Wandering minstrel
Osaka, Japan.
I was geographically challenged a couple of times whilst trying to find the route to Osaka Castle, and then a few more times trying to find my way out. The weather was hot, it was like being toasted, roasted and steamed at the same time.
After I wandered around the inside of the main castle building, I paused at some steps just outside (or perhaps it was really a wall) to sort out my maps and work out where I wanted to go next so as to decide which exit I should take. An old man turned up at my shoulder and looked at me shuffling my pile of Web printouts and glossy promotional material. I smiled at him and he flashed me a grin - he had almost none of his original teeth left, though I wasn't fast enough to count the gold caps. With thick glasses and a cream-coloured floppy hat, he looked uncannily like a Japanese tourist that one would be likely to see in Queensland. He hung around for a little while so I showed him what I was looking at. He nodded, grinned some more and left.
A little way towards (what I thought) was a way out, there he was, sitting on a step. I tried to ask if I could take a photograph of him, but instead, he yelled at someone else to take my camera and got me to sit next to him for a photograph(!). Kinda cute, even if it was not what I wanted. I waved goodbye to the old man and his friend, before getting down to the serious business of being hot and lost in the castle gardens.
(The photograph didn't turn out, unfortunately - maybe I should have a disposable camera for such occasions.)
Posted by sniffles at August 26, 2002 06:02 PM