Me looking at pictures and realizing its about time I got around to recording my most recent adventures.
And having time to spare since the job I wanted to apply for won't let me create an online profile...
But first, here are some pictures that I just uploaded from my cell phone of my fishing escapades in Hiroshima!
So in case you were wondering, I did end up eating most of the things we caught, including the squid and octopus. It's really something to see a living, crawling, trying to escape thing turn into cuisine right before your very eyes. Well, know I know.
This just in, jellyfish are not jelly-like at all! They are firm and jiggly, but not sloppy and squishy. Now you know.
So maybe I'll post some more "quality" cell phone pics later.
In the meantime, what in the world did I do on my post-travel weeked?! More traveling, what else!
So on Saturday I visited my friend who lives in Kobe, about an hour from here. The most of the day was me wandering around a shopping mall, which is good enough in itself. I got a nice taste of walking around this weekend!
As night fell, though, the scenery was truly worth the wait, as one of my friends had recommended. Kobe is a port town and very similar to Yokohama, near Tokyo. It seems to have its fair share of countryside, although the location I visited called "Sannomiya" had a nice Western feel to it. By that I mean modernity, shopping malls, arcades restaurants and whatever else a tourist could want. So after some light shopping, light lunch, light billiards and some confusion over how to operate some of the games in the arcade, I wandered around on my own a bit while my friend tended to her work. Nothing notable to mention here.
Naturally, Chinatown is everywhere.
Around dusk! The harbor area is gets really pretty.
Mexican food in Japan. What is the world coming to.So the next day I headed about 30 minutes away to a lovely and mountainous area called Arashiyama (storm mountain). What kind of awesome name is storm mountain? It might be something for Disneyworld to pick on. Regardless, any storming that occurred took place while I was underground, as the day was mostly clear except for some malicious looking clouds on the way home.
Arashiyama has a famous bridge called "Tougetsukou" (Moon crossing bridge) and a not-so-famous monkey park called... Monkey Park. I was surprised at how nice the park attendants were and how lacking in manners the park inhabitants were. Such an interesting contradiction.
Oh well, I suppose people who work with animals are more prone to be magnanimous. They take pictures for you and strike up conversations with you (in Japanese there's this phrase you can add to verbs to give them the nuance of "for your benefit" that I really want to use right here).
Arashiyama has a famous bridge called "Tougetsukou" (Moon crossing bridge) and a not-so-famous monkey park called... Monkey Park. I was surprised at how nice the park attendants were and how lacking in manners the park inhabitants were. Such an interesting contradiction.
Oh well, I suppose people who work with animals are more prone to be magnanimous. They take pictures for you and strike up conversations with you (in Japanese there's this phrase you can add to verbs to give them the nuance of "for your benefit" that I really want to use right here).
They're too busy singing to put anybody down.
So after a long hike up a mountain, you get greeted by a forest of monkeys out of nowhere! It's quite shocking and maybe almost scary.
So after a long hike up a mountain, you get greeted by a forest of monkeys out of nowhere! It's quite shocking and maybe almost scary.
They all come out for feeding time. Otherwise it's too hot.By the way, these are all Japanese monkeys. They are the same ones like enjoy hot springs. You aren't supposed to look them in the eyes or else they attack. In the cage it's okay though, since they can't really attack you through mesh wire. Their expressions sort of remind me of tired old people. "Just hurry up and give me that peanut. I'm not especially here to amuse you."
Afterward came sand sculptures, lunch, Tenryuuji and a forest of bamboo! And then home for one last dinner at my host family's house. A very fulfilling weekend, if I do say so myself.
The famous bridge, "Tougetsukyou"
Sand art, made entirely of compacted, wet sand.
In Japanese, "saru" means monkey. In classical Japanese, "zaru" means "no." Sometimes consonants take on a stronger sound when following other syllables. Thus, "kikazaru" (no hear/hear money), mizaru (no see/see monkey), hanasazaru (no speak/speak monkey). Clever.
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