Japan Day 1 - I Feel Like A New Man

And it's not hard to see why. This morning, I flew into Osaka, Japan.

I have been planing something along these lines for many months now, and the opportunities in Thailand aligned themselves in favor of my voyage to the land of the rising sun. 

Thaialnd is nothing short of an adventure yet as the great Dylan said, the times they are a changing.

How appropriate. Even my older sister Gabi wants in on the action. Boxed up her Bianchi, stuffed some clothes in a bag and now brother and sister are sitting pretty in the brisk city of Osaka. Life is grand, and the little moments compliment the already beautiful land. 

Not too much to do today but we got a lot done.

First of all, thanks to Yasuke. He's given us a place to unpack and assemble bikes, breakfast, and beds to sleep. What a host! And, brownie points, he loves to cycle too. Here we all are right before my sister and I departed.

Friends, this is my older sister Gabi. Here she is over breakfast soup and tea in Yasuke's home. Yasuke is our host.

And here she is pulling her bike out of the box. Now, if you go all the way back to my Bali posts, you'll notice that Chris and I took two days to assemble our bikes. Today was much, much faster. Down to two hours, including tune ups, lube, grease, and breaks.

Osaka, Japan from the 54th floor. Not as much an industrial part of as Osaka as I had imagined, us being right next to the airport. This subberb is small, quiet, and very clean.

"Takoyaki is a must in Osaka." True words from an old friend. Try them, there's a wonderful octopus surprise in every ball. Super delicious our lunch was!

After walking around a while, we decided to grab some things at the market and head home for the night. Tomorrow we begin to ride. Couldn't help but to snag proper oranges at the store. My lips delighted in savoring the acidic fruit, months have passed since any orange larger than a golf ball passed in front of me.

And we hard boiled some eggs to take advantage of the available kitchen. Breakfast/push snack tomorrow =) 

Sister and I's formal dinner. Sadly, Yasuke began work at 3pm-8am today and couldn't join us. We cheers to him and thank him deeply for opening his home to us.

The view from the apartment.

I hear my sister falling asleep, which is amazing in itself as she has seemed to switch from the 15 hour time zone difference with little to no effort. Tomorrow is a big day, we are off to Osaka main districts and hopefully an nice camping site.

Good night.

Ps - damn it feels good to be cold again!