the wonder begins

In light of my recent Kyoto post and backtracking the past year in order to complete my 2015 chronicles, Izzy helped and found these photos she took of me looking unprepared along the Kamogawa River. Next to Pontocho Alley and looking gloomy in all its quaintness, it is still a pretty scenic view. Shame it was starting to get murky and there was no photobomb from girls in kimonos (which there are plenty of in Gion). I'll be forever nostalgic for those Kyoto days.





Cardigan - Stradivarius
White jumper - Bershka
Jamie Jeans - Topshop
Trainers - Puma
Bag - Longchamp
Sunglasses - Rayban

And lastly, here's a photo of the river near the Gion-Shijo Station, Kawabatacho end giving me 1 Litre of Tears vibes.

There's (almost) nothing quite as satisfactory as a good shopping trip with a best pal. We spent a Saturday in the Shinsaibashi area when we visited Osaka. Shinsaibashi-suji Shopping Centre is a super long shopping arcade with a lot of Western brands. Guilty of buying a shearling coat from Stradivarius (which turned out to be cheaper in HK AND England), but Japan was getting pretty cold.

Our main indulgence was Japanese cosmetics. Who knew you could spend over an hour in a pharmacy. We came back the day of our flight and went crazy. Pretty sure I didn't even need half the stuff I chucked into my basket, but have to take advantage of the Yen whilst it's still cheap! There's also tax-free shopping in pharmacies and hoards of Mainlanders practically buying out everything. Ended up buying Lululun face masks as gifts, and then plenty of DHC, Dejavu, Dark Media, Suisai and Shiseido. And also mouth ulcer stickers. (Why don't they sell them anywhere else?!)



We also wandered to Kuromon Market (a bit too late). A lot of the stalls were starting to close as we got there, because we're always one step behind at life, but we managed to feast on some takoyaki and sashimi. And here's also a picture of Dotonburi Canal, which we went past in the daytime. Everything in Japan is just so picturesque.

Dōtonburi is pretty overwhelming at night when there's queues everywhere. The area is a hub of nightlife, restaurants, shops and neon lights, paying homage to 3D seafood plaques and the Glico man. We weren't on a food mission (although we should have been) because of our un-strategic holiday planning. We ended up going to a random restaurant overlooking the canal for the best grilled eel though, after a stint of souvenir shopping. I went overboard in a souvenir snacks shop with mochi and giant Meiji Apollo. In hindsight, I should've got the rainbow Pocky and retro Pretz. Next time, next time.



After dinner, me and Izzy decided to go karaoke. Just the two of us. Yup. Apparently, karaoke on your own is actually a thing in Japan and single karaoke booths actually exist, so we thought a 2-man karaoke room wouldn't be hard to find. And it wasn't. We picked a random one of many, and struggled with the pricing and room booking and free drinks and generally everything because of the general lack of English that Japanese speak. Our room was tiny, and literally just for 2 people, catered with 2 seats, a Japanese-only system (and pretty 'sick' reverb and bass) and some instruments. We were having technical issues with one mic and I kept on having to phone the reception with my limited Japanese of "Eigo o hanasemasuka?" (aka Do you speak English - which no, he didn't). But besides not understanding anything, we had a pretty amusing time and the English song choices were better than any karaoke place I've been to in England and Hong Kong.



The place, albeit pretty crowded, makes for a nice night-time stroll when the crowds start dying down. We also hit up the 300 yen store and also got hot milk tea in a plastic bottle from a vending machine. Which is essentially kinda the same as going to a Poundland and just getting a hot tea from a coffee machine, but everything is just cooler in Japan. And, for the lols, below is when my panorama was photobombed by a thousand nostrils.