Day off - Kurashiki
Konnichiwa!
Yesterday was our day off and I slept in until almost 9am! After relaxing into the day and changing money over to yen, Kara, Dina, & I ventured to a new city (for us) recommended by our promoter's right hand man & Mr. Fabulous, Ted. The city was Kurashiki and it is about a 20 minute train ride from Okayama. Kurashiki has this old historical quarter that has homes from the late 1700's, and a river running down the middle of the street filled with koi. It was truly beautiful.
View of Nakabashi Bridge and Kurashiki River
Swans in the river
We walked up many many stairs to see the Achi Shrine that is known for it's cherry blossoms and 400 year old wisteria.
Steps to Achi Temple
The view from the top was fabulous.
And the cicadas! I just love the sound they make - it's kind of like a white noise with them all singing loudly together. We got to see several of them in the trees and a couple flying around. So cool! It was my first time to see them in the air. We also saw some big dragonflies and an unidentifiable insect/bug/bird thing that flew by us. Also on our exploration we ran in to a bunch of young men training for track that had a cute little crush on Kara! Of course, they took pictures - lol.
A cicada on the ground
We walked some more of the historical quarter looking for a nice cool place to eat, but since none of could read kanji or speak enough Japanese (and the heat and humidity were killing us), we headed back to Okayama.
Skinny building in Kurashiki (you should see the people that live there)
Japanese Donny Osmond
After shopping my heart and wallet out at the 100 yen store (yes, I went back!), we gals met and had dinner at this tiny Hawaiian surf bar that was staffed by this one guy who spoke a bit of English. I had this fabulous plate of pasta with onions and garlic in a HUGE pool of olive oil - it was oishii (yummy). Then it was back to our hotel to pass out from exhaustion...all in all a lovely day.
Word of the day: ATERASHI (new)
Dina and her liquid chemicals
Yesterday was our day off and I slept in until almost 9am! After relaxing into the day and changing money over to yen, Kara, Dina, & I ventured to a new city (for us) recommended by our promoter's right hand man & Mr. Fabulous, Ted. The city was Kurashiki and it is about a 20 minute train ride from Okayama. Kurashiki has this old historical quarter that has homes from the late 1700's, and a river running down the middle of the street filled with koi. It was truly beautiful.
View of Nakabashi Bridge and Kurashiki River
Swans in the river
We walked up many many stairs to see the Achi Shrine that is known for it's cherry blossoms and 400 year old wisteria.
Steps to Achi Temple
The view from the top was fabulous.
And the cicadas! I just love the sound they make - it's kind of like a white noise with them all singing loudly together. We got to see several of them in the trees and a couple flying around. So cool! It was my first time to see them in the air. We also saw some big dragonflies and an unidentifiable insect/bug/bird thing that flew by us. Also on our exploration we ran in to a bunch of young men training for track that had a cute little crush on Kara! Of course, they took pictures - lol.
A cicada on the ground
We walked some more of the historical quarter looking for a nice cool place to eat, but since none of could read kanji or speak enough Japanese (and the heat and humidity were killing us), we headed back to Okayama.
Skinny building in Kurashiki (you should see the people that live there)
Japanese Donny Osmond
After shopping my heart and wallet out at the 100 yen store (yes, I went back!), we gals met and had dinner at this tiny Hawaiian surf bar that was staffed by this one guy who spoke a bit of English. I had this fabulous plate of pasta with onions and garlic in a HUGE pool of olive oil - it was oishii (yummy). Then it was back to our hotel to pass out from exhaustion...all in all a lovely day.
Word of the day: ATERASHI (new)
Dina and her liquid chemicals
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