DID: Last day in Kinosaki, and the weather was gorgeous. Even Jason agreed it was too hot for an onsen (and I think he was still pruned from the day before). Check out was a bit dramatic, hotel didn’t take credit card so we had to give them all but about $15 of what we had left in cash. Attempt #1 at an ATM and Jason realized he’d left all his plastic in his yukata (robe) that was back at the hotel. Which of course by the time we got there, the cleaning service had already collected and taken away!! Fortunately it was only a 20 minute wait before the cleaning service returned to the hotel with the load of laundry. Double fortunately that this service only does the yukatas and not all the towels too, so it was just a small hill rather than a mountain of laundry to sort through. He even found 10 bucks in the process. Rhys had near death experience #1 of the day when he snuck up the stairs and fell back down (only about 5 steps!)
Gavin was given the choice, beach or mountain, he chose mountain. Made our way to the cable car stopping at 3 ATMs on the way, no luck. Ride up the mountain was good, had the cable car (or ropeway, as they call it) to ourselves. It makes a stop midway at a temple but we didn’t alight there. At the top was an enormous, though slightly dilapidated, playground. Kept the boys entertained for quite awhile. This playground (like the one in Seoul) also incorporated some ‘play’ equipment for adults – probably designed for the lunatics who opt out of the cable car and think the hike up the mountain isn’t enough of a challenge.
Rhys had near death experience #2 of the day with a botched attempt at riding down the fireman’s pole after Gavin. Unhurt under the tears.
Then it was off to the train to Osaka. Jason was confident they would take credit card at the train station, so it was just a matter of how to fund lunch on the $10 we had left. No parting beer at the local craft brewery for me.
On the way back through town we found an open-air foot onsen (which we’d previously discounted as either some sort of shrine or a picnic gazebo). There were a few ladies there enjoying a mid-day soak who got a kick out of GnR. Gavin was feeling particularly friendly today and even waved to them – progress!
Train to Osaka took us from the north coast and the Japan Sea to the south coast and Osaka Bay. Beautiful scenery through the mountains and small villages. Trip took about 3 hours.
Checked into hotel, had a bite, then took advantage of hotel’s laundry room.
The boys had to sleep in their bathing suits while their PJs were in the wash, they were very amused by this.
ATE: Another gorgeous but completely unappetizing breakfast at the ryokan. Even Jason was starting to come back to his senses that pickled and smoked fishy things accompanied by soft boiled cold eggs are not the most delectable things at 8.30 am (to a western tastes, of course!). The hotel was kind enough to pack up Gavin’s meal after he slept through breakfast (I didn’t see the point of waking him up to have him choke down another bowl of rice). This proved very handy for lunch since we were all out of cash. Well sort of handy. I certainly wasn’t interested in it, and Jason just picked out the rice balls and left the rest. We used the last of our cash to get the boys' lunch - a couple of hot dog pastries from a bakery and a bottle of cold water.
Dinner in Osaka at a place near our hotel. Again hotel had rubbish recommendations for restaurants (how are they not prepared for these questions???) Found a tempura place that was kind of like those Brazilian places where they just keep bringing you food until you tell them to stop. We were sitting at the bar right in front of the fry cook. I was a bit dubious about the whole thing to start with, I mean how much fried stuff could I possibly eat before getting that yucky coated feeling in my mouth and feeling generally ill? Apparently a lot, with this guy at the fryer (and the beer probably helped too). This was no ordinary tempura. Some of it was in tempura batter, other in panko crumb. We had everything from prawns to chicken to crab to pork to steak, to jalapenos, to tofu….and on and on. The food came one stick at a time at a slow pace so it just felt like we were grazing rather than gorging.
SLEPT: Fabulously at the Unizo Hotel in Yodayabashi. Looks like it’s kind of a business-y district of Osaka. Hotel seems brand new, beds are very comfortable and who says rooms are small in Japan? This is now our third room here and although this is the first time there is no bed for Gavin, there’s plenty of room for us to set up Rhys’ portacot + Gavin’s sleeping bag + all suitcases and we still have space to move around. Jason was disappointed that there was no onsen at the hotel, but I’m sure nothing would live up to the Kinosaki standard anyway!
Please, no more "near death " experiences
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