VENUE #1 Egret Beer GardenA large group of us congregated at the beer garden on top of the Egret centre, right in front of the castle. Here we paid $30 each for an all you can eat buffet and bottomless drinks. The rooftop was set up with scattered tables and tents for the drinks and food (which became our spot of shelter when a light shower came). The staff were really friendly and one of them spoke fluent English and worked hard to accommodate our big group's seating needs. As the sun went down the lamp posts provided soft lighting and a really mellow atmosphere.
The buffet included a variety of food including french fries (which we ate with chopsticks!!!!), spring rolls, chicken kebabs, fried squid, fish, fried chicken, meatballs, steamed dumplings and salads. It was all really yummy. For drinks you could choose between soft drinks, beer or Chu-Hi (an alcohol similar to vodka). Jess and I started our dinner with some liquids (hehe) and going for one lemon chu-hi and one grape. The glasses we had were a solid stein with a handle and held a good amount of drink. Next we graced the buffet. At one stage it started raining so everyone made a bolt for the drink and food tents. The rain only lasted a few minutes after which the staff were busily drying the seats with towels! 
There were many friendly Japanese people there and my friends were quick to tell them it was my birthday. One guy got the beer garden's attention and lead them in singing "Happy Birthday" to me, very funny! Even the boys serving at the buffet threw up their hands and said happy birthday! As time went on everyone got progressively happier and we had an absolute ball. At 9pm it was time to go and so we headed for a spot of karaoke!
VENUE #2 Time Machine KaraokeAll the Aussies and Yuki (Marie's new Japanese friend) organised a room and we were quick to warm up the mics. Thankfully there was an English book song list so we had no problems choosing songs we knew. Lauren was the remote control master and kept the good songs rolling in (except for "Mr Roboto", what were you thinking Lauren? hehe). Everyone gave their vocalisers a thrashing as we belted out a few favourite songs like "Baby got Back", "Achy Breaky Heart", "Are you Gonna Be My Girl?", "Don't Stop", "Bootilicious" and heaps more. The drinks kept being ordered which helped with the lowered inhibitions! Lauren was very cute as she did a little dance when she had the microphone! After about 2 hours it was time to go and we moved on to a little pub called Mr B's.
VENUE #3 Mr B's PubJono had discovered this little pub the night before and so we headed back there. It was a cute little place tuck away in the back streets of Himeji, which was probably the same size as our lounge room. Mr B is an American who is a cruisy guy and is a bit too generous when he pours spirits! We certainly didn't need it. I wanted a vodka and raspberry but he had never heard of it before, so he offered some fresh blueberries instead. It was ... unusual! The drink was REALLY strong and the blueberries didn't add much flavour. After seeing how much vodka was poured into my drink, Jess ordered a half serve of Vodka! Liam had Jack and Coke, which was a ratio of 1:1! My next drink I ordered a Vodka and Coke, another drink Mr B had never heard of before. We had a great time chatting and Jono had fun rounding up potential customers out on the street! At about 3am we decided to call it a night. It was the best night I have had out in Japan so far! A super birthday celebration.
VISITORS COMMENTS:
We had a cruisy day in Himeji just buying presents so that we could be home in time to get ready for Jodi's Party :) At 6 we went to a roof top beer garden (had a scare because it started raining when we were coming home but that subsided very quickly which was good- it meant it wasn't cancelled). At the Beer garden it is all you can eat and drink for ¥ 3000. They had kind of a buffet with chips and dim sims, weird fish stuff and soupy kind of stuff. Drinks on tap were beer and chu-hi (alcohol made from potatoes i think, then added flavouring). After that we picked up some random japanese people and headed off to Karaoke and bowling with the rest of the people from the residence (hilarious). Quite random having a bowling alley on the fifth floor of a building but hey its Japan :) Next stop was an American bar for the last drinks before bed. Pubs in Japan are nothing like in Australia, they are really small. We caught a taxi home in the early hours of the morning rounding off an enjoyable night for all :)
