Camping!

Just came back from my first camping trip in Japan!
It was loads of fun.
I'm so glad I did it because it gave me two days to hang out with some of my closest friends here :)

More on the trip on later posts... but first, here are the pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=298753&id=850320496&l=c12303c951

Back to the Philippines

Seeing relatives I haven't seen for years under the circumstance of my grandmother's passing away was a bitter-sweet experience. Although the gathering may seem to be a joyous affair from the outside looking in, it still cannot hide the fact that the reason we were gathered together was one of sorrow. Regardless, few days we spent together during the wake was, at least to me, emotionally comforting.

During those few days, we mostly survived on fast food takeout

My cousin Jocelyn and her daughter, Georgette

My brother, James, and my mom

It has been so long since we last sat down together for dinenr

I'm in Hong Kong again

I'm on my trip back to Japan today.

I'm currently on a four-hour stopover in Hong Kong (within the airport only) and I'm pretty sure I visited every nook and cranny of the airport already so right now I'm just posting a blog entry and basically waiting for boarding, then it's Taipei - Fukuoka - Kagoshima from here on.

Later!

In the Philippines now

Hiya!

Just wanted leave a quick hi and to let you know that I will be back in Kagoshima on Monday, May 11, and that I haven't had a chance to go online in the past week or so.

It's good to be connected again... :)

Will post more updates when I get back to my routine!

March 15: Makurazaki + Yamakawa trip

I wanted to post this although the trip was from last month.
I got a message from Hiromitsu one day saying that they're going out for soba noodles and to the hot springs after and asked whether I would want to join them. I happen to be craving for some zarusoba, soba noodles served cold with a dip.

So here it is:

Here's what the soba place looked like from the outside. Very Japanese.

The dips came first. The one on the left is for the soba noodles, while the one on the right is for the tempura.

Nice interior.


Me and Hiromitsu.

Ryousuke.
The zarusoba and tempura set cost around 1000 yen and was very filling.

I love the clouds above the soba place!


This is what I love most about living in Kagoshima... :)





Hiromitsu and Ryousuke started working this month so this was probably our last trip in a while, though... :(

January highlights: January 25 - Outdoor hot springs at Sakurajima Furusato Hotel

The weather was comparatively pleasant on our second trip to Sakurajima.
This time we went for the rotenburo onsen (露天風呂, outdoor hot springs) at the Sakurajima Furusato Hotel.

This is the view from the ferry on our way there.

This time Sakurajima was visible :P

In most indoor hot springs in Japan, you have to strip naked to bathe in them, and of course males and females go in separate rooms. But for such as outdoor hot spring as this, both males and females go in the same hot spring pool (?), so a robe is provided.

Here are the guys with a couple of international students from Kadai (鹿大, short for 鹿児島大学 - Kagoshima University)

It's got a mini shrine on one side :P

Here's Emi and Tienchi

So, that was my first and only trip to a hot spring in Japan so far.
It was really interesting and I look forward to the day I go to the common indoor hot spring.
Although it would probably be weird at first.

On a separate note, the hotel serves a dish called kamameshi (釜飯, kettle rice), which had been my favorite Japanese food in (surprise, surprise) the Philippines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamameshi
I haven't had it in about 6 years and I'm getting all nostalgic about it.
Funny thing was, I have never seen it in Taiwan.
And up until the hot spring trip, I haven't seen it in Japan, either.
Weird.

Oh, in case you were wondering, I haven't had my kamameshi fix cuz they only serve it during lunch and we missed it.
But I'll definitely have it before the end of my stay.

One-day bus tour: Satsuma Sendai City (Part 1: bus and first stop)

There were three buses and a total of more than 100 people in all who took part in this tour. Satsuma Sendai City is outside of Kagoshima City but I believe that it is still part of Kagoshima Prefecture (I'm bad at geography, haha).

People from all walks of life and different parts of the world came for the tour. It was a great mix!

This is Nibras, and that's her dad next to her. Although they're Indonesian, they speak Japanese to one another.

That's Erwin (Philippines) to the left and Tom (UK) to the right. They were my partners in crime for the day :P

Guess what? We even got snacks to munch on for the trip! :D

Here's the itinerary

First stop: we went to watch a dance performance

Lookit the cute baby! Everyone was trying to get his attention

Here's the hall entrance