Our last day in Osaka was rather easy going. We spent the majority of the day at Spa World, trying out the onsen on different floors as they switched the men's and women's floors the day before because the month changed. We also had a go at the indoor water park and went down the 'ZokuZoku Bam!' and 'UzuUzu Bam!' waterslides (You can take a look at the waterslides on this website: http://www.spaworld.co.jp/english/pool.html).
The rest of the afternoon was spent back at the hostel, waiting on a friend of ours to contact us to see if we could organise to meet up for dinner and planning our trip to Hiroshima on the following day. During this time, we meet Shaun, an Aussie bloke who is originally from Perth, who was travelling through Osaka on his way back to Australia from a couple of months working in a snow resort in Japan. When we had determined that our friend was not going to make it to dinner, we agreed with Shaun that the three of us would sample Osaka's nightlife that evening.
We made our way to a place in Namba called Dotonbori. We had been recommended to go there by a couple of other people that we had met in the hostel as well as by the Japan Lonely Planet book. Dotonbori is one of Osaka's busiest nightlife areas, highlighted by stacks of neon signs and filled with bars and restaurants.
After walking up and down the streets for about half an hour, unable to choose a place to eat at, we decided to settle for a place that had nomihodai (all you can drink) written on the front door. The place turned out to be an okonomiyaki restaurant. (Okonomiyaki is the fried Japanese pancake that we have become very fond of while in Osaka).
We cooked our own okonomiyaki on the hot plate at our table (with a few of the locals giving us foreigners some funny looks), but they turned out pretty good and we ended up having a fantastic meal with plenty of drinks.
After dinner and drinks, we wandered the busy streets while having a beer purchased from one of the local convenience stores to watch the hustle and bustle. After we finished our drinks, it was time for us to head back to the hotel so we wouldn't miss the curfew.
Upon arriving back at our hotel, we indulged in a mid-night picnic which was purchased at the next door 24 hours supermarket. Shaun introduced us to raw beef (we think it was beef anyway) and creamy camembert cheese which tasted delicious. Luckily for the two Aussie girls that arrived after curfew, we were able to hear them from the lobby and unlock the front door for them to let in for the night.
The following day I was feeling a bit worse for wear while we had to travel to Hiroshima. It serves me right for going drink for drink with a bloke who has been backpacking for the past 18 months straight and doing this every other night! It was still a great night out though!
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