Car Parks Aren't Always the Same at Night

The car park I thought would be very quiet turned out to be the site of a Japanese car meet that happens every Friday at around midnight, much to my surprise. It lasted for about an hour and a half before they all sped off in convoy back down the mountain road. I, of course, got out to speak to them, but they weren’t particularly impressed by Nissan’s 2-litre straight-four engine.

This morning I woke up to sunshine and, after catching up on the news for a bit, climbed out of the car and made some eggy bread (I’d even picked up some Kewpie mayo the day before, which goes very well with it if you’ve never tried it). I washed up and packed away before heading off to the mountainous part of Kobe (not sure what its Japanese name is, but it’s on the other side of the hills from Shin-Kobe Station). I grabbed a coffee and then went to a self-service car wash – I needed to reorganise the whole car as the setup was annoying me. I took everything out, vacuumed thoroughly, and repacked everything from the ski season into the less accessible areas, while putting the things I use day to day into easier-to-reach spots.

I then headed to a forest onsen called Suzuran-no-Yu. I actually spent a couple of hours there as the sun was shining and they had a lovely outdoor section where I tanned for a bit! After that, I did some laundry before heading to a Nepalese place for dinner. As it turned out, I must have been the only one in the mood for Nepalese food that evening, as the place was completely empty aside from me. I had Set Menu B, which consisted of keema curry, lamb kofta, a small salad, and a cheese naan. Not entirely sure how Nepalese all that is, but the chap recommended it so I gave it a go.

I headed back to the onsen car park, as it was nice and quiet, and parked up for the night – heading back to Osaka tomorrow.