so we explored on our own. Okayama is the town of Tao Tai Lang. apparently he emerged frm some peach and was a blessing to the childless couple. i think he slayed demons or sth? all the folk legend characters have some part in slaying demons anyway. there were tons of Tao Tai Lang mini statutes along the streets and most look creepy cos they're like greenish in colour and of little children - like sth straight out of a horror movie.
had a hard time deciding where to lunch cos Matsuya and Yoshinoya were a few stores away frm each other. settled for Yoshi in the end. i think tobsy picked it so i could eat the Oyako Don. but their Oyako Don wasnt very nice. i'd take the Gyu Don any day. i love the Yoshi concept in Japan. totally efficient and zero wastage. u have 2 ppl running the entire show - cook, clean, mend the cash register, etc. why didnt they import this system to Singapore? cos we're all bloody slackers.
saw the castle frm a distance and then decided to head back to the station. nothing particularly exciting in the area so we decided to take Shinkansen down to Himeji. saw school children going to the Shinkansen station, presumably to take the train home. rich folks. but im sure there's some student concession of sorts.
more walking around at Himeji but we discovered tt the pudding shop has closed down FOR GOOD. andandand the quaint little shop with the cheap red bean buns is also gone. we used to buy the Meiji green tea ice cream and eat it with the hot red bean buns. sads. we tried the new Meiji rock melon flavoured ice cream before heading back to Okayama.
was supposed to have Ippudo but we werent exactly hungry so in the end, i courageously decided to forgo dear Ippudo and had Matsuya instead. loovee the hamburg steak with cheese inside. but Yoshi's Gyu Don is still better i think.
then it was the overnight train. i didnt know what to expect of Sunrise Izumo but it turned out to be not too bad. well, if u compare it with the Nomi Nomi we took on the very first trip, this is fantastic. plus, thank God we managed to secure 2nd level spaces so there wont be much noise and vibration frm the train. it wasnt exactly very very very comfortable but i survived and would continue to take this cos it really saves us alot of money since we didnt have to spend on accomodation.
