Osaka, Kinki, Japan
Sunday, January 8, 2017

*MAYA*

We had a briskly paced morning departing Miyajima for Osaka. Custard and apple tarts at the markets (best meal of the day and you'll soon find out why) running for the ferry then running for the train. Ash and I opted for the elevator whilst the others tackled the stairs. We missed the train. Some may say that is was namely because of our lagging but we are adamant that is was a strategic move so we would end up on the rapid train into Hiroshima which was due next.
Once we arrived into Hiroshima we booked our tickets and for the first time so far the Shenzhen was packed and there was limited seats. Nevertheless, our ride into Osaka was leisurely. All the usual - snacks, reading, snoozing and a bit of window gazing.
The weather in Osaka was, let's just say, not the best. Pouring down rain, with rain and a side of more rain. One subway ride down and we did a pretty good job trekking it to our hotel with all the luggage from there. Even more so excited about getting undercover, we were happy to finally be able to do our washing. Whilst it was all in the dryer, we decided to hit up the shops in town. Knowing the boys would get a chronic case of 'hangry' if we didn't stop, McDonald's seemed like a wise choice. After getting some food and going into a few shops we split up, continued to have a bit of a gander then made our way back to the hotel.
After some RnR, showers and laundry sortage back into town it was. Wondering through the Dotonbori area was amazing, so many pretty lights and a really cool little canal running through the street. In terms of dinner plans, we just decided to wing it and ended up at a fish restaurant. I use the term fish loosely as judging by this place it could have been anything that came from the ocean. Sunken piece of plastic, an eels eye ball or as Blake said a slab of the jetty. Some of us made some safe choices whilst others not so much. Cal, who was accidentally given Dyls food ended up with unbearably chewy squid (yet to be confirmed if it was actually squid) Dyl ate various tempura pieces off the jetty, Lou and Ash had fried udon noodles. Fun fact - turns out these are just Indian rice cracker snacks straight from the packet. I had a tempura onion lollipop which Cal can take credit for actually polishing off and Blake had two cold strips of pork. Safe to say we got out of there pretty quick. Round two was an 'Italian Restaurant'. Questionable pizzas and pasta but anything was better than the nightmare we came from.
Two dinners down and we ready for some Pachinkos! Japan's answer to pokies and gambling. Dyl gave it a crack and had some luck then generously donated a few of his hard earned chips to me which I then turned into absolute gold. Ok, bit of an exaggeration, I must admit. They ended up literally kicking us out as it was closing but we were all fine with that except for Dyl who still had a kid in a candy store look in his eye. Would of probably stayed there all night if he could! One subway ride and a short walk to the hotel and that was our day in Osaka over and out.