Thursday, April 10, 2008
pictures from shojoshin-in and okuno-in at mt koya
buddhist statue at okuno-in
pyramid of doll icons at okuno-in
nicole and i jumping in the forest!
traditional japanese rock garden
me in my full kesa robe
temple garden at shojoshin-in
okuno-in at mt koya
offerings at okuno-in
I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed... I think it was the onsen bath before bedtime! So we all woke up, ate some vegan macrobotic "brunch" (its lunch food, people in Japan don't eat breakfast!) and decided to get an early start on the trek to Mt. Koya.
The train ride was pretty long, and Tesni and I sat on the sunny side... We had an excellent view of all the small villages passing by. It was nice to see countryside Japan for awhile after being surrounded by the lights and sounds of Shinsaibashi! I drifted in and out of daydreams and naps, but was really anxious to visit Koyasan. In planning our trip, Tesni and Nicole kept asking me what kinds of things I wanted to do while I was in Japan... Since I didn't really consult any travel books and didn't know *too* much about Japan, I didn't have many suggestions. The usual, karaoke, photobooth, peace sign pictures at tourist spots, mostly hanging out with my friends... oh and A TEMPLE STAY. Ideally, I would have liked to spend the entire time in Japan at a temple... ok, maybe not really, but the thought is just so peaceful and seems typically Japanese to me. Buddhist temples are such a major part of traditional Japan, and I was anxious to experience that for myself.
As soon as the train stopped, I could feel that Koya was going to be an amazing time. We took this cable car up to the top of the mountain, and then got on a city bus to take us right to the ryokan. When we got to our temple, Shojoshin-in, we had to take off our shoes and put on our temple slippers, which we wouldn't take off for most of the time. No locks for your shoe box, just out in the open. Its nice to think that I didn't even consider "would someone steal my shoes?" until right now. Most of Japan is like that, just honor system. I'm sure some people take advantange of it, but I like thinking that there are still places in the world that can run that way.
We filled out our paperwork and got the lay of the temple, there was a rush to retreat to the rooms since we were anxious to relax. Well, that sounds strange. Not anxious, but relieved! The atmosphere of the temple was so peaceful, filled with sounds of running water and birds chirping around the gardens. There was a traditional Japanese rock garden and another mossy green area with plenty of flora and fauna to admire from the balcony in your room.
The rooms were simplistic bliss, very traditional Japanese architecture and design style. Bamboo walls, Japanese wall hangings, sliding doors, futon beds and my very first kotatsu! Kotatsu is a coffee table that is heated underneath where you put your legs... genius! Apparently a lot of older people go to the hospital with severe kotatsu burns though... yikes. And Nicole said people have told her sometimes they sleep under their kotatsu in the winter time. Sounds cozy!
While Adam kept reading his book and napped, I went over to Tesni and Nicole's room to have an afternoon tea session. It was so nice to be on the other side of the world with two of my wonderful friends, enjoying a cup of tea in one of the most peaceful places I have ever been to. Bliss! We talked until dinner time, and went downstairs at 5pm for our first shôjin ryôri, which is a traditional and typical Buddhist dinner. All vegan, much to Tesni and Nicole's delight! And Adam's dismay... hahaha. Lots of random root vegetables, pickled plums, broth soups and of course, white rice and green tea!
After dinner, we all went back to Tesni and Nicole's room to relax to the max. We pushed their futons together and just took a group nap, or group rest... whatever you want to call it. At about 8pm, I decided to go back to the room to read or something, but ended up falling asleep. That's right, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you, I went to bed at 8pm. Sounds crazy, but I think I was so relaxed, my body just wanted to rest and enjoy the deepest sleep. It was also important because we had to wake up to the bells at 6am for the morning ceremony! Tesni and Nicole had set some kind of alarm so we would have enough time to get ready in the morning...
So I woke up in the morning to the sound of the bells they ring 5 mins before the morning ceremony is to begin. I suppose it is a kind of warning like, start walking now! But I was totally out of it and I'm like, how come Tesni and Nicole haven't woken us up yet? Oh no, maybe they're not awake yet! Sure enough, they were still asleep and I was in a frenzy like, AHHH WAKE UP! I really didn't want to be late to the ceremony, but we hurried and were only about 2-3 mins behind schedule and other people came in after we did, so it was ok. I think for the first half of the ceremony we were all still asleep, but it was very impressive. Two monks chanted from their prayer books and ushered us through a part of the ceremony that visitors were allowed to participate in. We each got to kneel down and close our eyes in prayer, asking for a hope or dream to be fufilled. I don't know if sharing my hope would be like jinxing it, but I was pleased with my thoughts.
