good morning. wow, i arrived in this busy city at midnight. slept the whole 4 hours on the flight so i was wide awake. went to the hotel lobby to have a couple san miguel beers, then to my room and hit the computer. finally got in touch of an old time friend that is on an outer island fishing/surfing/diving and playing around. he invited me so i started looking for a ticket. ALL SOLD OUT!!! OMG! i couldn’t find a flight! so after spending 2 hours, i told myself “hey, it’s ok, it wasn’t meant to be. there will always be a next time.” yeah, it worked a little as i slept my disappointment away. now it’s 6am and i’m going to find something to do. maybe rent a scooter, maybe jump on a bus, or maybe sleep a little longer. but before that, i must eat because i didn’t eat dinner last night. i guess i was in such a deep sleep on the airplane that the flight attendant couldn’t wake me up.

i tried this once and almost threw up. it’s called balut. maybe i’ll try it again. and try other strange filipino food. better get going. have a wonderful day!

Taxi please!
Take me to a hotel.
Goodnight.

what weird weather! i was wearing 4 layers of clothes yesterday including a thermo long sleeve shirt, tshirt, jacket, and down jacket. and my underwear, thermo underwear, and long pants. and i was still cold! then today, i was wearing just a tshirt. well, we left shikoku at 10:30am and i just got to nagoya airport at 6pm. why am i here? because when i woke up this morning, i decided to go to the philippines. no hotel, no reservations, and no planning. just trying to ring up friends and go with the flow. my backpacking tour continues.

surfer style is driving all over the place. luckily i have the best drivers in the world. they know the roads, they know how to get around traffic, they know the cheapest way, and they always get there on time. here we are crossing the longest bridge in the world.

then once we go through the underwater tunnel, we arrive in kobe!

and of course we are hungry! so Seigo-san recommends to us the best katsu donbori in japan. and yes it was!

if we had this restaurant in hawaii, i’d go there everyday for lunch.

and you wonder why there is a long line? for good places like this, you have to wait. and after waiting, the food tastes even better.

cool to walk around in kobe.

and to think that a huge earthquake devastated this beautiful city. it’s crazy even thinking about it.

of course my team gets me to the train station on time. want to thank Kosei-san, Naoka, Inomata-san, Saito-san, and Kanae-san for always putting up with my selfishness. i’ll see you this weekend in yokohama!

then i jumped on the shinkansen. i was so tired but didn’t want to fall asleep and end up in hokkaido.

then i got a little lost at nagoya station. gosh, it’s so confusing!!!
but hey, i’m here, waiting for my flight, will take a sip of champagne, get to manila at midnight, get a comfortable hotel, wake up early tomorrow morning, and travel the philippines!
have a wonderful evening!