Friday, June 25, 2010

Putting my feet up




I've got a little bit of temple-fatigue. Having seen so many wonderful temples, shrines, pagodas and other old buildings, it's time to rest up before heading to Tokyo tomorrow.

I withdrew some money earlier. The NZ and Aussie dollars I exchanged early on won't quite last me until the end of my time in Japan, so I calculated that I'd need about 6,000 Yen more. Now, there are only three places (to my knowledge) where overseas-issued ATM cards will work for cash withdrawals. These are Seven Eleven convenience stores, Post Offices and Citibank branches. I went to the Seven Eleven in Nara today, to get my 6,000 Yen - only to find the smallest note the machine would dispense is a 10,000 Yen note. So, I probably have a few more Yen than I need. Perhaps I'll have a couple of slap up meals !

Dogs. I've been meaning to write about dogs. It seems there are lots of little ones here in Japan. I mean those miniature, skinny ones. At various stages I've seen people carrying their dogs in bags, sitting them in bicycle baskets, or even zipping them up inside their jackets with the dog's head poking out.

Another bullet train ride last evening took me to Kobe, where there was a big earthquake in the 1990s. Of course, the place has been completely rebuilt since then. There are quite a few impressive and modern sky-scrapers, and the port is quite picturesque. Especially at sunset, as you can see in the photo at the beginning of this entry.


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