Wednesday 22nd September

Wednesday 22^nd September

First up today is a trip to the Osaka Kaiyukan Aquarium. It’s one of the biggest in the world – just the building itself is worth a look.  On the way there we walk past the Tempozan ferris wheel – defo having a go on this!

Watch out for Scooby Doo monsters on the underground

Part of the outside of the aquarium

Inside the aquarium the first animals we meet are otters!! Totally awesome otters all rolling around and being ottery. Within 5 minutes I realised my camera was no use for taking pics of the tanks booooo. I walked round with Jeffrey oohing and ahhing at all the fishels. The whale sharks were particularly impressive. As were the scrillions of different jellyfish all neon and blobby and floaty and stingy. They had a petting tank which was awesome! I got to pet rays and sharks! The rays felt soooo weird they were all spongy it was creepy. The sharks were all rough and jaggy.  The last thing you see before leaving the aquarium is the tank filled with giant crabs. They have samurai faces on their shells and they look like something straight out of a horror film. (There better not be any of these in Australia its bad enough thinking about all the spiders, snakes, sharks, crocs and other bitey stingy deadly creatures).

If you do, you could end up with leaves on your head

Crazy wall-climbing crabs

Creepy!!!

After the aquarium we went to the mall next door to get something to eat and do a bit of shopping. This is also where the Tempozan ferris wheel is. After playing about in some shops taking funny pics we played in the arcade. Had a shot at Time Crisis shooting stuff it was awesome (mental note to self buy Time Crisis for ps3 when you get to Australia).  Bought tickets for the ferris wheel and me, Dennis, Mitch and Bruce hopped in. It took about 20 minutes to go round and the view was awesome.  I thought it was the worlds tallest but that was in 1999. It certainly felt like it while I was up there.

Jeffrey kicking ass in the arcade

Josh...well...being Josh

The mall had a petting zoo featuring meerkats!! Yes meerkats my favourite! I took Jeffrey and oh my god he was soooo badly behaved. I don’t know what he said to the Al Paca but he seriously pissed it off and he scared the hell out of the squirrel monkey. (He also got a bit randy with the rabbits and high-fived a pug after. Bad bunny). You couldn’t pet the meerkats but you could buy carrot sticks and feed them. I considered taking the chi-hee-hee with me in my handbag but decided against it as Jeffrey is enough of a handful.

One pissed off Al Paca

A terrfied squirrel monkey

Meerkat!

Jeffrey!

JEFFREY!!!

After fun at the mall we headed back to the hotel. Next up – Mitch O’ Connell’s art exhibit at the Standard Book Store. Jeffrey mis-behaved himself as usual. He located all the sexy books and amused himself.

After art we went to one of our favourite places for snackaroos. They have a huge menu and its all really cheap. So is the sake which was in full flow! I left the guys to it and headed back to the hotel. Another great day in Japan J

Tuesday 21st September

Today = deer park day! Wooooo!! We take the underground out there. The original plan was to hire bikes and cycle our way up there but it’s all uphill and its roasting!!! So we abandon this plan in favour of taxis. On the way up there’s loads of deer just kicking about and wandering in front of cars.

Get off the road ya maniac!

Once inside the place there’s deer EVERYWHERE!!! The place is so pretty with loads to look at I could take pics all day! Crystal then gives us all crackers to feed the deer. You start feeding one and the next thing theres a swarm of them around you! And they’re not shy! They put their snouts in your handbag or pockets looking for more, they jump on, nudge you, headbutt you. And they don’t take no for an answer if you run away from them they chase you and bite you on the bum. Cute but scary too. You can also buy deer antlers. I wore mine for a bit but the deer seemed unimpressed.

Biting bums

Next it was on to the Buddhist temple. This place was HUGE! There’s a big carved tree thing inside that has a hole through the middle of it. Apparently, the hole is supposed to be the same size as Buddha’s nostril and the story is if you crawl through it then you are cleansed of your sins. I went through twice. Just to make sure. I lost count how many times Jeffrey went through!

About as graceful as a bull in a china shop but Im now free to sin again!

After temple shenanigans we had some quick snackaroos and then on to a bit of shopping. We headed back to the hotel to get changed and cool down! I was in my room just enjoying the freezing cold air conditioning when the door went and Josh appears steamin drunk with Dennis in tow. Josh = legend! After scaring everyone in the 7-11 with his enthusiastic excuse me beer buying technique (you had to be there) we went and hung out by the river to kill time til dinner. Tonight we're off to the fishing restaurant!

Drunken levitation with added beer

The fishing restaurant works like this – you sit at a table in the boat in the middle. You are given rods and bait and you then attempt to catch something from the tanks surrounding the boat. Once you’ve caught something (flounder, sea bass, lobster, eel etc) you tell the peeps how you want it brought to you. You can have it raw, fried or salted. Sweet!!!

Jeffrey deciding what to catch for dinner

Its so much fun! Jeffrey had a go but sadly didn’t catch anything. I caught a flounder and we had it cooked and salted. When you choose to have it raw (sashimi) it’s brought out beautifully presented and sometimes it’s still twitching.

Me and Jeffrey fishing for our tea!

Sashimi

Flounder munched x 2

Josh decided the rod wasn’t working for him so he sat his to the side, put both hands in the tank, chased the fish around  and caught one with his hands. He then put the hook on it and pretended he’d caught it! He didn’t think we were watching but Crystal has all of this on film it was soooo funny.

A shitload of sake later and it was time to head back to the hotel.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring? J