The pokemon crochet journey!

First day in Kyoto wasn't a very exciting one. We did a few things but not quite as packed as others since we checked into the Anteroom. It is a very cute little hotel with an artist gallery made with work from what I can tell is local artists. While we were waiting for check in (3pm), we went to explore the Nishiki markets which was quite a lot of fun. I bought a lot more clothes than I anticipated and we bought and soy based ice cream which was tasty and had an after taste of tasty soy milk you get in the bottles at Asian stores. We then headed back towards one of the smaller alleys down the main market as we found a soba restaurant that has been open for about 400 years and they have tasty hand made noodles. I ordered a dish that was called the "sushi of the soba world" and I thought it would be some form of deconstructed sushi with noodles underneath but when it arrived it was a sushi that had wrapped soba instead of rice! And it came with a plate of dipping sauce tha...

Today was my lady full day in Osaka so we wanted to try to do as much as possible in our Amazing Pass. The day started out nice and early as usual but we didn't rush. Downstairs at the Shin Osaka station we bought some Pon Pon Japon which is a puffed rice treat which is amazingly delicious. There were a lot of flavors but we chose dried fruit, strawberries and milk, and blueberries and yoghurt. Some of the others were chocolate, coffee, green tea and maple syrup just to name a few. After this we went to visit the and the museum of natural history. It was interesting seeing the exhibits. We encountered a large group of school children sitting down for lunch and it really amazed me how organized they were spreading out little blankets and organizing themselves to eat. Some of them were about 5 or 6 I think. We wandered around the gardens a while but it wasn't the right season so we didn't get many pretty floral shots. After that we went for lunch. I wanted kaiten sushi so we ...

Today was the first of our long planned travel days. It started earlier in the morning, about 7:30am so we could have a breakfast at our hotel before heading out. There wasn't as much to do today as things appear to be closed on a Monday so we spent much of the morning just going around department stores and exploring. We found a cute department store with a rooftop garden. There was a little shrine to pray at and a Hanshin tigers shop where we saw the most adorable little mascot toys. We went to the world buffet restaurant which wasn't that great but in the end we eerie glad we went. From there we went up to the top floor of the Osaka Government Building which was an observatory. The elevator went up 51 floors and then we took an escalator up to the 55th floor which was horrifying. It was the longest escalator. There was a few but the last one went up 3 floors. I thought I wasn't going to make it back down buuuut I did. There was more exploring and more food to be had! Fro...

Photos are not in chronological order coz blogging on a phone is hard so I'll just stick all the photos down the bottom.  Today started with me being a bit too excited that we're in Japan and waking up the poor boy at 7:30am. To be fair though I actually woke up at 5am but let him sleep a bit more. For some reason I kept thinking today was Saturday but I had to keep reminding myself Saturday was spent on a plane for the whole day.  Breakfast was delicious. We had a huge feast that had Japanese breakfast and western breakfast choices. I wussed out and didn't try the natto that they had in small packages. I did eat the most delicious cream of corn soup. After that we went back into the airport and went to the travel desk. We picked up our Osaka Amazing Pass there which we will be using over the next two days for tourist discounts on places as well as food. So there will be much to write about over the coming days. We also went to the ticket station and purchased our Haruka a...

We arrived late last night and chose to spend our first night at the Nikko Kansai Airport Hotel just so we wouldn't have to brave the train at 11pm. I think it was a great decision. The room is small and cosy but perfect for just the one night quick stay at an airport hotel.  The bed was comfortable and they provided us with so many bathroom amenities that I'm not quite used to this. Japanese toilets with all the little extra buttons are already starting to amuse me and I've only just started my trip. I know this trip is only going to get better. I woke up this morning and had a look out the window to notice that across the road at the hotel is a pet hotel. How adorable is the design!? The weather is warm and humid though. Reminds me of Malaysia.  :) Today we are going to travel to our first proper hotel and then explore. Although the other half is currently still asleep. I feel asleep quite a bit earlier than him last night though. After the 12 hours of flying all I c...

Hey everyone!! Thank you so much for following my posts and having a look at what I have to offer. I am sorry to say that I haven't been able to follow through with my plan of posting one more free pattern before I leave for Japan. Mainly because there has been so much to do that I haven't had a chance to write anything up! Well, I lie. I have two patterns that have been written up but I don't like releasing things before I have had a chance to proof and then make them all pretty. I would rather hold off on a little longer than release something I'm not proud off so I'm sorry! My etsy store has now had the vacation sign put up. This is because I leave for Japan in less than 5 days now so there isn't time for me to get to the post office as I have four, ten hour shifts ahead of me at work. :) I'm so happy with the job I have at the moment and I am happy to come home and be able to work more on a hobby that I love. But I do have a free pattern to share...

To the people that follow all my Friday free patterns, I'm sorry! There won't be one this fortnight because I am working on commissions. I'm so happy everyone is asking for commissions at the moment. I normally would work on commissions and still have time for a pattern because I build my schedule around it except I am trying to finish things before I leave on my trip to Japan! I will try my hardest to make one more Friday free pattern post in two weeks...if I can, I'll see if I can write up and release a pattern that'll suit this missing fortnight as well as the two that I will miss while I'm overseas. I'll be taking my tablet with me so I'll see if I can post some beautiful photos of the places I'm staying in :) Attached is a photo of a Animal Crossing commission that I've finished recently, of Felicity wearing a kid's smock. Since I was volunteering on Friday and cooking for the homeless. I didn't get a chance to go to the post off...