Weekend 28th and 29th

Saturday 28th. Instead of the sleep in I so desperately needed I went for a leisurely(!?) 7km run with Ria and Lisa. Afterwards Ria invisted me to breakfast and ate butter chicken curry, and lots of pancakes. It was a huge change to my usual breakfast of 'Banana Solo' (Banana only). After wasting alot of time at home I went into Kokura to find some snow gear for next weekend (Hokkaido!!!). I ended up spending way too much money and then had to rush back to Steve and Nao's housewarming party. Their new apartment is so nice and Steve made lots of Hawaiin food for us. Unfortunately some of it was pork so some looked good too! It was a really fun night and I was again reminded how much Japanese I have to learn to maintain a conversation.
Sunday 29th. Chris arrived from Ajimu and we went to Charlie's 6th birthday party and ate a great deal. We then went to Hiroidai Mountain to see some caves, that I had been recommended to see. After some slight 'detours' due to insufficient signs and/or our inability to read kanji we made it there. We paid 800 yen to put on little plastic shoes and enter the cave. It was not what we expected but after the section of the cave they had cemented both the floor and the roof we got to the interesting part where we walked through about 20cm of water (average). The limestone on the floor was a clean light blue. The cave was quite small in places, even for me so it was a struggle for Chris. Right near the end (approx 900meters inside the mountain) there was a really small hole we had to go through. The last photo is Chris fitting through the hole, unfortunately I was laughing so much I missed the best photo opportunity but got this one before nearly falling over. Despite being winter, the water wasn't that cold. Chris and I had both got only one pants leg wet in the cave so we decided we'd make a new trend. So cool! Well, that was about my weekend. Next weekend is my 5 day Hokkaido trip!!!

Christmas, New Year's and a Wedding.

On December 21st I flew back to Australia for a two week visit. Matthew, the blurry boy and my nephew, didn't recognise me when I got back but after some convincing he believed I WAS actually Margie, the same person as in the photo on the piano. Both he and Thomas have grown so much in the past six months it is quite amazing. I spent majority of my time with my family. Christmas was low key but very enjoyable. On the 27th Nowra had a rodeo. It was enjoyabe to see and to get back into the feel of country Australia. Seeing my horses were about 1000km away it was good to see other peoples' horses. For New Year's I went to Sydney for a BBQ Matt and Dane had organised. It was great to see alot of friends from Uni. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so there are no pictures. I flew out on January 4th and arrived on the 5th. I got picked up from the airport and went straight to my landlord's daughter's wedding. It was very beautiful, very formal and must have cost the earth. In Japan the usual gift is 3 man yen, which is about $350. So, it was very expensive to go but a good experience. The food would have been easily over $100 per head. It was amazing. Also, we also got a gift bag!

December

December in Japan was taken up with Bounenkai(s) (end of year parties) so there isn't any interesting travel photos of that time. Seeing it has been the coldest December for many years in Japan we were blessed with snow. My 'blessed' is very sarcastic as the same morning I took this picture, I had to go to karate training. As you can imagine the floor boards of a gym aren't exactly nice on your feet when it's this cold. The other photo is of the amount of beer you can sometimes get at Japanese resaturants. Steve waiting about 20 minutes for this beer so we had a good laugh when it arrived. We soon left that restaurant. The food was quite nice though.

Beppu Karate Tournament

4/12 Beppu. I went in my first Japanese karate tournament with not much success but it was good for the experience. I only went in the kata section but watched what would be my division in the sparing for future reference. I watched many bouts of different division and they all very competitive and tough. The men's open division I must admit was very brutal as they only wear groin protection and that's it. The guy pictured was the winner and as you can see there was a little blood spilt. It's normally just from knuckles as head punches aren't allowed, head kicks are but most of the time the kicks are blocked of deflected in some ways. Anyway enough of the blood and fighting. Karate is a really good sport! Really!!!

Kyoto in Autumn

26-27/11 Kyoto. I set out on Friday night and caught the Meimon Ferry to Osaka. The ferry took 12 hours from Kitakyushu to Osaka but it is a very cheap way of getting to Kyoto. From Osaka I caught trains to Kyoto. Kyoto was madness, there were so many people there but there is enough public transport to get everyone around. First I went to Kinkakuji Temple, the golden temple. It is very spectacular. Afterwards I went to Ginkakuji Temple, which is the silver temple (it's the brown/wooden one in the photo). The intention was to make it silver but it never got that far. By this time it was getting dark so I met up with Lisa and some of her Hawaiin ALT friends. They were really nice and let me stay. The following dayI went to Ejo Castle and Kiyomizudera. Ejo Castle is very different from the typical Japanese castle as there is only one floor. It is famous for its nightingale floor. Apparently you cannot walk up the castle hallway without the floor boards squeaking. This was a defence used to alarm the samarai when the enemy had entered the castle. I did not go in as I hope to return with Mum, Jetty, Poppy and Melva when they visit in April. I went to Kiyomizudera and it was very crouded. It is one of the most famous temples in Japan. If you want luck, this is the place to go. Kyoto was very spectacular with the Autumn leaves. There are so many places to see in Kyoto. This is a place I definately recommend. The only advice is: If you are going in a busy time, Autumn or Spring, be prepared for crowds and be especially wary of the older Japanese ladies as they will push and elbow their way to a vantage point.