Shiga Trip - pt 1..

As some of you know, I went to Japan last weekend for a quick getaway.  I had found a good deal on Cathay a few months back so I booked a ticket.  Unfortunately Polymuso had changed their date to fall on the same weekend, but given how many events we have nowadays, i knew I'd be missing something else if I rescheduled, so I went anyway! 

先週末日本に短旅行した。関西までの安切符を買ったのに滋賀県で遊んだ。金曜日夜友達と滋賀県大津市で食事した。僕の写真を見て。

I originally planned to visit Osaka and Kyoto the whole time, but instead I ended up spending the whole weekend in the neighboring prefecture of Shiga, on the shores of Lake Biwa:



I flew up on Friday night and met up in Otsu(大津) with my friend サちゃん for dinner.  She asked me what I wanted to eat... since I don't like sushi, and I only like Hakata style Ramen,  I figured my best option was Okonomiyaki.　僕は魚を食べませんし博多式ラーメンだけすき、お好み焼きをたべたかった。

You guys know what Okonomiyaki is, right?  Also known as 'Japanese Pizza'  or 'Japanese Pancake'... i prefer to think of it as 'Japanese Omlette'...  get the full description here on Wikipedia.


Basically they have a batter made up mostly of egg, flour and some cabbage and they cook it in front of you on a hot plate. You can pick the ingredients, usually some mix of meats, squid, octopus, cheese, etc.  I opted for the bacon and cheese.  
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We also got some regular omlette type deal too (i forgot the name in Japanese).


Usually what they do is they cover it in a sauce and then sprinkle dried fish shavings.... and give it an unhealthy dose of mayonnaise (Japanese people LOVE mayonnaise for some reason!)

Since I don't like fish or mayo,  I asked for it without so they cut it in half...    the left half looks rather plain compared to the right half, but trust me... tastes much better. :-P

The place i was staying was right near Lake Biwa (wikipedia - google map),  after i checked out of my $48/night business hotel, I took a walk down to the waterfront to check it out:　土曜日朝チェークオウト後、琵琶湖へ散歩した：

not bad!  you don't get air this clear in HK very often!


The weather was pretty nice,  I left hot and humid hong kong  and found japan to be quite cool and crisp -- actually a bit chilly if you were out of the sun.  As you can see from the cloudy skies, that happened somewhat often!

Just the beginning! More pics coming soon! 天気はすごいでした。もと写真が一杯有る。一寸待て！