Got the visa!

Three days have passed since I went to apply for my visa at the Chinese consulate, so this morning I woke up early to retrace my route out to Awaza without the guidance of a kind policeman. The journey there was surprisingly smooth considering I was in a shambles last time. When I arrived at the consul, I simply forked out 4000 yen for the 30 day visa and the claiming receipt and that was it, it had a Chinese visa.

On my way back home, I was looking to change some Yen I got out yesterday for Chinese Yuan and Egyptian Pounds at the major train station of the area called Namba. The currency exchange booth wasn't open for another couple of hours, so I decided to go for a little walk around the station which is pushing for the title of 'Shopping Mall - featuring train station'. It is truly deceiving how far your can walk underground in one of these stations without noticing how much ground you've covered on the surface. After a 10/15 minute walk in one direction, I popped up on the other side of Namba. It's amazing.

With a good three hours before the currency exchange booth opened and in pursuit of things to do, I decided to have a quick sniff in 'Takashimaya' which is Japan's equivalent of say David Jones in Aus. Worldwide in these sorts of places, I have a theory that the floor number is directly proportionate to the quality of the opposite sex. On the first floor, you have the cosmetics section. Need I say more? This floor is filled with women who know how to look good and how to make people look good. (They also help bring people into the store from the main entrance). The second floor is usually women's clothing, shoes, accessories etc, so they're not as good here, but they're certainly worth a lap. The third floor however, is usually home to appliances and homeware goods. This is where, according to the theory, the store likes to employ it's 'average stock'. They're great help, but not girls that you want helping you with things outside of grabbing a new microwave. Finally, the fourth floor is menswear. Now, this floor is no good for obvious reasons.

Once I'd circumnavigated Takashimaya, I started heading back towards the exchange booth but it was still a bit early so I thought I might pop in to a place which I thought looked a bit wacky... 'Beer & Coffee'. What a combo. The beer was surprisingly cheap here so I grabbed a pot of Kirin whilst I sat and read some quality reading material that I had picked up earlier.

When the time had finally come for the booth to open, I went over I asked to change the money I had for Yuan and Egyptian pounds. They had Yuan, but no pyramid money, so I decided that I'll pick both up from the airport before leaving. All of that could've been seen as a waste of time, but I had a good day out, so, no regrets from my part.

After catching the train home, I decided to go over to the sports store that my host parents own to label and pack some tennis rackets. It's a bit repetitive but any way I can give something back to them for allowing me to stay with them is more than worthwhile.