We left our cushy diggs in Kyoto after having another tasy breakfast there. This time Sarah had the smallest full English breakfast we've seen (minus beans so just English breakfast?) and I had avacado toast where the bread wasn't toasted sooo avacado bread. But the buffet choices were great and lattes good so nothing lost there and you can't beat free.
At checkout we got a receipt for our luggage forwarding. As expected it's not here yet but we know where to look tomorrow.
We rolled out about 11 and the area is just, unpleasantly packed with tourists. Those streets are cute at night and the early morning but I don't see why people go there when it's like this. We did get some photos and the yasaka pagoda is nice but yeah. And this is also the off season I know its been much worse than this the last 2 years in March-May.
We got off to a side streets for a taxi. The gameplan today was to stop in Osaka for a bit before heading to Kobe which still kind of happened. The trains into Osaka even though not rush hour were pretty full and we stood for the 35 minute ride. Which keeping you balance on a shaky train is a foot workout especially for already roughed up feets. We rested at Osaka station but still would have had to take another train to the older part of town we were going for and decided to pass. It would put us into rush hour times and too much stress.
Instead we walked in the station to a shopping area that had some neat places. Nintendo store Osaka was there as was Pokemon Center Osaka, Capcom store and cafe and also a One Piece store (a manga/anime about pirates with super powers). All things we like or are at least fun for us.
It was pretty crowded but we got through it with a couple tiny souvenirs. We got on the next train to Kobe where happily we could sit.
Kobe was a relief right when we got off. Osaka station was a madhouse and Kobe immediately struck us as a chiller town with wider open spaces and still a lot of food.
As we walked to our hotel a guy by a bus line stopped and asked if he could give us a survey for the city of Kobe which was basically trying to get tourist info on how they can bring in more folks there. Stuff like why were there and how we found it and booked.
We finally got to Chinatown. Which is awesome. Its a cross of two streets packed with food vendors. Some close as we found after 6pm but some are still up in the evening as well as restaraunts. Red lanterns hanging through it and a quick way for our first Kobe Beef which was delicious. We had a little puff shaped like a hedgehog and a pork bun steamed in front of us and a couple candied strawberries. None of this was too much money but later in the evening we opted once again for convenience store chicken. At least would like to keep up the pretense of sticking to our budget. Which so far if I had to guess we've spent 1.5x the amount expected for food, and by the end 2x local travel. I had a really lowball on that at $100 but still it's cheap. Taxis are great here.
At any rate being right next to Chinatown is awesome. We have good cheapish food just downstairs and free smells.
Dormy Inn is a chain here but its very nice. They have cool amenities here like free ramen at the cafe at 9:30pm. They have a sauna and natural onsen upstairs (communal). A widget on the TV shows if it's occupied or not. It doesn't work which isn't a big deal, but I went up to use it and there were a good few folks in there. Just me and some nekked guys enjoying some hot water together. No Yakuza this time so that was ok (kind of a disappointment).
Also they have free post soak ice cream and drinks. Pretty cool. I think I'll do it again after our late night ramen, its open all night.
Our view faces north into the mountains. Kobe is a port town against a mountain/hillside and the ocean is probably like 20 min south walk from here.
We watched today's top division sumo match today and there was a little bit of an upset. Baited breath for how it's gonna go down. We'll be there on the 4th to last day and my guess is there won't be a runaway winner and there'll be some heated matches. Very excite.
No snakes on a train :( He looks friendly enough
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