Sendai

Oh where to begin? These 5 days in Sendai have been a real boost to my spirits. After staying in Hakodate and Morioka in hotels and not meeting many english speaking people i got worn down a bit. And since i hadn't been to Sendai before i did not know what to expect. The first day i arrived somewhere early in the afternoon and i decided to just go for a walk and get a feel of the city. I bought a pair of shorts (lightweight of course) that suited the warmer weather of the last couple of days and had a short nap in a small park and went to find the huge Buddha status i had seen when i came into Sendai with the Shinkansen. With a little help from the people at the busstation i figured out which bus to take and 30 minutes later a was looking at a 100 meter high Buddha statue. This thing was huge! I walked around it and found the entrance at the foot of the statue. You could take the stairs all the way to the top where you could touch the head and belly of a wooden Buddha statue for good luck. On the way down my vertigo kicked in because i could see all the way down inside the statue. And so so i found myself clinging to the walls more and more. I got back to the bus stop and a 20 minute walk took me to the hostel. The Keyaki hostel is located in the bustling red light disctrict of Sendai with plenty of things to see and do. ;-) I checked in and Mumi, the girl at the reception showed me the facilities of the hostel and my dormitory and introduced me to Nozomi, the owner and Mae and Natsumi who also worked there. The hostel use to be a restaurant and breathed the cozy atmosphere of an old style japanese house. I felt right at home. I took a quick shower and joined some fellow travellers from Germany who where playing cards. After a while the people from the staff joined us and we had a great evening talking about whatnot. I turned to bed late already feeling better than the last couple of days. This was going to be good!Read more