played the roles, because of some immural act (that by today's standards is normal and passed off as "Who gives a fuck?"), only men play. Another interesting fact, Geisha used to be only men at the very beginning. Gender role issues, naw!

From there I head off to the hotel room, its around 6pm, get some rice to eat and a soda to help calm my stomach (yup, still havent been able to really eat a normal meal). I plan to leave around 8pm to catch one of the last trains that make it to the airport. My flight is at 6:40am the next day, but if I didnt do this, Id have to pay a $200 taxi fee in order to make to the airport on time!! So I make it to the airport and its 9:30pm, I find that lounge Jeff was talking about, rent a private 'room' for $38 and stay there the night, sleeping from 10pm til 4am. I get down, make my flight to Tokyo, have to take a shuttle bus to the OTHER Tokyo airport (whoever came up with my flight schedule SUCKS) and then wait 4hours before I can even check in. Finally I check in, hang out on an 11hour flight (tho the flight itself was awesome!! Free in demand movies and our own personal touch screen t.v. on the head rest of the person in front of us!), make it to Houston, go through customs, get backs checked, re-checked, go through security, and then make it with 30min to spare before my connecting flight to Raleigh. Make it Raleigh after sleeping on the airline the whole ride, and have my friend Victoria waiting for me as I get off of the plane!

So my trip is nothing more then pictures and memories, and honestly, It's one of the best experiences Ive ever let myself have. I am so thankful I was able to go, and really enjoyed everything. Every minute, even the time I got lost in Tokyo, and even the 4hours when I thought my life might end as I was getting sick. It was a great experience and Im thankful for every minute of it!!!!

Thanks to everyone for the comments and emails, it meant a lot to me, it's good to know that I had people thinking about me at home while I was away. I promise I thought about each of you almost every day!!

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Photos

Shrine in front of 5 Story Pagoda
One of the prettiest skies I have ever seen......

Jeff playing video games!
And kicking butt too! He did pretty good!!

Osaka Castle
One of the best I have ever seen!

Welcome to Osaka!
Here's a great view of the city as taken from up top of the Osaka Castle!

Whale Shark
Didn't know about these guys til not long ago, but it was one of the best sea animals I have ever seen in my life!

Jellyfish!!
MMMMMM Wheres the peanut butter?!

Fugu Resturant
Stupid fugu all making me sick!

Fugu meal
Yup, this is the sucker that did me in too...
but it was SOOO yummy!

Kabuki!
Very glad I was able to enjoy a perfomace during my last hours in Japan!