KOBE the Port City Part 2 of 2

Picture depicting the devastation of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995

Pictures and videos shown were really depicting a different Kobe in it and I could hardly imagine how it was like then because most of the areas that we were stepping on were new structures and the ones in the video were wrecked beyond recognition.

A little reminder of the Great Hanshin Earthquake kept at the memorial

There was a small area kept for remembrance as a result of the devastation where concrete pavements and building columns were ripped apart and highway structures tumbled under herculean dynamic forces of the earthquake. I have seen with many years of experience on how highway structures were built in my time as an engineer, so what I saw in the aftermath was extremely tragic.

This guy makes you go nuts...

On one side it was all solemn and on another it was in total contrast, there was a harborside performance by a Japanese who managed to draw a big crowd. We too were engrossed by his funny antics and "near-falls" in all his stunts.

Mosaic, shopping district

We hanged out at the Mosaic, a shopping area at the Kobe Harborland until night fell. We planned to catch the night scene of Kobe and waited till the lights were on. The picturesque night scene of Kobe port was both brilliant and awe-inspiring!

We managed to "kidnap" Angeline to stay with us in Osaka and followed us to Kyoto the next day. I was really happy she came along and being such a good sport. We managed to catch up lots of updates/news about our common friends in Malaysia, what more she just came back from Malaysia! Again, the world is really small. Everyone seems to know each other and she too knew my other Samadian friend in Kyoto.

Osaka's famous Okonomiyaki

We went up to her place for her to pick up some clothes before returning to Osaka. Once in Osaka, we stopped over for Okonomiyaki, a mixture of pancake and pizza and which Osaka is famous for. We didn't know Angeline's birthday just passed a week ago, so we stopped over to another dessert place to celebrate the occasion.

We celebrated Angeline's belated birthday in Osaka

That is when she was put in the limelight where there was a loud birthday song played for her. It was all in good fun, planned by Wai Cheong. But then, I am sure she was really enjoying it as much as we did.

We went back to Wai Cheong's house to call it a night. Then, we managed to catch up with lots of chatting. I was so engrossed with Angeline's university "experiences" that I managed to stay awake for another hour before I was entirely knocked off from exhaustion at approximately 2am.