After the ceremony was over, we were ushered back to our dining rooms for breakfast. This morning shôjin ryôri was similar to our dinner, so I am still not sure what Japanese eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It always seems like vegetables, broth and rice to me! I would definitely miss breakfast sandwiches if I lived in Japan, they don't know what they are missing!
Adam left after breakfast because he was going to head to the southern part of Japan for a bike race, and then back to Tokyo to catch his plane home. Our goodbye was sad, but couldn't have asked for nicer surroundings, and the memories of this incredible trip together! What a surprise! I still kind of can't believe that my best friend showed up in Japan to surprise me. I don't think anyone will ever be able to top that, although I am encouraging that everyone try. I love surprises!
And then there were three... Tesni, Nicole and I took to the forest, through the cemetary to one of the most beautiful Buddhist shrines I have ever seen. No pictures were allowed past the cemetary, so I missed out on a lot of good shots, but I suppose that is what your brain is for. Every once in awhile, its ok to leave the camera out of it and just take in every thing you see...
I was definitely loving the endless greenery we were seeing in Koyasan, but after awhile it was time to head back to Osaka and meet up with Jordan! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The train ride was pretty long, and Tesni and I sat on the sunny side... We had an excellent view of all the small villages passing by. It was nice to see countryside Japan for awhile after being surrounded by the lights and sounds of Shinsaibashi! I drifted in and out of daydreams and naps, but was really anxious to visit Koyasan. In planning our trip, Tesni and Nicole kept asking me what kinds of things I wanted to do while I was in Japan... Since I didn't really consult any travel books and didn't know *too* much about Japan, I didn't have many suggestions. The usual, karaoke, photobooth, peace sign pictures at tourist spots, mostly hanging out with my friends... oh and A TEMPLE STAY. Ideally, I would have liked to spend the entire time in Japan at a temple... ok, maybe not really, but the thought is just so peaceful and seems typically Japanese to me. Buddhist temples are such a major part of traditional Japan, and I was anxious to experience that for myself.
As soon as the train stopped, I could feel that Koya was going to be an amazing time. We took this cable car up to the top of the mountain, and then got on a city bus to take us right to the ryokan. When we got to our temple, Shojoshin-in, we had to take off our shoes and put on our temple slippers, which we wouldn't take off for most of the time. No locks for your shoe box, just out in the open. Its nice to think that I didn't even consider "would someone steal my shoes?" until right now. Most of Japan is like that, just honor system. I'm sure some people take advantange of it, but I like thinking that there are still places in the world that can run that way.
We filled out our paperwork and got the lay of the temple, there was a rush to retreat to the rooms since we were anxious to relax. Well, that sounds strange. Not anxious, but relieved! The atmosphere of the temple was so peaceful, filled with sounds of running water and birds chirping around the gardens. There was a traditional Japanese rock garden and another mossy green area with plenty of flora and fauna to admire from the balcony in your room.
The rooms were simplistic bliss, very traditional Japanese architecture and design style. Bamboo walls, Japanese wall hangings, sliding doors, futon beds and my very first kotatsu! Kotatsu is a coffee table that is heated underneath where you put your legs... genius! Apparently a lot of older people go to the hospital with severe kotatsu burns though... yikes. And Nicole said people have told her sometimes they sleep under their kotatsu in the winter time. Sounds cozy!
While Adam kept reading his book and napped, I went over to Tesni and Nicole's room to have an afternoon tea session. It was so nice to be on the other side of the world with two of my wonderful friends, enjoying a cup of tea in one of the most peaceful places I have ever been to. Bliss! We talked until dinner time, and went downstairs at 5pm for our first shôjin ryôri, which is a traditional and typical Buddhist dinner. All vegan, much to Tesni and Nicole's delight! And Adam's dismay... hahaha. Lots of random root vegetables, pickled plums, broth soups and of course, white rice and green tea!
