2011 - NZ To SF - Day 103

Day 103: (24 August 2011):
- Wake up pretty early. Pack up remaining items left to dry overnight.
- Meet da bo & he take me to taxi & tell driver where to go.
- We find Anding building & he drop me off. Ask, find bus stop.
- Buy ticket from attendant standing there.
- Bus not full, comfortable ride to airport. Lots of taxis.
- Buy bunch of food/snacks for Ben.
- Try find breakfast but nothing I like: all western food.
- Finally time came to board. Gate 50 open close to boarding. I went in wrong line first. Turns out is kind of domestic flight. Strange gate configuration. Short flight to Qingdao. Surprised no meal.
- Collected @ gate, walked in group out & through security & customs to connecting flight.
- Straight to boarding. Surprised they schedualled it so tight.
- Meal on flight. Lots of Japanese, even on connecting flight on Beijing.
- Arrive Osaka just before 4pm. Customs: passport getting dangerously full.
- Excited to see Ben, but at same time, weary of travel already lost the excitement & feel like want to go home to work. Also worried about visa issues, etc.
- Bought phone card, surprisingly expensive. Should have just used coins.
- Ben will probably get home same time as I arrive. Plan will meet there.
- Pretty smooth finding train, etc. Familiar tickets. Knew the drill by now. Later: realized can just put all coins in machine at same time. Forget to take change once. Ben say I fast. Joke I just throw coins at machine & usually enough get in the slot for ticket. Didn’t take buses. Causeway over buses. Info desk & map.
- View of “Lego houses.” Bridge from airport. Not just an airport train, but one of the expresses.
- Mildly air conditioned, bit too warm for comfort.
- Confusing express ratings, start to understand eventually.
- Transfer to Midosuji @ Namba. One station to Daikokucho.
- Used Ben’s directions, but didn’t find obvious place. Turns out house name, “Apple House,” not displayed. Addresses on small green plates.
- Look for payphone, none in station, eventually found at Life supermarket.
- Y100 call. Better deal than card. “Safeway-like” or “crazy Japanese with lots of flashing lights?”
- See Ben as walk out towards station. Happy to see him.
- Very small room with mat on floor, bathroom, unused kitchen area.
- I am getting increasingly tired.
- Went to Don Quixhote (familiar & exotic multi-floor Japanese shop.) to get air mattress. Tell me about all his air mattress capers when others & Kevin was there.
- Walking tour of Shinsakai, previous era associations. “Unsafe” for Japan standards & unkept, but not too bad in my opinion & Ben’s.
- Showed me the outside of the expensive spa complex too. Looks like a mall. Supposedly has waterlsides, etc.
- Ate at famous kushiyaki place (Daruma?). Short chat with some exchange person from Chicago. Ben says similar to the less famous places. Fried stuff & cabbage dipped in the communal sauce. Deliceous. Beef appetizer.
- Some goes with sauce.
- Set up air mattress & sleep. Chair cushion that was not so good for pillow.
- Pretty much no floor space left in Ben’s room.
- Warned me of darkness in morning. Balconey faces concrete wall. Washer drains on balconey: normal. Booties (silicone) on balconey.