A Big Fish, A Big Wheel and A Small Move July 4, 2006
First things first; happy 4th of July to all of you that celebrate the holiday!
This morning we headed back out on the same subway that we took yesterday to the interchange with the Chuo Line at Homachi. From there we took the train to Osakako and our destination of the Osaka Aquarium or Kaiyukan. This is one of the largest and most respected aquariums in Japan and deservedly so. It is arranged with multi-layers that represent different regions of the Pacific Rim or Ring of Fire. It starts with at the top with a Japanese Rain Forest working clockwise around the Pacific Rim. There are 14 different regions and has more to show than any aquarium I’ve ever been too. From river otters and trout to sea otters, sea lions, seals, penguins, dolphins, several types of sharks, moray eels, several types of rays including manta rays sting rays and eagle rays, octopus, blue fin tuna, a giant sunfish, deep sea giant spider crabs that are three feet across, hundreds of other fish and the star of the exhibit a 20+ foot whale shark. It is a fabulous place to see a host of animals both sea and land. We spent a couple of hours walking through and looking at the beautifully done exhibits. At the end they displayed a piece of the plexi-glass that was used in the windows of the tanks. The “glass” is more than a foot thick and the amount used in building Kaiyukan was equivalent to 1.5 times the world’s annual production of the material. All of this is housed in an attractive contemporary building that is set beside Osaka Bay.
While we were touring Kaiyukan several groups of children were there for tours. One group we saw looked to be 3-4 years old dressed in uniforms with short pants and small red “beanie” caps. Very cute but very noisy. It was interesting that there teachers were talking to them in English as they stampeded their way through. The kids seemed to be impressed for all of the 5 seconds their attention spans would allow them to focus on animals 10 times their size that were sometimes only 3 or 4 feet away.
We also had to ride the Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel which is on the same wharf as Kaiyukan. At 370 feet tall it is one of the largest Ferris Wheels in the world and offers a spectacular view of Osaka and the Bay. Your US$6 ticket buys you a one revolution ride that lasts 17 minutes. It was a clear day and well worth the six bucks and the time.
We started back for the hotel via the train about 1 but stopped at a small local café for a quick bite. The food was good but the couple that ran the eatery were what caught my attention. They smiled the entire time we were there. Not just a “polite smile” but a I’m so darn happy to be alive smile. They seemed to genuinely enjoy meeting people and doing what they are doing. That’s a nice thing to see every once in a while.
Today was move day, so we picked up our big packs at the Osaka Ramada, grabbed a taxi and had him drop us at the JR train station. We are carrying more than we should now because of the upcoming Outer Mongolia, Siberia and Russia leg of the expedition. This mainly consist of extra clothing to deal with variations in the weather and food as we have no idea what will be available between Beijing and Moscow. Anyway the point is the packs and extra bag are heavy and bulky. Maneuvering around a crowded train station and tackling multiple stair cases is not what we considered fun, but we finally made it to the platform and boarded the train when it arrived. Our destination was Kyoto. Upon arrival we jumped into another taxi for a 3 minute ride to our hotel. Its not that we’re that lazy we just didn’t have a good Kyoto map so didn’t even know which direction to walk.
We are now in the APA Hotel Kyoto. I have friends and brothers with walk-in closets larger than this room, but its home for the next three nights and that alone is worth a lot.
This morning we headed back out on the same subway that we took yesterday to the interchange with the Chuo Line at Homachi. From there we took the train to Osakako and our destination of the Osaka Aquarium or Kaiyukan. This is one of the largest and most respected aquariums in Japan and deservedly so. It is arranged with multi-layers that represent different regions of the Pacific Rim or Ring of Fire. It starts with at the top with a Japanese Rain Forest working clockwise around the Pacific Rim. There are 14 different regions and has more to show than any aquarium I’ve ever been too. From river otters and trout to sea otters, sea lions, seals, penguins, dolphins, several types of sharks, moray eels, several types of rays including manta rays sting rays and eagle rays, octopus, blue fin tuna, a giant sunfish, deep sea giant spider crabs that are three feet across, hundreds of other fish and the star of the exhibit a 20+ foot whale shark. It is a fabulous place to see a host of animals both sea and land. We spent a couple of hours walking through and looking at the beautifully done exhibits. At the end they displayed a piece of the plexi-glass that was used in the windows of the tanks. The “glass” is more than a foot thick and the amount used in building Kaiyukan was equivalent to 1.5 times the world’s annual production of the material. All of this is housed in an attractive contemporary building that is set beside Osaka Bay.
While we were touring Kaiyukan several groups of children were there for tours. One group we saw looked to be 3-4 years old dressed in uniforms with short pants and small red “beanie” caps. Very cute but very noisy. It was interesting that there teachers were talking to them in English as they stampeded their way through. The kids seemed to be impressed for all of the 5 seconds their attention spans would allow them to focus on animals 10 times their size that were sometimes only 3 or 4 feet away.
We also had to ride the Tempozan Giant Ferris Wheel which is on the same wharf as Kaiyukan. At 370 feet tall it is one of the largest Ferris Wheels in the world and offers a spectacular view of Osaka and the Bay. Your US$6 ticket buys you a one revolution ride that lasts 17 minutes. It was a clear day and well worth the six bucks and the time.
We started back for the hotel via the train about 1 but stopped at a small local café for a quick bite. The food was good but the couple that ran the eatery were what caught my attention. They smiled the entire time we were there. Not just a “polite smile” but a I’m so darn happy to be alive smile. They seemed to genuinely enjoy meeting people and doing what they are doing. That’s a nice thing to see every once in a while.
Today was move day, so we picked up our big packs at the Osaka Ramada, grabbed a taxi and had him drop us at the JR train station. We are carrying more than we should now because of the upcoming Outer Mongolia, Siberia and Russia leg of the expedition. This mainly consist of extra clothing to deal with variations in the weather and food as we have no idea what will be available between Beijing and Moscow. Anyway the point is the packs and extra bag are heavy and bulky. Maneuvering around a crowded train station and tackling multiple stair cases is not what we considered fun, but we finally made it to the platform and boarded the train when it arrived. Our destination was Kyoto. Upon arrival we jumped into another taxi for a 3 minute ride to our hotel. Its not that we’re that lazy we just didn’t have a good Kyoto map so didn’t even know which direction to walk.
We are now in the APA Hotel Kyoto. I have friends and brothers with walk-in closets larger than this room, but its home for the next three nights and that alone is worth a lot.
posted by Gary and Holly Davis @ 4:55 AM
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