After dinner, we all went back to Tesni and Nicole's room to relax to the max. We pushed their futons together and just took a group nap, or group rest... whatever you want to call it. At about 8pm, I decided to go back to the room to read or something, but ended up falling asleep. That's right, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you, I went to bed at 8pm. Sounds crazy, but I think I was so relaxed, my body just wanted to rest and enjoy the deepest sleep. It was also important because we had to wake up to the bells at 6am for the morning ceremony! Tesni and Nicole had set some kind of alarm so we would have enough time to get ready in the morning...
So I woke up in the morning to the sound of the bells they ring 5 mins before the morning ceremony is to begin. I suppose it is a kind of warning like, start walking now! But I was totally out of it and I'm like, how come Tesni and Nicole haven't woken us up yet? Oh no, maybe they're not awake yet! Sure enough, they were still asleep and I was in a frenzy like, AHHH WAKE UP! I really didn't want to be late to the ceremony, but we hurried and were only about 2-3 mins behind schedule and other people came in after we did, so it was ok. I think for the first half of the ceremony we were all still asleep, but it was very impressive. Two monks chanted from their prayer books and ushered us through a part of the ceremony that visitors were allowed to participate in. We each got to kneel down and close our eyes in prayer, asking for a hope or dream to be fufilled. I don't know if sharing my hope would be like jinxing it, but I was pleased with my thoughts.
After the ceremony was over, we were ushered back to our dining rooms for breakfast. This morning shôjin ryôri was similar to our dinner, so I am still not sure what Japanese eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It always seems like vegetables, broth and rice to me! I would definitely miss breakfast sandwiches if I lived in Japan, they don't know what they are missing!
Adam left after breakfast because he was going to head to the southern part of Japan for a bike race, and then back to Tokyo to catch his plane home. Our goodbye was sad, but couldn't have asked for nicer surroundings, and the memories of this incredible trip together! What a surprise! I still kind of can't believe that my best friend showed up in Japan to surprise me. I don't think anyone will ever be able to top that, although I am encouraging that everyone try. I love surprises!
And then there were three... Tesni, Nicole and I took to the forest, through the cemetary to one of the most beautiful Buddhist shrines I have ever seen. No pictures were allowed past the cemetary, so I missed out on a lot of good shots, but I suppose that is what your brain is for. Every once in awhile, its ok to leave the camera out of it and just take in every thing you see...
I was definitely loving the endless greenery we were seeing in Koyasan, but after awhile it was time to head back to Osaka and meet up with Jordan! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
pictures from karaoke & indie dance night
tesni, nicole, jeremy, adam and mika singing karaoke
adam and i dancing at indie dance night!
the boys getting wild... oh, hello tesni!
double peace times in osaka!
getting clazy on the streets of shinsaibashi
now that we were rolling five deep, we knew it would be the perfect night to rage in osaka. tesni called mika and got her on the party train. after some puri kura (i have been spelling it wrong, my bad!) photos and playing this drum game we decided to KARAOKE. that was one of my essential must-do activities in japan. i mean, lost in translation is one of my favorite flicks and ultimate inspiration for any and all things related to the japan trip!
we haggled a price of about $16 pp for an hour and a half of karaoke fun and unlimited drinks so once we got settled into the room (shoes off, party attitude on) we started ordering whatever we could think of and adding songs to the queue. lets just say it was the most fun we had in japan, i think. you know, party fun times wise. what could be better than singing cheesy songs with a bunch of your best friends in japan?!! when jeremy sang born in the USA and the cocktail waiter came in during the line "...to kill the yellow man" i lost my mind. CLAZY. guess you had to be there!
after an hour and a half, we stayed for another thirty minutes just because we wanted to sing some more mariah carey and beastie boys. i took a million pictures, brought the karaoke to the bathrooms, played air guitar on tesni's leg and did group vocals to a wu-tang song... good times.
once we were done with karaoke, we hit up the combini for some more drinks. open containers on the streets of shinsaibashi is still weird, but its legal so whatever. when in japan... etc. tesni called john and got the scoop on the dance night and on our way, we picked up a japanese dude who was like "crub? crub?" yeah dude, we are gonna get clunk in the crub, come chill with us! so we brought along our friend and went to the only indie dance night in western japan. once we paid our 1500 yen (!!! yeah $15 !!!) we got inside and john was like "oh man, i was just going to text you and say how lame it is and that you guys shouldn't come" well, TOO LATE! we already brought the party!
