Trip to Oita!!!
About 3 weeks ago (Wow, was it really that long ago??? Yes, this is another belated entry) us international students got a Friday off from classes because the Seinan Gakuin students were having their graduation ceremony!! Go three-day weekend!!!!!!!!! So rather than waste it sitting around, Kento and I decided to go travel someplace cool and stay at a ryokan again!
This begins our neat adventure to Oita, an area about an hour and a half by train from Fukuoka (past Saga) on the eastern side of Kyushu. It was a really sweet town, pretty out-of-the-way, and very quiet/peaceful!! Compared to Fukuoka there was *tons* of nature and fun things to look at!! The town we were in was a pretty small stretch of houses/restaurants along the side of a river (small enough that we walked from one end to the other a few times trying to kill time). But, the adventure started even before that, on the train!!! Witness our spectacular find....
Great scenery from the train window. But...what's that in the seat pocket..?...!!! :0 Jehovah's Witness even in Japan, geez o_O
But...what's that that caught Kento's eye...? ....Gasp!!!!!!!! ...Ch-chiiiing $__$ .....
...The fate of that money will remain a mystery.... ;3
We arrived a few hours early to check into the ryokan, so we wandered around for a while exploring, and had a bite to eat (champon, tasty!! But, ojii-san, I ordered sara-udon....) This is when I came across surprise number 2....Oita is known for it's onsens, and there are tons of ryokan and onsen's around...but what I didn't expect to see was outdoor ones!! @__@ Imagine my surprise when, while taking pictures of the scenery, I spotted this outdoor onsen shack with people in it...eek!!!!!! I realized pretty quick, but not before getting a look. Thank goodness this particular one had a "privacy tarp" around it that had aconcealed waist-down from where I was standing....=____= Oh Japan...that's what I get for visiting a smaller village ;) But, still good scenery, have a look!
DAY 1
Here's a few scenery shots of the river town, The Kento Bridge, the first sakura blossoms I got to see, and an outdoor onsen (thankfully unused)
DAY 2
The one side of town we thought had nothing interesting the day before proved to be way cooler than expected. There was a waterfall!! Walked on a path through some farming fields and forest for only a little ways to get there, and it was right around the corner!! o_O What a surprise! And lucky for us, made the trip that much more fun :D Looked like something out of some epic story, the way the sun was shining and everything ;)
FOOD
Of course, since coming to Japan I've tried some foods that I otherwise may not have eaten. Oita's regional specialty was kujira sashimi...ie: raw whale....tasty o__O Can't say I tried any of that, but the ryokan dinner was quite a novelty for me anyways cause I got to fry some of my own food on this little table grill....one of which were these little squewered fishies... :\ Traditional, but... x_X Nevertheless, I tried them and they were pretty tasty!!
(1) Whale sashimi poster (2) Tasty dinner (3) Fishies looking....well, very raw, shiny, and squewered (4) Cooked! できた～！
Overall it was an amazing trip XDDDD Kento and I had lots of fun exploring a smaller town, the natural surroundings and the quietness of the place made for a very relaxing weekend! :D
<3
This begins our neat adventure to Oita, an area about an hour and a half by train from Fukuoka (past Saga) on the eastern side of Kyushu. It was a really sweet town, pretty out-of-the-way, and very quiet/peaceful!! Compared to Fukuoka there was *tons* of nature and fun things to look at!! The town we were in was a pretty small stretch of houses/restaurants along the side of a river (small enough that we walked from one end to the other a few times trying to kill time). But, the adventure started even before that, on the train!!! Witness our spectacular find....
Great scenery from the train window. But...what's that in the seat pocket..?...!!! :0 Jehovah's Witness even in Japan, geez o_O
But...what's that that caught Kento's eye...? ....Gasp!!!!!!!! ...Ch-chiiiing $__$ .....
...The fate of that money will remain a mystery.... ;3
We arrived a few hours early to check into the ryokan, so we wandered around for a while exploring, and had a bite to eat (champon, tasty!! But, ojii-san, I ordered sara-udon....) This is when I came across surprise number 2....Oita is known for it's onsens, and there are tons of ryokan and onsen's around...but what I didn't expect to see was outdoor ones!! @__@ Imagine my surprise when, while taking pictures of the scenery, I spotted this outdoor onsen shack with people in it...eek!!!!!! I realized pretty quick, but not before getting a look. Thank goodness this particular one had a "privacy tarp" around it that had aconcealed waist-down from where I was standing....=____= Oh Japan...that's what I get for visiting a smaller village ;) But, still good scenery, have a look!
DAY 1
Here's a few scenery shots of the river town, The Kento Bridge, the first sakura blossoms I got to see, and an outdoor onsen (thankfully unused)
DAY 2
The one side of town we thought had nothing interesting the day before proved to be way cooler than expected. There was a waterfall!! Walked on a path through some farming fields and forest for only a little ways to get there, and it was right around the corner!! o_O What a surprise! And lucky for us, made the trip that much more fun :D Looked like something out of some epic story, the way the sun was shining and everything ;)
FOOD
Of course, since coming to Japan I've tried some foods that I otherwise may not have eaten. Oita's regional specialty was kujira sashimi...ie: raw whale....tasty o__O Can't say I tried any of that, but the ryokan dinner was quite a novelty for me anyways cause I got to fry some of my own food on this little table grill....one of which were these little squewered fishies... :\ Traditional, but... x_X Nevertheless, I tried them and they were pretty tasty!!
(1) Whale sashimi poster (2) Tasty dinner (3) Fishies looking....well, very raw, shiny, and squewered (4) Cooked! できた～！
Overall it was an amazing trip XDDDD Kento and I had lots of fun exploring a smaller town, the natural surroundings and the quietness of the place made for a very relaxing weekend! :D
<3