Taipei, Taiwan--Osaka, Japan--Day 46

Today I woke up and headed out to the post office to mail things back home. The hotel staff wasn’t confident in my ability to navigate the Post Office by myself and insisted that I mail things back at the hotel, but I assured them that I could handle it on my own.

And I did. The post office was no problem, probably because I found a postal worker who spoke English and could help me out. Unfortunately I did not have enough cash on me and since they only took cash, I was left to run around the block trying to find a cash machine that would accept my card. No luck. So I had to go back to the hotel and get cash there. I had already checked out earlier, so I picked up my bags and got a taxi to the airport, stopping off back at the post office first so that I could pay for my postage!

My flight to Osaka was just fine- I watched TV the entire time which made it go by really fast. However the lights kept flickering on and off the ENTIRE time (kind of like strobe lighting really) and it was super annoying and furthermore convinced me that the power of the plane was just going to turn off any minute. Luckily it didn’t and we landed in Osaka.

After an hours’ drive to the hotel, I checked in and inquired about getting a guide to Japan. I was told that I had only about 10 minutes until the bookstore closed, so I rushed down a couple of blocks to the bookstore only to find tons of books all in Japanese. I went up to the counter and said “Guidebook” to the bookseller and she just smiled and gestured to me towards the back of the store where after a little bit more confusion I found the English travel guides. Thank goodness!

I picked up my book just in time before the store closed and walked back to the hotel, eating dinner at the restaurant at the hotel since it was pretty late at this point and many things were closing. After dinner I headed to bed and will be off to the Osaka zoo in the morning.



(c) 2004 Sarah Galbraith. All Rights Reserved.