instead of calling it a night, we all took to the dance floor on a mission to make this thing fun and it wasn't that hard. i had tesni, adam, nicole, jeremy, mika, john, john's friends and random japanese dude who joined our group and we just raged. it felt like being in a club in the UK, pretty much all brit pop songs with the occasional US-wannabe-UK dance song playing. eventually the DJ started taking requests from us since we were the people who brought the party back. the smiths, le tigre, vampire weekend, etc. i was in heaven! again, took a million pictures, joked on people drinking zima, dance dance dance... so much fun.
after party time, we all went back to the capsule. the boys went to bed and us girls went to the onsen baths!!!!! nothing like bathing with your girl friends after a clazy night and a couple drinks!
gotta sleep well because the next morning was our trip to koyasan. time to detox and get heavy!
we haggled a price of about $16 pp for an hour and a half of karaoke fun and unlimited drinks so once we got settled into the room (shoes off, party attitude on) we started ordering whatever we could think of and adding songs to the queue. lets just say it was the most fun we had in japan, i think. you know, party fun times wise. what could be better than singing cheesy songs with a bunch of your best friends in japan?!! when jeremy sang born in the USA and the cocktail waiter came in during the line "...to kill the yellow man" i lost my mind. CLAZY. guess you had to be there!
after an hour and a half, we stayed for another thirty minutes just because we wanted to sing some more mariah carey and beastie boys. i took a million pictures, brought the karaoke to the bathrooms, played air guitar on tesni's leg and did group vocals to a wu-tang song... good times.
once we were done with karaoke, we hit up the combini for some more drinks. open containers on the streets of shinsaibashi is still weird, but its legal so whatever. when in japan... etc. tesni called john and got the scoop on the dance night and on our way, we picked up a japanese dude who was like "crub? crub?" yeah dude, we are gonna get clunk in the crub, come chill with us! so we brought along our friend and went to the only indie dance night in western japan. once we paid our 1500 yen (!!! yeah $15 !!!) we got inside and john was like "oh man, i was just going to text you and say how lame it is and that you guys shouldn't come" well, TOO LATE! we already brought the party!
instead of calling it a night, we all took to the dance floor on a mission to make this thing fun and it wasn't that hard. i had tesni, adam, nicole, jeremy, mika, john, john's friends and random japanese dude who joined our group and we just raged. it felt like being in a club in the UK, pretty much all brit pop songs with the occasional US-wannabe-UK dance song playing. eventually the DJ started taking requests from us since we were the people who brought the party back. the smiths, le tigre, vampire weekend, etc. i was in heaven! again, took a million pictures, joked on people drinking zima, dance dance dance... so much fun.
after party time, we all went back to the capsule. the boys went to bed and us girls went to the onsen baths!!!!! nothing like bathing with your girl friends after a clazy night and a couple drinks!
gotta sleep well because the next morning was our trip to koyasan. time to detox and get heavy!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
once we had tesni in tow, our group was coming together nicely. the four of us woke up fairly early and took the JR to nara. tesni had been to the deer park there before, and gave it an incredible recommendation -- so we had to do it. i mean, feeding deer in the open? yes, please!
jeremy had planned on meeting us in nara, so once we got the call saying he had arrived at the nara train station, we decided to chill at the temple gates to wait for him. once he showed up, we were now five strong and ready to see the todai-ji temple! it is apparently the biggest wooden building in the world? and another unesco world heritage site! i keep checking them off my list on this trip to japan. it houses the "great big buddha" which is this colossal bronze statue, definitely incredible. flanked by temple warriors, there was a lot to look at and several information points with "simply stated" (lol jeremy) historical facts.
there is also this wooden column with a cut out where you are supposed to try and slide through... if you can make it, it means you will have a long life or a wonderful life or something. well, its not fair because only children and small women can fit through it! actually, i could have probably fit, but i wasn't about to get stuck. even the thought of getting stuck in some wooden contraption in the middle of japan makes me shiver now... but tesni and nicole tried it, and succeeded! nicole required a little bit of jeremy's help because we were all laughing so hard, but i got some quality pictures. good times at todai-ji!
