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.  

.. 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！