Day 5 - Minoh hike and city life
Sunday, 12 May 2024 23:45![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elusivekAnd basically this is my last day on holiday. I wake up early, check the way to go to my destination, and leave. Notice I have that purple windbreaker? I will lose it later. Look at my spiffy new Pokémon merch!
I walked past an oddly familiar river island thing.
Then I saw it's a rose garden, I remember. This was the rose garden my friend J and I walked past over 10 years ago when we were duped by the hostel guy telling us "The Osaka Castle is very near! Just walk East for 15 minutes! We walked over an hour. I didn't mind it, but J's prissy about walking too much.
Anyway, I arrive one of the Minoh stations then find out the bus to Katsuo-ji doesn't start until an hour and a half later. I decided to taxi up there. Geeez. Japanese taxis are expensive. But anyway, it worked out for me. I arrived early before the hoard came up.
So Many Darumas!
DARUMAS!
So this lady in the light blue dress is having a photo shoot. That's all fine. It's the photographer that annoyed me to no end. She talked like those machines in that squeaky "née née née" voice non-stop. Ugh! It was soft, but because of the high pitch, I heard that clearly.
More Darumas!
And Darumas!
This collect 6 stamp points thing was fun. I saw the pictures come together.
And... ore Darumas!
They had a carp feeding station so I sprinkled a bag of feed over.
The last of the Darumas! This is Lego Darumas!
I decided to hike it to the Minoh Waterfall. Halfway up the drive-road, I saw a sign that said there's a trail! The Austrian blood in me sang and up I went! (Now thinking back it was a pretty bad decision - I only had a bottle of water and a sandwich). It was a nice walk, a bit steep at parts.
Ah, the wandern!
Getting back into civilization.
Eventually I reached a mid-way point visitor center, and there the guy said it's safer to walk on the drive-road. So... back to the drive-road on foot.
The waterfall!
It was like a pit stop, so I got me some food.
Finally got to try this Momiji Tempura! Basically a tempura-ed maple leaf. The batter was really good (basically you're eating a cookie with a leaf inside).
Walk back down to town (another Minoh station)
I pass by a western style coffee shop.
Guess it was a sixth sense or something? I decided to go inside despite my not really liking coffee... then it poured.
Might as well eat.
Just on time, when i finished, the rain stopped, so off I went again, continuing to trek down to the town.
Last few nature shots.
Arrived Umeda, didn't know what to do.
Found a shrine near Umeda. And after roaming a bit I decided to just get back to the hotel. And voila, there was a bus stop next to me that had a bus to go back.
The WiFi's weak so some photos just aren't uploading. But anyway. I decided to swing by Spa World. The last time I went there, the ladies floor was in the Europe themed floor. I was hoping this time the ladies floor is in Asia, but no luck. (The spa themes for male and female areas swap every month). Anyway, it is a strictly no tattoos place, but I managed to get in LOL. My tattoos are small haha.
Then I went on the way to the TeamLab Botanical. Gardens. Along the way, I stopped for dinner at the revolving sushi place that I had in Kyoto before (KURA) since I knew it was relatively good for a revolving sushi place.
The photos aren't doing TeamLab any justice. This outdoor night-time TeamLab can only be enjoyed in person as the art pieces are interactive and there's a light background music playing.
But again it's the sad thing of traveling alone and can only take selfies.
Highly recommended! If you ever go to Osaka, visit this!
Tomorrow is an early day, so I'm gonna call it a day now.
I walked past an oddly familiar river island thing.
Then I saw it's a rose garden, I remember. This was the rose garden my friend J and I walked past over 10 years ago when we were duped by the hostel guy telling us "The Osaka Castle is very near! Just walk East for 15 minutes! We walked over an hour. I didn't mind it, but J's prissy about walking too much.
Anyway, I arrive one of the Minoh stations then find out the bus to Katsuo-ji doesn't start until an hour and a half later. I decided to taxi up there. Geeez. Japanese taxis are expensive. But anyway, it worked out for me. I arrived early before the hoard came up.
So Many Darumas!
DARUMAS!
So this lady in the light blue dress is having a photo shoot. That's all fine. It's the photographer that annoyed me to no end. She talked like those machines in that squeaky "née née née" voice non-stop. Ugh! It was soft, but because of the high pitch, I heard that clearly.
More Darumas!
And Darumas!
This collect 6 stamp points thing was fun. I saw the pictures come together.
And... ore Darumas!
They had a carp feeding station so I sprinkled a bag of feed over.
The last of the Darumas! This is Lego Darumas!
I decided to hike it to the Minoh Waterfall. Halfway up the drive-road, I saw a sign that said there's a trail! The Austrian blood in me sang and up I went! (Now thinking back it was a pretty bad decision - I only had a bottle of water and a sandwich). It was a nice walk, a bit steep at parts.
Ah, the wandern!
Getting back into civilization.
Eventually I reached a mid-way point visitor center, and there the guy said it's safer to walk on the drive-road. So... back to the drive-road on foot.
The waterfall!
It was like a pit stop, so I got me some food.
Finally got to try this Momiji Tempura! Basically a tempura-ed maple leaf. The batter was really good (basically you're eating a cookie with a leaf inside).
Walk back down to town (another Minoh station)
I pass by a western style coffee shop.
Guess it was a sixth sense or something? I decided to go inside despite my not really liking coffee... then it poured.
Might as well eat.
Just on time, when i finished, the rain stopped, so off I went again, continuing to trek down to the town.
Last few nature shots.
Arrived Umeda, didn't know what to do.
Found a shrine near Umeda. And after roaming a bit I decided to just get back to the hotel. And voila, there was a bus stop next to me that had a bus to go back.
The WiFi's weak so some photos just aren't uploading. But anyway. I decided to swing by Spa World. The last time I went there, the ladies floor was in the Europe themed floor. I was hoping this time the ladies floor is in Asia, but no luck. (The spa themes for male and female areas swap every month). Anyway, it is a strictly no tattoos place, but I managed to get in LOL. My tattoos are small haha.
Then I went on the way to the TeamLab Botanical. Gardens. Along the way, I stopped for dinner at the revolving sushi place that I had in Kyoto before (KURA) since I knew it was relatively good for a revolving sushi place.
The photos aren't doing TeamLab any justice. This outdoor night-time TeamLab can only be enjoyed in person as the art pieces are interactive and there's a light background music playing.
But again it's the sad thing of traveling alone and can only take selfies.
Highly recommended! If you ever go to Osaka, visit this!
Tomorrow is an early day, so I'm gonna call it a day now.
