The next stop on my trip is Osaka. I was not sure if I was actually going to make it here as it is one of the areas that was hit the worst by the typhoon a few days ago. However, I made it and now I am coming towards the end of the Japan part of my big trip, it has flown by so quickly!
I got the shinkansen line from Hiroshima directly to Osaka where I got a couple of tubes to my hotel which is still very simple but whole lot nicer than the last place I stayed in.
I got there early so was not able to check in straight away. So I just left my stuff and went out exploring. I walked around the dotonbori area which had lots of places to eat and shop. I went to a ramen restaurant and once again the food was a hit. I don’t think I will ever get bored of ramen! Everywhere has its own unique way of serving it with different flavours and it is just so warm and nourishing that it feels like a hug from the inside out served in a bowl.
I was told Osaka is a great place to shop so went around looking. I am not really a big shopper so I got a little bored after about an hour. However, I did find another hello kitty store where they sold sweets which I bought to bring home for my sisters.
That night, me and a girl went to go and get food and we ended up actually going to a Thai restaurant. At first, I felt a little bad not eating Japanese food but once the food came out and I tasted how amazing it was, my guilt quickly slipped away. We then went to a place called rock rock bar.
And it was honestly one of the weirdest nights of my life but at the same time one of the best. First of all, to get into the bar, we had to go up this random lift. Once we got there, the door lady asked us if we really wanted to go in as the night was a themed night and would only be playing a Japanese band called B’z. The fact she had warned us should probably have been a warning that the night would be weird.
Yet we had already come so far so decided to go in anyway. And the room was just full of Japanese people dressed in band tshirts absolutely rocking out. I looked around and just thought to myself, why not? When in Rome, do as the Romans. So we bought a drink and started dancing with everyone. It was so much fun.
To some of the songs, everyone would start doing synchronised hand gestures so I just started copying what they were doing. I think they really loved our enthusiasm so they all were super nice to us – I even got up on the stage!
We ended up staying at the bar so long that most other people had left and they started playing songs from British bands. Singing my heart out to “don’t look back in anger” by Oasis at 2am in the morning in a Japanese bar is a moment I won’t forget for the rest of my life.
The following day, I had plans to go and visit the Osaka castle and the aquarium then get my nails done. However, I still had not heard anything from the airline about my flights to Hong Kong so I started getting a little stressed as I was supposed to be leaving the next day and I did not have flights or accommodation booked – I felt a little stuck. So I ended up spending the day in the hostel trying to sort that out.
I was a little gutted that I was not able to see the castle or aquarium but when the people I was supposed to go with got back, they told me that I did not miss out on too much. However, I am sure they were just trying to make me feel better!
That night we all went out for a meal together to try Osaka style okonomiyaki to see how it compared to the one we tried in Hiroshima. It turned out that the restaurant made all their dishes with egg (which I don’t eat) so I ended up having a really random meal of side dishes. I had pork gyozas and chicken gizzards. It was served on this really cool hot plate so it came all sizzling and was very tasty.
During the meal, I was trawling through the sky scanner website to find any flights leaving from any airport to Hong Kong the next day and found flights with China airways going from Nagoya stopping in Taiwan. So I impulsively booked flights on my phone so it looks like I am back on track with my plans and will be getting to Hong Kong as planned!
If you have missed any of my travel diaries of the past couple of weeks in Japan, don’t forget to check them out also and read all about my time in Tokyo, Takayama, Kyota/ Nara and Hiroshima / Miyajima! I have had the most amazing time.
It’s just me, Dammy, looking forward to the next adventure…
xxx
itsmedammy.com 