Yay finally updating! Though nothing to really write about today... Packed everything and got stuff ready to go... that's about it...
Monday:
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| From Japan: Day 028 |
Its a Shinkansen!
First day of the trip. Our destination: Nagasaki. I took a bunch of pictures of Kyoto station since I never really go the chance before (plus I had some time). Mister Donut is a donut shop food chain (they are everywhere). I still have yet to try them. I took a bunch of pictures from the train (if the pictures sometimes appear lighter/darker, that's because I'm messing around with my camera). The Shinkansen is a lot nicer than a regular train. It's more like an airplane than a train, but without being squished in a seat. Even though its supposed to be traveling a lot faster, I didn't really notice much difference while on the Shinkansen. The Nagasaki station (like just about every other main station) is also a shopping mall (saw an ad for the musical of The Lion King). The also have The Gap. This mall had a pretty stained glass window roof of a dragon. From the station we took a tram to our hotel, which was right next to a river/stream. Our rooms were pretty small. After dropping off our things we left to walk around some and find someplace to eat for dinner. After dinner we went wandering some more trying to find where the bars/clubs were at. We ended up finding the Chinese district (which had neat electric light designs overhead) and walked to the water where we found two huge old boats (apparently there was some boating celebration going on the day before or something). We eventually found a bar/club where we met some guy who worked there that was from California (I think) who had been in Japan for the last couple of years. He even helped us find where all the people were at (since we hadn't seen many people around the places we were walking) and also helped us get reservations for a reasonably priced all-you-can-eat/drink Sushi restaurant for tomorrow. After getting the reservations we headed back and most of us played drinking games for a while (I decided to sit and watch since I don't drink).
Tuesday:
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| From Japan: Day 029 |
5 guys and 4 girls, our group started out pretty big.
Argh... I wish I had more time to write... ok... I'm going to go through the rest pretty quickly. First we grabbed lunch from a convenience store and ate it by the river/stream where we also fed the pigeons and the carp. We then took the tram to the Atomic Bomb Peace Museum and the Peace Memorial. We also decided that the places we were thinking of going to weren't going to be that interesting so we decided to take a boat to an island where we can go to an Onsen (hot spring). When we got there we decided to take bikes to a beach that ended up being pretty empty but was really nice, with really clear (jellyfish-filled) water. We played on the beach for a while then went to the Onsen (my first Onsen in Japan). After that we headed back and went to the all-you-can-eat/drink Sushi restaurant (lots of good food, for about 2.5 hours). We then went back to the hotel where we played more drinking games for a while (I kinda participated this time... with water...).
Wednesday:
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| From Japan: Day 030 |
I get buried in HOT VOLCANIC SAND!
Today we headed to Kagoshima. Got some more pictures on the train. A little bird kept coming back to feed its family at a stopover. The horse... yeah... just watch the video at the end of the album... we saw this at the Kagoshima station. At the top of the station was a ferris wheel (I didn't get a chance to ride it though...). Our hotel was really close to the station, plus it was nice (a lot like the Coop Inn we stayed at the first week in Japan), I also had a really nice view from my window. We ate lunch at the station (I don't know why people come to Japan and eat McDonalds...), my lunch had a beeper to call me when it was ready. We then took a train to go to the place to get buried in volcanic sand. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of me buried in volcanic sand, so you will just have to imagine. It's really just warm sand that you get buried up to your head in. You lie down in just a robe and they shovel warm sand on you and you stay there for about 10 minutes (it's pretty weird, but kinda nice... until your butt starts to burn...). After that you wash off and go into an Onsen for a while. We climbed on the beach for a little while then went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and headed back (people were pretty tired). A couple people went on the ferris wheel then we went to a Denny's-like restaurant called Joyfull (I think...) and had dessert.
Thursday:
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| From Japan: Day 031 |
It's a Ryokan (Japanese-style Inn).
Ok... maybe not quite... but close enough. Today we headed to Beppu. More pictures from the train, and pictures of my lunch (peach-water, and bread, yay bread). That light-brown blurry blob is a cute little dog I tried to take a picture of. The hotel was close to the station again, which was nice. I got to room in the Japanese-style room with the guy who leaves tomorrow so I move to a single tomorrow. I wish the picture of that statue was clearer... especially the writing below it... it was an "interesting" note about the old guy making the little children happy (the little children who are under the back of his cape and the one "child" holding onto it). Not much happened today, we walked around a little, went to the water, walked back, found out that there really wasn't anything to do in Beppu at night.
Friday:
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| From Japan: Day 032 |
Welcome to the HELL OF BLOOD-LIKE POND!
Yes, that's what it is actually called. No, it isn't actually as exciting as it sounds. Today we visited one of the 18 Hells in Beppu. On the way we got some nice views of the city (notice the steam coming out from everywhere). Of course we decided to go to the one that is the furthest away from all the others, and to walk there... As exciting as the Hells sounded, we found out that they were not much more than colored clay with steaming hot water... so some people (aka, not me) decided to sneak into The Waterspout Hell which was next to the Hell Of Blood-Like Pond rather than pay another 400+ Yen to see it. We also decided to skip the other 16 Hells. Later on some people (again, not me) decided to pay 700 Yen to see the Sex Museum... I took pictures of the cat outside. Not much else happened. We walked around some more, eventually we went back and I moved into the single (it was pretty nice). Later that night we went to the beach and lit fireworks. Unlike some people, I like watching rather than burning things, so I took pictures :P.
Saturday:
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| From Japan: Day 033 |
Yes, those are men, wearing bee costumes, holding pom poms, and dancing...
We apparently arrived on just the right day to see the Dontaku Festival in Fukuoka. When we first arrived we saw a mascot (I think it was for a store in the station). We then met with the son of Janet's host-mom (whom she hadn't even met before). He had a cute little dog with him that had an outfit on... it was really cute. He first helped us find our hotel then took us to the main shopping mall in Fukuoka. This place was huge. After spending some time there he took us to see the parade... the ENDLESS parade... no really, I don't think it was ever going to end... I took a LOT of pictures and even a couple of videos (see the end of the album). It was very interesting, lots of people in the parade (and lots of people watching). I'll let the pictures do the talking. After that we headed back to the hotel to put our stuff in our room (we were too early to get our room when we first got there). On the way we saw a Mr. Donut mascot (I didn't even know they had one), who promptly got beaten up by some people passing by. This time our hotel room was an 8-person room. Later on, Janet's Host-mom's Son (I wish I remembered his name...) took us to dinner and not only treated us to that but also to really good Ramen afterwards (my Ramen had a flavor-savor ball). After that, most everyone went clubbing. I decided it wasn't worth the money since I don't drink, so I went back, watched some TV, and went to sleep.
Sunday:
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| From Japan: Day 034 |
I think Japan really likes this guy.
Not much to say about today. We woke up late and had to rush out of the hotel since check-out was at 10am. We went to the station to get some lunch and decided what to do next. We were all kinda tired. I went to sit in the shade while people were looking a photos in the sun and then everyone disappeared. That was pretty lame... I ended up walking around the station for a couple of hours then went on a quest to find Peach Coolish (think of flavored ice, more solid and less slush-like then a slushee, and is in a small pouch you squeeze, I'll get a picture of it one of these days...). Eventually we took the train back. Sorry, no pictures, just too tired, plus I slept on the train.
Hopefully I'll update this weekend... hopefully...
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