Looking for Ms. Wright?: August 2005

Polite Trucks

Kinda hard to see, but this pic was taken on my way to work this morning on my cell phone. It says, `Thank you & OK!` . One word : hilarious, pretty much sums it up!

Thailand for Xmas, anyone?

I am so freakin' excited! I will be spending 11 nights in Thailand over Christmas and New Year's this year with my friend Rhonda. We just booked our tickets yesterday and we are set to fly out of Japan on December 24 and return on January 4th. We will most likely spend a few nights in Bangkok, do some sightseeing in Northern Thailand, and then head down to Phuket for a few nights and then maybe take a ferry to Koh Samui Island or Phi Phi Island. We are still working out the details, but I can already picture myself over the holidays lying on the beach with a drink in hand. I can't wait!

Funny Signs

Here are pics of some interesting signs that I took around Osaka/ Kyoto- enjoy!

God- I know I felt better about myself after eating here!

This would be another lawsuit waiting to happen back home for Philip Morris

This was posted in the window of a restaurant

This was posted on a "staff only" door at a subway station

This is a sign outside the police station

Smokin' Clean

Karaoke & Volleyball

I had a pretty good weekend- it just went by so fast! I went out to Karaoke with some friends on Friday night- which was fun. I had never been to this karaoke place before- you just pay to rent the room and the karaoke equipment(which is pretty cheap) and you bring your own food and drinks. I couldn't stay out too late though 'cause I had to work the next day.

Yesterday I played volleyball for a few hours with about 25 other people. My friend, Rieko, organized it- we were supposed to play beach volleyball, but it ended up raining that day, so she found a gym that we could use for the day. We had a big tournament and ended up playing for a few hours. It was so much fun! I haven't played real volleyball like that since high school- I miss it! And the fact that I'm actually average height over here didn't hurt either!

Here are some more pics from my trip:

Even though it's a replica of the original, it's still beautiful- my favorite one in Kyoto

Kinkakuji Temple (The Golden Temple)

Kiyomizu Dera

Hmm....not sure what this was

Cemetery

Downtown Kyoto and the River

Ginkakuji Temple

Kyoto Tower

we should start a gang or something

Traveling in style

We got on our overnight bus headed for Osaka at 10:30PM and were so surprised. These buses put our Greyhound buses to shame! The overnight bus is one of the cheapest ways to travel in Japan, but in no way do you feel like you are traveling cheaply. The seat backs reclined pretty damn far and then there was a foot rest and another part for your legs that you could put up to meet with the foot rest. So, it was like one big recliner! They also provided you with headphones to plug into your chair to listen to the music that they broadcasted. There was a category of American music too. The bus and the recliner were way more comfortable than traveling by plane! It was awesome. Nothing like our bus transportation system at home. The drink holder was perfect for a beer or a Chu-hi :)

Rhonda and Jasmin

These are the little white slippers they give you to wear during the trip

Pretty much the sweetest bus

Clubbing in Osaka

After spending 8+ hours on an overnight bus to Osaka, we arrived a little tired but excited. We couldn't check into our hotel until 3:00, so we left our bags in a locker at the Osaka train station and took the subway to see Osaka castle.
Afterwards we headed downtown and checked out the shopping arcade- which was a long covered dome with stores on both sides. It was probably about 30 blocks long! The first place we stopped at was Starbucks! We don't have Starbucks in the area that we live in, so it was a treat. They have Matcha(green tea) Frappuccinos at the SBUX in Japan and they are soo good!
We did a little shopping and then went to an okonomiyaki restaurant- which is a food that Osaka is known for.
We headed for our hotel to see if we could check in a little early. The hotel was a business hotel- meaning very simple and cheap, it was 2500Y ($25 per person/night) and we each had our own room. When we got there we found out that all we had in our room was a bed, tv, and fridge. We had to share a sink and toilet with everyone on our floor and there was only one showering room for the whole hotel on the first floor! The room had about 5 showers and a huge bathtub and no stalls or curtains or anything. The website apparently didn't mention anything about this! So, Men and women had set showering times and women had only an hour in the early morning and 2 hours at night- and men had about 6 hours, or more, during the day to shower. Does this seem fair to you- no! But, it's Japan. So, it was interesting- but cheap and we only had to stay 2 nights there.
So, we checked in and headed to our rooms for a quick nap before getting ready to go out. We took the subway downtown and met some nice drunken businessmen who took some pics with us. We started out at an irish pub called the Pig & Whistle- where we met a bunch of other foreigners. One of them happened to bartend at another club that we were planning on going to afterwards, so we had some food and a few drinks and then he showed us the way to Sam and Dave's. It was dark inside and they had good music there- but it was still pretty early so we left to hit up the Underground before we returned to Sam and Dave's.
TheUnderground was the typical club that you would picture in Japan. It was in a big basement and packed full of people. They played loud, loud techno music and you could barely see anything but the bright neon strobe lights. After that we headed back to Sam and Dave's, which was packed, and danced to hip hop music until around 3. Then, where do you go to eat after a night of drinking in Japan? Ramen of course. We headed down the street to a little Ramen shop before catching a cab back to our hotel. Oh yeah, I didn't mention before but we also found out that our hotel had a curfew. The front door locked between the hours of midnight and 4:30AM! Does this make any sense? No. So, we had to chill outside for about 45 minutes until they unlocked the doors. All in all it was a fun eventful night.