Sunday, August 26, 2007

weekend after Obon













I downloaded this picture from www.tbkumano.jp.


I went to Wakayama on Sunday. I caught a train at 6am and arrived just after 9am. I wondered around for a couple of hours and then went back to Shingu. Jeremy told me that the train to Nagoya also takes about 3 hours and costs about the same. Next time I'll visit Nagoya for a weekend.

Ex-teacher Jeremy came to Shingu for a short visit so we all went bowling. Hiroshi was really goodand got some high scores. I bowled badly and got a record low 50 in my second round.

Andy took this photograph. Being a perfectionist, he doesnt like it because the front row is slightly out of focus.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Obon

It is Obon and I have one week free to do what I want to do. I spent the weekend watching some amazing videos on YouTube. It's been a relaxing weekend but I must do something during the week. One part of me wants to travel and the other part wants to stay at home and study. Maybe I'll take a trip to Ise. Today I went for a walk along the Kumano river. It's really beautiful, I'd like to explore further.

KUMANO HAYATAMA TAISHA Shrine
I went to the shrine today. It is really ancient and has been well preserved.



FIREWORKS AT KUMANO RIVER

I am getting to know my cell phone camera and can take better pictures. I was surprised that these photos actually came out. I was supposed to meet Clayton and Andy but I could not find them anywhere. Here the event is just beginning. Many people dressed up and were wearing yukatas, especially the school girls.

It started to rain and most people headed home. I saw these four beautiful women taking cover underneath a stall. I asked them for a photo and the owner of the stall joined in. I wish i had a normal camera.


SANO
I woke up at 5am this morning and decided to go shopping in Sano. At about 7am I arrived at a little atation, in the middle of nowhere. I stood on the platform with nothing around me and felt like a space traveler. I got to the shopping center about two hours before it opened. FORTUNATELY Mcdonalds was open and a really beautiful woman was serving at the counter so I had a a MacBreakfast. The girl was amazingly beautiful so I could not resist going back for a second cup of coffee. UNFORTUNATELY I broke my 2-year old promise to myself never to eat at a McDonalds ever again



ISE
Some bad pictures of Ise.

My school.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Before OBON

Sunday June 5th. I had a calligraphy lesson today, the lesson was okay but sitting on the floor cross-legged and wring at a low table for more than an hour was hell on my legs. I still have stiff knees eight hours later. I went for a long walk around Shingu and took a lot of photos with my cell phone. Only two came out. I SURE MISS MY CAMERA.
I walked up to a temple on the side of the mountain. A lot of hawks were hovering around the temple. I took a lot of pictures but wasn't satisfied with any of them. Maybe another day.

I walked down from the mountain to the river mouth. This shot of Shingu was taken from the Kumano River mouth. The quality of this cell phone picture is not good so you can't really appreciate the beauty of the mountains. In this picture all you see are the mountains, however in reality you can see the buildings of Shingu in the foreground.