2012/06/04

Osaka - Gero

Last tracks:





Photos: 
Pictures from facebook

Blog:

After yet another delicious breakfast in Osaka, Aska and I headed up to Kyoto with the train. Kazu, my next host, met us at the station and we dropped off my stuff in his apartment. We then went to Toei studios to see how samurai movies are made and enjoy the little theme park. On the way home we dropped off Aska at her friend's university and went back to Kazu's place. He is a super fast walker and we criscrossed the city's east side for the sightseeing highlights. We finished with a beer with one of his entrepreneur friends. Regular Japanese work a lot but this guy had hardly time to breath.

I got to borrow Kazu's bike and went cycling the next day. I visited Aska and her friends at the university and then I headed to the golden temple. Kyoto has loads of nice houses and old buildings and it's fun just to get lost in all the streets. When Koza came back from work, we went to a big electronics mall and then for a nice dinner. My last day in Kyoto was spent checking out Nijo castle with the nightingale floors and cycling south in the city checking out a hill with loads of Toris (Japanese shrines). It was nice and I got lost in the hills there so I got myself some exercise getting back to my bike. In the evening we did something cool. Kazu took me to a ninja restaurant. You had to go through a maze where ninjas snuck up on you and you got to eat shurikens and stuff. It was sweet.

I parted with Kazu Saturday morning and thanked him for a great stay in Kyoto. I took the subway to the end of the city and hitch hiked with a mother and daughter up to the highway. At the service area a great guy came over and asked me if I wanted a lift. He then took me to a bus that soon would be filled with 11 happy Japanese guys and me. They were on a weekend trip and had coolers with beer and snacks ready for me. After a couple of beers they asked me if I could change my plans, which I certainly could. One guy had cancelled so I got to be the twelfth samurai. I joined them for the weekend and headed to Takayama. 4 beers b4 12 o'clock - I knew it would be a great Saturday! On the way we stopped at the biggest water wheel in Japan and had lunch. In Takayama we checked out the city and float museum. The city has big floats on wheels that are pulled through the streets when they have festivals. They are up to several hundred years old. The town is very nice, built in old Japanese style. A lot of places we could test the local sake. At the bed and breakfast, we had a million dish course where we could drink as much sake and beer as we wanted. I ate more fish with these guys this weekend then I have my entire life.

A night with many snoring room mates and little sleep didn't stop any from having beers at breakfast. A second sightseeing in Takayama followed and then we left for Shirakawa. It was a beautiful town with houses that look Swiss to me. We enjoyed a stroll around and then had a great lunch. The guys gave me two beers and some snacks and wished me the best of luck hitch hiking down to Gero. I parted with the brilliant crew and now even more people on the planet walk around with Norwegian flags on their cell phones. I should get an embassador job or something. I feel like I'm doing a good job spreading a positive image of Norway haha. Everyone that stopped to pick me up in Shirakawa were going in the wrong direction. Eventually a guy from the parking spot came with a bus ticket to me. I'm not sure if he was super nice or had gotten orders to get rid of me. Nevertheless, I gave him two beers and went with the bus. An exciting weekend was drawing to an end.

I thought this would be the end of this post, but when I was trying to walk the last 11 km from the bus stop in the rain, a police car stopped in front of me. After some chatting I got in the back and they got their pineapple candy. They drove me all the way to the fishing center in a village called Maze. There my new host Rocky awaited me! His wife said the police tried to be serious, but she felt they enjoyed driving me around. Also, the rookie driver needed training hehe.

Truly an exciting weekend!

World tracks (This can be seen at the top right link):

2 comments:

  1. what an amazing trip! but you forgot to write about our great time spent in osaka(;ω;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha, you have to read the previous post then:) It's all there hehe

    ReplyDelete