Kobe

A very late post about the rest of our trip to Kobe in January 

We found the "European" part of town

And an English pub, with a rather 'interesting' English menu

And another take on the British pub...

Because of the new year, the temple we visited was incredibly busy, with many Japanese going to pray for good fortune in the new year

Masses of people queued up to shake these little wooden boxes (that you can see on top of the counter), causing a wooden stick to fall out of a whole on the bottom. The number on the wooden stick corresponded with one of the many pieces of paper below, and on that paper would be that persons fortune for that year or longer.

Then to ensure the good fortunes would come true, they would tie them up around the temple. Here you can see the sheer mass of fortunes from the past few days, and those that were not tied here were tied all over the building and many of trees in the surrounding area.

Fish pops?

Then to end our incredibly busy day we decided to visited Kobe's China town.

It snowed, so we went to the beach

Snowy train tracks

 Best way to keep our drinks cold

Cherry blossom in the snow

 BBQ and sunset time

Then in the morning...

 ...sunshine! 

Lonely snowman waving us goodbye

My Birthday

 As my birthday approached I received many lovely parcels from home, filled with delicious and awesome treats.

I also got lovely presents from my friends here in Japan, including a Gigi backpack, who looks adorable riding around in the basket of my bike

Then in the evening a group of us went to a izakaya and then to karaoke, so that we could celebrate my Birthday in the Japanese style. Though we ended up with a rather large bill :D 

Then, as always, a few days after my birthday, it began to snow...

 Bonus

My name in Korean, Japanese and Serbian