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While technically a) my weekend isn't over and b) I did work on Saturday, but not Friday, it has still been a fantastic weekend.
I know some people find it weird or impractical, but I love to travel on my own. It's very selfish of me, but I hate having to bow to other people's whims or adjust my schedule to fit their needs. Alone, I can really spend several hours in a museum reading every single information plate, or go to a famous shopping city and never set foot inside a store. There's also the added benefit that when my vacation turns out horrible, it only affects me. This doesn't mean I mind travelling with friends, and I quite enjoy short trips with people, especially when we share interests, but travelling on my own has this great thrill. I get to talk to so many random people and it seriously takes weeks of me being on my own before I get lonely.
And what this all boils down to, is it was nice to get out on a my own and take a trip this friday. I headed off to Akiyoshidai plateau, which is a limestone plateau (rolling hills, studed by many gray rocks basically) that's about forty-five minutes away. I'd already been to the biggest cave there, so I headed to a smaller one I had read about called Daishodo. There were very few people since everyone was celebrating the culture festival elsewhere so I nearly had the cave to myself for awhile, which was just cool *L* It was a pretty neat cave with lots of winding paths and loop backs. See? And of course, absolutely no safety precautions. There were so many ways of injuring yourself I lost count, but it's nice to be in a place where lawsuits apparently don't exist. I also saw many bats. Yay! After taking a million pics, I wandered out and took a million more pics of the path through the forest and the surrounding area. Voila. The forest and area were beautiful - covered in moss and filled with random rocks and passages. There were really old trees and further up the hill/mountain were bamboo forests that gave away to pine trees and eventually gave away to the karstic plains of Akiyoshidai. I, being a masochist, decided to climb up there forgetting that not only was it three kilometres up, but three down. It was beautiful when I got up there though and of course, there was no one around since everyone usually goes to the centre of the plateau so I had it all to myself. Climbing down was a chore since my legs/knees still don't seem to have recovered from Mount Fuji (though to be fair, I was also recovering from kickboxing as usual) and my legs were shaking uncontrolably when I hit the bottom. I drove back by way of Ofuku onsen which is really nice in the evening. It was pretty cool by then too so the rotenburo (outside bath) was quite welcome. I ended up talking to a Japanese English teacher while I was there, then relaxed reading The Owl Service before driving home to make a nice dinner for myself.
Today, the day started with onsen instead of ending with it. I met up with G. and S. rather early to enjoy the Kirara beach onsen. Then, G., M. and I headed over to Ube for the Ube festival which involved a lot of food/game/merchandise stalls and a really cool parade. We watched for a long time, then I wandered the area. It was fun cause I found the end of the parade and they were throwing out towels with company logos and I just had to wave and look cute and they threw me one. I had some great festival food with yakitori, taiyaki and a melon ice. I am proud to say I resisted the urge to buy squid on a stick (it's too chewy and messy to eat on a stick imo). Some of the dances were excellent and the costumes really were superb. I feel sorry for the people who were actually dragging the last float filled with old, important people and flute players though. That had to be heavy. I hit up the second hand shop afterwards and picked up this really cool inuyasha scroll and some doujin.
Pictures from the festival:
Just remember they're high school students
So damn cute
Yay! Fire!
I'm sorry, sir. Your dragon is parked in a no parking zone.
Later, N. and I got together and watched Avatar, or rather, I rewatched season 1 with her. That was fun in and of itself though it drove me insane in one way since now I've been reminded of just how off most of the Avatar fics are. A note to Zuko/Katara writers (or Zutara if you really really insist *sigh*), I dont' mind this pairing. It's as likely as any other pairing, but please could we do it while writing them in character? Just a thought...
Incidently, my students verdict on my halloween costume is that it suits me *L*
I know some people find it weird or impractical, but I love to travel on my own. It's very selfish of me, but I hate having to bow to other people's whims or adjust my schedule to fit their needs. Alone, I can really spend several hours in a museum reading every single information plate, or go to a famous shopping city and never set foot inside a store. There's also the added benefit that when my vacation turns out horrible, it only affects me. This doesn't mean I mind travelling with friends, and I quite enjoy short trips with people, especially when we share interests, but travelling on my own has this great thrill. I get to talk to so many random people and it seriously takes weeks of me being on my own before I get lonely.
And what this all boils down to, is it was nice to get out on a my own and take a trip this friday. I headed off to Akiyoshidai plateau, which is a limestone plateau (rolling hills, studed by many gray rocks basically) that's about forty-five minutes away. I'd already been to the biggest cave there, so I headed to a smaller one I had read about called Daishodo. There were very few people since everyone was celebrating the culture festival elsewhere so I nearly had the cave to myself for awhile, which was just cool *L* It was a pretty neat cave with lots of winding paths and loop backs. See? And of course, absolutely no safety precautions. There were so many ways of injuring yourself I lost count, but it's nice to be in a place where lawsuits apparently don't exist. I also saw many bats. Yay! After taking a million pics, I wandered out and took a million more pics of the path through the forest and the surrounding area. Voila. The forest and area were beautiful - covered in moss and filled with random rocks and passages. There were really old trees and further up the hill/mountain were bamboo forests that gave away to pine trees and eventually gave away to the karstic plains of Akiyoshidai. I, being a masochist, decided to climb up there forgetting that not only was it three kilometres up, but three down. It was beautiful when I got up there though and of course, there was no one around since everyone usually goes to the centre of the plateau so I had it all to myself. Climbing down was a chore since my legs/knees still don't seem to have recovered from Mount Fuji (though to be fair, I was also recovering from kickboxing as usual) and my legs were shaking uncontrolably when I hit the bottom. I drove back by way of Ofuku onsen which is really nice in the evening. It was pretty cool by then too so the rotenburo (outside bath) was quite welcome. I ended up talking to a Japanese English teacher while I was there, then relaxed reading The Owl Service before driving home to make a nice dinner for myself.
Today, the day started with onsen instead of ending with it. I met up with G. and S. rather early to enjoy the Kirara beach onsen. Then, G., M. and I headed over to Ube for the Ube festival which involved a lot of food/game/merchandise stalls and a really cool parade. We watched for a long time, then I wandered the area. It was fun cause I found the end of the parade and they were throwing out towels with company logos and I just had to wave and look cute and they threw me one. I had some great festival food with yakitori, taiyaki and a melon ice. I am proud to say I resisted the urge to buy squid on a stick (it's too chewy and messy to eat on a stick imo). Some of the dances were excellent and the costumes really were superb. I feel sorry for the people who were actually dragging the last float filled with old, important people and flute players though. That had to be heavy. I hit up the second hand shop afterwards and picked up this really cool inuyasha scroll and some doujin.
Pictures from the festival:
Just remember they're high school students
So damn cute
Yay! Fire!
I'm sorry, sir. Your dragon is parked in a no parking zone.
Later, N. and I got together and watched Avatar, or rather, I rewatched season 1 with her. That was fun in and of itself though it drove me insane in one way since now I've been reminded of just how off most of the Avatar fics are. A note to Zuko/Katara writers (or Zutara if you really really insist *sigh*), I dont' mind this pairing. It's as likely as any other pairing, but please could we do it while writing them in character? Just a thought...
Incidently, my students verdict on my halloween costume is that it suits me *L*
