Ramblings, Rantings, News and other stuff from Franky on the Philippines
This would be dreamland for Jochen, my Boss.. because there are fishtanks all over Osaka..
like in Subwaystations…
or in departmentstores..
and in the bay-area there is the biggest fishtank in the world, containing nothing less then a whaleshark… ad lots of other big fish..
I love fish.. i love to watch them.. i love them raw.. cooked, grilled and boiled…
check out the other pics in this section
Well not in Osaka, where I am now, but in Japan in total… I wonder if it feels like two weeks or two months…
Well it is official, my Suitcase broke… I already bought a backack first day in Kyoto (and an umbrella, works like a charm, didn’t rain since the minute I bought it..) but this morning my Suitcase’s handle, the one to pull it, broke off…
Now I am trying to decide if I tag along with the broken one, or if I buy a new one… It is only in use for two more stations, Osaka to Hiroshima, and Hiroshima back home, but it is rather uncomfortable now.. On the other hand, how does one get rid of a roughly 80×60x50 cm big broken Suitcase in the middle of Japan (legaly)…?
Will have to think about it… meanwhile I enjoy the lively city of Osaka… which seems to be more lively than other cities..
I have to confess, the first day in a new city is always hard for me, as I feel uncomfortable unless I know my way around at least a bit… lucky me, I learn fast..
one needs definetaly more time than just two days to cover kyoto and its surroundings…
Well, its a reason for coming back…
I saw hundreds of pupils of all ages on their road-trips..
I wondered if they get stupid road-trip-tasks, like testing thir english on poor foreigners..
no kidding, around 15 minutes after that thought, 3 Kids approached me and ased me if I speek english… Well I was glad to help on the assignment.. I was aked 3 times during those two days, Once in a department store, once in a temple and once at the feet of Kyomizu-dera.. Questions where like, whats my name, where i come frome, if i like japanese cuisine… and so on..
it led to funny dicussions.. Problem was, they could say (mostly) their questions, but couldn’t cope with the answers.. so I answered in english and in japanese..
I’ll have to write a lot about Kyoto, but it would mostly be talk about temples.. because there are a lot… small shrines on the side of the street, middle ones for your quick blessing, and large ones with much history.. and there are giant ones where you can stroll around for hours..
You will all get that when I come back, because uploading like 300 images from an internet-cafe’ is like impossible.. and those are just from today…
but I uploaded like the Kyoto-version of the Kids from Tokyo (sorry bad joke)..
No, I took that photo of those two lovely ladies on the site of the Kyomizu-dera temple..
You know, taking a photo of two Geishas in Kyomizu-dera is like taking a picture of a Backpipe-player on Uruqhart-castle..
wow.. Kyoto already…
I am overwelmed what to see here..
well it will mostly be Temples, but which of the many do I have to see…
I found my Ryokan pretty easy this time, but it was a long walk from the station..
But for now I had to catch up here, Scott was already complaining about the lack of updates.. Pictures will come as well, but I have to transfer them back to the camera first..
So, I went to that Yakitori-shop again which I found yesterday.
This Yakitori-shop is run by a family who’s really nice.. Dad grills the meat, mother, aunt and daughters wait the guests, and the young apprentice is messing up the orders…
When I went there a second time today, the welcome was even louder and warmer.. it seems that foreigners are seldom but appreciated guests here 
I read my orders from the japanese menu, which seemed to impress the guy sitting next to me..
After my second beer he ordered a beer for me and told me how cool he thinks it is that I do this tour and odering in japanese and everything..
Now you can imagine, discussing stuff in Japanese with a slightly drunk guy, while being slightly drunk myself can be considered a baptism of fire, don’t you think? His son, who arrived a bit later, helped by forming simpler sentences for me… but it was in japanese nontheless..
After another beer, he then left as he didn’t seem to have the stamina of a german when it comes to beer 
I really liked that place… But I have to leave for Kyoto tomorrow, realising that nearly half of my vacation is already over…
The Expo 2005 is near Nagoya this year, so I took the chance and went there…
I have to tell the truth: I actually didn’t plan on WHAT to do in the cities I chose to visit.. I just go there and try to get to see something..
The Expo was similar.. I chose Nagoya first, and then heard that the Expo is there, so I went for the Expo.
In one sentence: it was packed with people… It was impossible to get to an exhibition with less than 30 minutes waiting in the queue, and those were the fast ones..
I feared that the 4600yen ticket wasn’t worth it.. so I just strolled around and waited.. later that day it got better and I started to see some exhibitions.. Went to the USA exhibition, some South Asian exhib’s and to some of the corporate exhibitions…
I wanted to see how Germany presented itself, but Germany had the longest waiting line of all Country-exhibitions.. 2 hours!.. only the Toyota exhib was longer, there it was 2,5 hours.. and even near closing-time the German exhibiton had a waiting time of 70 minutes..
So all in all, the Expo was ok.. saw some funny stuff, but nothing really impressive.. I think that IT Job toughed me up in respect of new technology.. I am not easily impressed anymore..
The overall tone of the Expo was about preserving nature anyway, Germany did the exhibition on Bio-technologie…
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