we walked up to the area where the deer were and saw tons of little guys (and girls!) just milling around. at first we were all kind of creeped out because the "festival" where they cut off the antlers had just happened, so a lot of them had wax tips on the nubs where their antlers had once been... some of them had rubbed the wax off though, and it was just like an open bloody stub. barf! so i'm like, ok lets get these deer some cookies. we hit up a cookie stand and the deer were going bonkers. they obviously know what to do, act real innocent until they see you are going to buy them some treats and then they get excited! tesni was freaked because the deer were just going for her, so she dropped the cookies and ran. nicole was doing a good job until the deer decided the cookies weren't enough and went after her jacket! haha... priceless. i kept my cookies long enough to get comfortable with the deer and it worked out well because i didn't flip out. i just fed each deer, and it was kind of nice, but they get really aggressive quickly!
jeremy had planned on meeting us in nara, so once we got the call saying he had arrived at the nara train station, we decided to chill at the temple gates to wait for him. once he showed up, we were now five strong and ready to see the todai-ji temple! it is apparently the biggest wooden building in the world? and another unesco world heritage site! i keep checking them off my list on this trip to japan. it houses the "great big buddha" which is this colossal bronze statue, definitely incredible. flanked by temple warriors, there was a lot to look at and several information points with "simply stated" (lol jeremy) historical facts.
there is also this wooden column with a cut out where you are supposed to try and slide through... if you can make it, it means you will have a long life or a wonderful life or something. well, its not fair because only children and small women can fit through it! actually, i could have probably fit, but i wasn't about to get stuck. even the thought of getting stuck in some wooden contraption in the middle of japan makes me shiver now... but tesni and nicole tried it, and succeeded! nicole required a little bit of jeremy's help because we were all laughing so hard, but i got some quality pictures. good times at todai-ji!
japan continued...
ok so our secondday in kyoto got off to a rainy start. luckily, j-hoppers had several umbrellas for hostel use which was really nice. umbrellas are only about $3-6, but i didn't want to spend money on something i would only use for (hopefully) that day. so i picked out a cute navy blue one with bright blue and red polka dots. it just so happened i was wearing bright blue jeans and a red hoodie, so it matched my outfit perfectly!
we had picked out a couple spots we wanted to see around kyoto and looked at several maps to come up with the best plan of attack. we figured if we hit up the torii gates in the north and took the bus back to kiyomizudera, then we might be able to get to the golden temple before tesni came. so we grabbed our umbrellas and hit the streets to get to fushimi inari taisha.
fushimi inari is a shrine with thousands of donated torii gates. merchants and manufacturers have donated them in hopes of incredible wealth... kinda wack if you ask me, but i guess everyone has to wish for something! there were several large shrines, and several small ones tucked away along the path. we took some mary poppins inspired jumping pictures in front of the torii and i took a .gif file set of nicole doing cartwheels down the torii path, amazing. somewhere along the way, we fell off the path and ended up in a small neighborhood setting. maybe where the people who tend to the landscape of the shrines live or something? i got my first hot cocoa from a vending machine and we enjoyed the scenery while the rain drizzled on...
we took the train back to the center of town and ate lunch at... guess! mos burger! when in doubt, mos it out. i got my normal burdock rice burger thing, as did nicole. adam was daring enough to try the a-spiceee-mos-a-cheeburger. he said it wasn't so spicy, i think the japanese are afraid of real spice. except for wasabe, that's a whole different beast.
after lunch, we hopped on the bus again to head to kiyomizudera - a buddhist temple and unesco world heritage site. it is high up on stilts and looks over a really lush green canopy of trees. apparently it used to be the cool thing to jump off the platform at kiyomizu (they say their phrase "jump off the platform at kiyomizu" is the english equivalent of "take the plunge") and if you landed, your wish would be granted. now people go to pray and drink the sacred three waters hoping for health, longevity and success in studies. nicole and adam waited in line to drink the water, i stayed back to take pictures. we walked the short loop and it began to rain harder, so we thought we should probably head back to the hostel.
we didn't get to go to the golden temple, but its ok... the rain was so horrible, we just wanted to go back to the hostel so we could let our shoes dry out. tesni was coming around dinner time so while adam stayed behind to finish his book, nicole and i went shopping. we oogled the japanese fashion trends and found a lot of lol-worthy shirts and i took pictures of the heels & boots. we finally found a bookstore and nicole worked her magic skills to find the japanese photography section so that i could find the books that andrew had wanted. finally, a success in buying gifts!
