There’s nothing like going to the convenience store, buying a coffee and a breakfast food with too much sugar in it, walking back in marginally cold weather, getting back in bed and then finding out that it’s still warm from when you initially left it.
We’ve been having a rough time motivating lately.
I don’t sleep apparently, so for me it’s more of a lazy person thing. But I’m still awake way before everyone else, which is usually a small blessing because it gives me time to watch YouTube videos and do other dumb stuff (like blog).
But today I was really hungry and it didn’t seem like anyone was going to get up soon, so I Journeyed to Family Mart alone. We also have another friend joining us today. Their name is Typhoon Trami and she’s showing up a little early, so I got to walk to the convenience store with a friend.
It’s kind of cool how doing normal stuff in the morning makes you kind of feel like you live there (barring the fact that I know only like three words).
But I got back to the apartment and there’s not really anywhere to sit except for back in bed. So really, it was my only option.
So now I get coffee + this chocolatey, doughy pastry + warm bed. I think we’re trying to go to Kobe today, but honestly who knows if we’ll make it there. Everyone is still dead asleep and we are approaching noon. And waking people up is scary.
We’re on the train to Kobe now. It’s cold and rainy today, which is something I missed a lot (and will miss in the future now that I’m not going to have NorCal falls anymore). I’m tired. We aren’t bouncing around from place to place anymore, so I don’t know if it’s just That Time in the trip or the adrenaline of being in new places and moving constantly has worn off but rest is definitely needed.
It’s not like I want to be done with this trip either. I miss home and people (mostly my cat) but I don’t know what I’m going to do once we’re done. Some plans fell through while I was here and we’ve been too busy for me to try and figure something new out.
But all that isn’t important. The train we’re on isn’t the rapid express, so it’s taking a long time. We’re passing through a town that’s lined with mountains right now. It’s cloudy, and some of the clouds look like they’ve been trapped by the divots in the mountain. They’re spiraling up and out of the ravines like the mountain is making them itself.
But anyways, I know that there’s more stuff to do in Kobe, but we’re really just going for dinner.
The important thing that I need to talk about before we get off the train is the fruit.
Before we got on this train, we were at a station (duh). This was the biggest station ever, and had a full room filled with foods and desserts (I think Marisa died a little bit). But they also had a grocery store, which is something I haven’t really seen at all on our travels. More importantly, there were fruits.
Not any kind of fruits I could afford. The first thing I saw were the grapes and they go for about 2,000 yen (a little less than 20 whole American Dollars). So, Expensive Grapes. But whatever you might be imagining 20$ grapes to look like, they probably looked like this. They’re impossibly thick (lmao) and juicy looking. Like, if you had one in the morning, you wouldn’t have to eat the whole day (and it would probably clear your skin and give you super powers). And then there’s the melon.
You know how melons have the veins on the outside? Like the pattern? These melons had the mostly beautifully formed lines. Like damn.
Here look:
Yeah.
Also peep that price tag while you’re at it (hint: it’s over 100$). My knew goal in life is to be at a place where I can buy this kind of melon at some point so I don’t just have to wonder what a 100+ dollar fruit tastes like.
–
I hadn’t really thought about Kobe beef before, not after I found out how much it costs and the fact that it’s in Japan. (I did learn about it in a class. Marbling. It’s important.)
But I am now Japan and I’ve always been willing to spend money on food. So, it was time.
They really aren’t lying. I don’t know who ‘they’ are, as it’s been a kind of atmospheric and generally accepted fact that I’ve heard as long as I’ve been alive. But they’re right.
I didn’t think something could taste like that.
Earlier in this trip I was weak and I got a hamburger. And I don’t want to be dramatic, but it was the worst thing I’ve put in my body, ever (this includes dining common burgers). I cannot believe that that was the same kind of meat. Mozart and massages really makes a difference. (I still got the ‘cheap’ one. I didn’t try the ‘middle grade’ one that got ordered. I didn’t want to know what I was missing out on, but I heard it was legendary. I would also like to take a moment to state here that the meat I got was still A Lot cheaper than that melon. This has only made the melon desperation stronger.)
I just, man. I might as well be vegetarian now because nothing is going to compare to that small slice of meat.
Marbling is no fucking joke.
The restaurant itself was a little wild. It was one of the nicer places we’ve been to on this trip but it still managed to be a little overwhelming with the pictures and names of the cows on the walls, along with awards and model steak sizes (yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like).
But really, I could go on and on about the steak. We were eating for a While. I think that’s the most I’ve ever savored food. But it was also one of those times where I questioned even needing to travel with friends because we get talking and then it’s suddenly 2 hours later. We could be doing that anywhere. But I’m lying. I deeply enjoy the traveling and the talks, whether it be at Chipotle or a fancy restaurant.
After we peeled ourselves out of our booth, we tried to get to the port, which is apparently very cool. But the key word there is tried. It started raining and there are A Lot of shops. So naturally, we never made it.
The rain was the biggest factor though and we ended up heading down into a random station to escape it.
And some of these stations really look like bunkers designed for doomsday. They’re just empty and big. But then you wander down one of the paths and it suddenly spits you out into a thriving underground shopping center.
I think one of the coolest things about traveling is seeing stuff like this. Like, infrastructurally speaking, how do they do this? There are definitely huge buildings above us. What happens if something happens to those? I don’t know. There’s other stuff about that, like the phone lines and city grids that get me but right now I’m thinking about the underground city part.
But anyways, we on the train, and I’m ready to food coma.
The post-beef sleep
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