Two New Friends and Sights in Kobe (Jan. 19, 2019)

Yuko and me

Sado and udon noodles 

Us at the restaurant

Noodle choices

Yuko found the place

Coffee this morning

Coffee shop

Yuko

Today was a great mix of people and places in Kobe. I told you about the girl I met in the hostel, Yuko, who is a doctor. She's 36 and absolutely lovely, plus smart as a whip. She's not, by her admission, your typical Japanese woman. She loves to travel, is very confident and not shy at all. Her English is really good and we were able to communicate quite well about a number of different topics. We discussed the systems in Canada vs Japan with health care and education. It was such an interesting chat with her. We went for coffee first, and sat for quite a while talking, then went to find some breakfast. Yuko asked me if I had ever had sado noodles. I had not even heard of them, so we went to try them. They are made from sado which isn't wheat or rice, but a grain of it's own. They were very good. The curry udon noodles were really good as well. We chatted further about life, marriages, men, our families and a whole bunch of other topics. It was nice to get some insight into life in Japan from a local. 

After lunch, she helped me find the bus stop for the Hop On, Hop Off bus and we parted ways. She was on her way to Osaka to meet up with a friend. We exchanged information and will keep in touch. She was very easy to be with and super interesting. My bus came a little while after she left, and I ventured on with my day. Keron's friend had made up an itinerary for Kobe, and many of the spots listed were accessible from this bus. I visited many Kobe districts including Kitano, the port, the old foreign settlement and Chinatown, which they are famous for, around Japan. There are apparently three large Chinatown areas, one of which is in Kobe. It was cool to see the various areas. See photos below. They include some street shots, the bus I rode, and other neat things I saw on my adventures.

So that was my afternoon. I decided to come back to the hostel for a while until it got darker so I could jump back on that bus and visit the harbour front, which Yuko said would be beautiful with lights, at night. On the way back, I dropped in at this take out shop that she told me about to try something that is only available in the Kansai region. I can't remember what it's called, but it reminds me of a pork stuffed Chinese thing that we can get in Toronto. It was much better though and after looking for the place, which is called 551, I stopped and asked a young guy for help. He walked me to the place which wasn't far, but kind of tricky to find. I bought two of these things to take back, for my dinner. Upon arriving at my room, I met with a lively girl named Mika, who was new to the room. She doesn't speak English, so we chatted through Google Translate. I shared one of my buns with her, and she gave me an apple turnover type of thing that she had brought with her from Nara. Both were delicious!!! After we talked for a while, she asked me what I was going to do for dinner, and if we could go together. She had found an all you can eat beef place that she wanted to try. Although I felt like I'd been eating all day, I said sure, since I hadn't yet tried this type of beef and why not? Might as well make the most of my Japanese experience. I haven't been trying to many different places on my own because it's just not as fun, so I thought I'd take advantage of some more local company, and go for it. I said that I wanted to go to the harbour first to see the lights but would happily join her for dinner. She asked if she could come with me, and I said of course she could. 

So that was pretty much, my day. It was so full of great sights, people and food. The last photos are of the harbour, and Mika's and my dinner out. Tomorrow I leave Kobe for Koya-san where I'll sleep in a monestery and eat and pray with the monks. It'll be very cool too, because it also happens to be a full moon tomorrow. What a neat place to see that!

So as you can see, I had a great end to my day. Mika and I went to the harbour and saw the Kobe Tower all lit up. Then we rode the elevator to the observation deck and took some city shots. It was spectacular to see Kobe from so high up. After we finished there, we got back on the City Loop bus and headed back to the hostel area. Mika used her GPS to locate the restaurant she wanted. It wasn't all you can eat, but was like the one that Keron took me to with the grill at the table. One of the photos of the grill with only two pieces of meat, was Kobe beef and wow, was it great. They took it off that huge slab of beef you see. They bring it to the table to show you where it's from. I could have probably eaten that whole slab. It is like butter. 

 It was really nice meeting Mika and being able to hang out with her, and Google Translate. She is a sweet person that I was happy to meet.
More tomorrow from Mount Koya.