we met tesni at the train station and brought her back to the hostel. we all agreed we were pretty hungry, and wanted to eat something close by. no trains, buses or long walks in the rain. luckily, we found a place around the corner from our hostel with okonomiyake! yummy. tesni, nicole and i split a couple vegan noodle and rice dishes and adam chowed on chicken... it was delicious. we sat at the bar, so they cooked right in front of us and we looked at some weird porn book. you know, light reading before a casual dinner... no big deal. we stopped by the combini (aka. seven and i holdings) on the way back to grab some weird spritzer type drinks.
with drinks and snacks in hand, we went up to the chiller floor. hostels are always kind of strange, they draw a really weird crowd and this was no exception. we just hung around and drew pictures of each other, and aliens, and read some odd british magazine that had been left behind by some previous hostel visitor. again, we were all exhausted after a very full day, and the three of us girls slept well while adam was away on another floor... finishing that book!
ok so our secondday in kyoto got off to a rainy start. luckily, j-hoppers had several umbrellas for hostel use which was really nice. umbrellas are only about $3-6, but i didn't want to spend money on something i would only use for (hopefully) that day. so i picked out a cute navy blue one with bright blue and red polka dots. it just so happened i was wearing bright blue jeans and a red hoodie, so it matched my outfit perfectly!
we had picked out a couple spots we wanted to see around kyoto and looked at several maps to come up with the best plan of attack. we figured if we hit up the torii gates in the north and took the bus back to kiyomizudera, then we might be able to get to the golden temple before tesni came. so we grabbed our umbrellas and hit the streets to get to fushimi inari taisha.
fushimi inari is a shrine with thousands of donated torii gates. merchants and manufacturers have donated them in hopes of incredible wealth... kinda wack if you ask me, but i guess everyone has to wish for something! there were several large shrines, and several small ones tucked away along the path. we took some mary poppins inspired jumping pictures in front of the torii and i took a .gif file set of nicole doing cartwheels down the torii path, amazing. somewhere along the way, we fell off the path and ended up in a small neighborhood setting. maybe where the people who tend to the landscape of the shrines live or something? i got my first hot cocoa from a vending machine and we enjoyed the scenery while the rain drizzled on...
we took the train back to the center of town and ate lunch at... guess! mos burger! when in doubt, mos it out. i got my normal burdock rice burger thing, as did nicole. adam was daring enough to try the a-spiceee-mos-a-cheeburger. he said it wasn't so spicy, i think the japanese are afraid of real spice. except for wasabe, that's a whole different beast.
after lunch, we hopped on the bus again to head to kiyomizudera - a buddhist temple and unesco world heritage site. it is high up on stilts and looks over a really lush green canopy of trees. apparently it used to be the cool thing to jump off the platform at kiyomizu (they say their phrase "jump off the platform at kiyomizu" is the english equivalent of "take the plunge") and if you landed, your wish would be granted. now people go to pray and drink the sacred three waters hoping for health, longevity and success in studies. nicole and adam waited in line to drink the water, i stayed back to take pictures. we walked the short loop and it began to rain harder, so we thought we should probably head back to the hostel.
we didn't get to go to the golden temple, but its ok... the rain was so horrible, we just wanted to go back to the hostel so we could let our shoes dry out. tesni was coming around dinner time so while adam stayed behind to finish his book, nicole and i went shopping. we oogled the japanese fashion trends and found a lot of lol-worthy shirts and i took pictures of the heels & boots. we finally found a bookstore and nicole worked her magic skills to find the japanese photography section so that i could find the books that andrew had wanted. finally, a success in buying gifts!
we met tesni at the train station and brought her back to the hostel. we all agreed we were pretty hungry, and wanted to eat something close by. no trains, buses or long walks in the rain. luckily, we found a place around the corner from our hostel with okonomiyake! yummy. tesni, nicole and i split a couple vegan noodle and rice dishes and adam chowed on chicken... it was delicious. we sat at the bar, so they cooked right in front of us and we looked at some weird porn book. you know, light reading before a casual dinner... no big deal. we stopped by the combini (aka. seven and i holdings) on the way back to grab some weird spritzer type drinks.
with drinks and snacks in hand, we went up to the chiller floor. hostels are always kind of strange, they draw a really weird crowd and this was no exception. we just hung around and drew pictures of each other, and aliens, and read some odd british magazine that had been left behind by some previous hostel visitor. again, we were all exhausted after a very full day, and the three of us girls slept well while adam was away on another floor... finishing that book!
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