Greetings Japan!
August 16, 2014 - Kaiyukan Aquarium, Osaka
As Saturday rolled around I was super excited because this day was the day my best friend was going to visit me! With all the people I keep in touch with back home, Bao is probably at the top. We regularly keep in touch through text or Skype but a half-way-across-the-world visit would definitely be better than all of that! Months in advance we had planned his visit. Everything was already arranged from flights to hotel stay at concert tickets. I usually am pretty good with keeping a tight schedule but maybe it was nerves or shock, this particular morning I couldn't believe I was late in picking him up from the airport! Blame it on my confidence in train schedules. I had accidentally missed a stop which set me twenty minutes back. But luckily, Bao is pretty laid pack and also thankfully his international phone plan allowed him to text me his where abouts. So after finally getting to the airport, late, and wandering around looking for where he would be, I found him...or it was more like he found me! Seeing him again was really exciting. Being the baby that I am, of course tears were coming out of my face! But I was extremely thankful God had got him to Japan safely and that our international adventures could begin!
I had never been to the aquarium in Osaka, Kaiyukan before but had heard good things about it so figured it would be the perfect thing to do as he got into the city. Originally, Kaiyukan had been the home to whale sharks but recently the whales had gotten moved to a research facility and unfortunately died. It was sad news since seeing whale sharks was something I had always wanted to do. But even then so, I love aquariums and so did Bao, so we were psyched to check it out.
Kaiyukan is located a little bit outside of city and in an area of Osaka I had never been, so getting there took a bit of time. As you know, Houston does not have a train system so getting to experience that, and me trying to navigate it, was interesting for Bao to see.
Coming up to the structure, it was large and colorful on the outside. Also there was a massive ferris wheel outside the aquarium grounds that added to the fun feel of the place. Being that it was a Saturday, I was afraid the place was going to be crazy packed but we had arrived around 5 in the afternoon and the crowd was bearable.
Kaiyukan's set up was interesting. It had large tanks that could be seen through multiple floors and a main one that seemed to be positioned in the middle of the building. The main tank had a walk way that circled around it as it went from the top floor to the bottom. The aquarium housed many animals from sharks to large crab to time jelly fish. My favorite tanks had to of been the strange white and brown jelly fish and the large crabs that looked like species from another planet. The aquarium also had animals that lived outside the water. The two sloths were the most hilarious animals of the day. The position that they were in were just too human like!
We spent a couple hours at Kaiyukan, checking out the architecture, taking pictures, and admiring the beautiful creatures. After seeing all there was to see, we stepped outside the building and came across a street performer show! Even though we couldn't understand the commentary he was giving, it was really enjoyable to see his tricks and the crowd's response. He was actually really good!! It was a fun way to end the first afternoon in Japan.
That evening we went to Tennoji to get a yummy bowl of ramen from Ippudo. Of course coming to Japan, one expects to eat the best Japanese food so I was determined to try to feed Bao with as much legit, yummy Japanese food that I knew!
The first afternoon went really well. I was so happy and thankful he had made it here safely and was excited, yet nervous about all the other plans to come for us. This was only day 1 out of 14!! Bring it on Summer!!
xx
t
As Saturday rolled around I was super excited because this day was the day my best friend was going to visit me! With all the people I keep in touch with back home, Bao is probably at the top. We regularly keep in touch through text or Skype but a half-way-across-the-world visit would definitely be better than all of that! Months in advance we had planned his visit. Everything was already arranged from flights to hotel stay at concert tickets. I usually am pretty good with keeping a tight schedule but maybe it was nerves or shock, this particular morning I couldn't believe I was late in picking him up from the airport! Blame it on my confidence in train schedules. I had accidentally missed a stop which set me twenty minutes back. But luckily, Bao is pretty laid pack and also thankfully his international phone plan allowed him to text me his where abouts. So after finally getting to the airport, late, and wandering around looking for where he would be, I found him...or it was more like he found me! Seeing him again was really exciting. Being the baby that I am, of course tears were coming out of my face! But I was extremely thankful God had got him to Japan safely and that our international adventures could begin!
I had never been to the aquarium in Osaka, Kaiyukan before but had heard good things about it so figured it would be the perfect thing to do as he got into the city. Originally, Kaiyukan had been the home to whale sharks but recently the whales had gotten moved to a research facility and unfortunately died. It was sad news since seeing whale sharks was something I had always wanted to do. But even then so, I love aquariums and so did Bao, so we were psyched to check it out.
Kaiyukan is located a little bit outside of city and in an area of Osaka I had never been, so getting there took a bit of time. As you know, Houston does not have a train system so getting to experience that, and me trying to navigate it, was interesting for Bao to see.
Coming up to the structure, it was large and colorful on the outside. Also there was a massive ferris wheel outside the aquarium grounds that added to the fun feel of the place. Being that it was a Saturday, I was afraid the place was going to be crazy packed but we had arrived around 5 in the afternoon and the crowd was bearable.
Kaiyukan's set up was interesting. It had large tanks that could be seen through multiple floors and a main one that seemed to be positioned in the middle of the building. The main tank had a walk way that circled around it as it went from the top floor to the bottom. The aquarium housed many animals from sharks to large crab to time jelly fish. My favorite tanks had to of been the strange white and brown jelly fish and the large crabs that looked like species from another planet. The aquarium also had animals that lived outside the water. The two sloths were the most hilarious animals of the day. The position that they were in were just too human like!
We spent a couple hours at Kaiyukan, checking out the architecture, taking pictures, and admiring the beautiful creatures. After seeing all there was to see, we stepped outside the building and came across a street performer show! Even though we couldn't understand the commentary he was giving, it was really enjoyable to see his tricks and the crowd's response. He was actually really good!! It was a fun way to end the first afternoon in Japan.
That evening we went to Tennoji to get a yummy bowl of ramen from Ippudo. Of course coming to Japan, one expects to eat the best Japanese food so I was determined to try to feed Bao with as much legit, yummy Japanese food that I knew!
The first afternoon went really well. I was so happy and thankful he had made it here safely and was excited, yet nervous about all the other plans to come for us. This was only day 1 out of 14!! Bring it on Summer!!
xx
t
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