Osaka Met up with Ryohei for the first time since high school when he came to visit from Japan! It's been such a long time and it was somewhat sentimental meeting him again and bringing back so many memories of the other Chiben students visiting my school. I'll get to see more students too in Tokyo so this is going to be a real new experience for me on this trip to go where I will meet several of my friends. Ryohei gave us a big tour around Osaka and from what I've heard from him and from Saori, it is a terrific place. I love it. The first thing we did? BUY CLOTHES. This cold is going to turn us into ice cubes very soon and Jay has been borrowing one of my jackets since he got rid of all but his summer clothes. New clothes were nice and...
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Cairns/Osaka It's travel day, of course, so after the heart-wrenching tennis match last night, there was no way I was going to sleep well. Instead I spent the night watching Source Code (Great movie by the way! WOW.) In Osaka now though! Going to see Ryohei tomorrow, my Japanese exchange student friend who we hosted when I was in high school. Could not be more excited to see him. He's going to become a doctor soon! Did I mention it's cold, brrrr? Just spent the last two months following the equator and then down to where it's hot summer Australia and now here. We need new clothes, FAST. Before heading to bed, we went to get some food and with my rusty Japanese, ordered some food for the two of us and what I thought was "ramune" (a Sprite-like Japanese soda) was a giant, very alcoholic lime drink. So instead...
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Cairns Kuranda! We decided to go up to the rain forest for our one-full-day stay in Cairns and take the scenic sky cable car back. Of course it's not a trip without its obstacles. Turned out the lightning storm last night where the flight was a bit delayed from landing had also hit the cable car and was now under maintenance for the day. So instead we took the scenic train through the mountains and it turned out to be even better than I had imagined. Warning to folks, Cairns is HUMID. Very, very humid and hot. You could drink out of the air. Stay in the shade whenever you can because you will tan/burn/melt very quickly. It also gets you to really appreciate our hostel, Traveller's Oasis, where there's a really nice and pretty pool in the middle to cool you down. Found my newest favorite band at a...
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Melbourne/Cairns Did you know that an airplane in the air casting a shadow on clouds also makes a circular rainbow around it from the sunlight? I didn't know this until I saw it in the air and it was fascinating! Off to Cairns, it was a nice but a somewhat longer flight than I'd expected. By the time we got to Cairns it was dark. However, we went to a cool little place called Green Ant Cantina for a delicious dinner and then we were off to bed. What a tiring day. Whew!
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Melbourne Last full day in Melbourne... and it was spent watching the womens doubles finals, the mixed doubles finals, and an amazing 5-set tennis match! Oh was it worth it, wow. Been in Melbourne for most of our stay in Australia and have been absolutely loving it. There better be tennis playing in Cairns so we can watch the Australian Open Final or at least a bar playing tennis on TV or there will be some rioting going on. Hmm.
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Melbourne Happy Australia Day! Wish I could've had tickets to tonight's match but it was just as fun to watch from the hostel. Still have tomorrow though! Murray vs. Djokovic should be just as good with two more fun matches to go with it. Mostly done and launched the website tonight! Check it out: www.impending.com
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Melbourne Tonight is the deadline for the website! Yikes. Busy, busy, busy... Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar? Oh, yes. According to Jay, it's the greatest place ever and his favorite chocolate experience in New York so we had to go. So good! Andy Murray vs. Ken Nishikori was interesting out at the first-floor Urban Central bar and then more work and Djokovic vs. Ferrer in a very energetic match. Fun and somewhat relaxing day. Plus, I remembered to substitute fries for a garden salad at McDonalds (Did I mention we're still obsessed with this Australian McDonalds?) Work, work, work...
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