Hagi celebrations
On Saturday our local gang headed off to the beautiful city of Hagi (in the north of Yamaguchi-ken) for Ellen’s 30th birthday party, being hosted by Rosie and Dan. I travelled over there in Kirk’s car, with him and Kat. We arrived around 7pm, dumped our bits and bobs in the house, and then went to find some alcohol for the evening ahead! I was extremely happy when I found Hardys Chardonnay in the shop we stopped at, and was looking forward to an evening of good company, good food, and good wine! The party was great…really relaxed and chilled-out, and nice that it was not a huge group of people, as we could all chat, and play a range of Kat’s infamous party games. In particular, I liked the concentration game…especially as I was getting a little pished and so it was becoming increasingly difficult to even think of something in the category ‘TV characters’…let alone Christine’s choice ‘Canadian provinces’!! The food was lovely (thanks to everyone, and of course a special mention to Rosie’s chocolate fondue, and Angela’s Aunt’s Lasagne…..YUM!!) I hope Ellen enjoyed herself as much as I did. I had a great evening, and only had a slight headache in the morning! Happy Birthday Ellen!
On Sunday morning, we had a leisurely wake-up/get-up, and then made a move for Mos Burger (Japan’s version of a Maccy Ds-type chain…but better…cos they do onion rings!) I definitely needed that bit of grease to soak up some of my Hardys from the night before! I was travelling back home with Ellen, and we decided to leave after lunch. It had started to snow (yep, I well and truly jinxed the arrival of spring in my Blog!...I told you!), and so we didn’t want to wait around too long before the long drive back. However, before leaving Hagi we visited a cute little Samurai house area, complete with a flowing stream with brightly coloured carp. We had a quick look in a little pottery shop, where we browsed, and sat under the kotatsu for 5 minutes, and drank hot tea (well…I sipped at it, cos I hate tea!)
On the drive between Hagi and Yamaguchi-shi, the mountains and trees were all lightly dusted with snow, and as Ellen is an avid photographer (and I certainly don’t mind the opportunity for a Kodak moment!), we pulled over for five minutes to take some snaps of the beautiful winter scene. We then decided to make a final stop (before home) in Yamaguchi-shi, at the 5-storey pagoda. I have been there before, so has Ellen…but she had the idea of checking out the blossoms in the area. It’s coming up to cherry blossom season in japan, and I think what we saw yesterday were plum blossoms (somebody please tell me if I’m wrong!), and so the trees around the pagoda were full of pink! Beautiful, tiny, fragile, pink blossoms, framing the magnificent pagoda, and set-off wonderfully by the blue sky. White, baby pink, and deeper pink. It was so nice to see some colour in the Japanese landscape after what has felt like a very long and grey winter. There were still lots of trees that were bare, but in a couple more weeks I’m sure that area will be an explosion of pink! Or at least…I hope! I’m definitely looking forward to my trip to Kyoto in Spring break. I’m going at the start of April, hopefully just when cherry blossom season has arrived! Fingers crossed for more pink!
As well as enjoying seeing the blossoms, we also had a great meeting with a group of old Japanese men. They were obviously also tourists, part of a coach party I think, but seemed more interested in seeing 2 foreign girls than seeing the pagoda and the blossoms! They came to try and talk to us, in their extremely broken English, and we told them we were from England and Australia. One guy in particular was very excited to meet us, and showed us a picture of some friends he has in Australia. They then all wanted to have a picture taken with us! Think of all the great things you could take a picture of in Japan ; the Golden temple in Kyoto, the floating torii in Miyajima, even our little Edo white-walled street in Yanai….now add Ellen and I to that list!!! We found the whole thing hilarious! It’s not the first time it has happened, but the excitement and enthusiasm of the people we met yesterday was the most I have encountered in that situation. It’s times such as those that I really love Japanese people, and their uniqueness. A lot of Japanese tourists visit York…but I have never become excited and giggly at the sight of them, and rushed over to have a photo taken with them! Maybe when I come home…I should start! Maybe not!! It would be boring if we were all the same!
On Sunday morning, we had a leisurely wake-up/get-up, and then made a move for Mos Burger (Japan’s version of a Maccy Ds-type chain…but better…cos they do onion rings!) I definitely needed that bit of grease to soak up some of my Hardys from the night before! I was travelling back home with Ellen, and we decided to leave after lunch. It had started to snow (yep, I well and truly jinxed the arrival of spring in my Blog!...I told you!), and so we didn’t want to wait around too long before the long drive back. However, before leaving Hagi we visited a cute little Samurai house area, complete with a flowing stream with brightly coloured carp. We had a quick look in a little pottery shop, where we browsed, and sat under the kotatsu for 5 minutes, and drank hot tea (well…I sipped at it, cos I hate tea!)
On the drive between Hagi and Yamaguchi-shi, the mountains and trees were all lightly dusted with snow, and as Ellen is an avid photographer (and I certainly don’t mind the opportunity for a Kodak moment!), we pulled over for five minutes to take some snaps of the beautiful winter scene. We then decided to make a final stop (before home) in Yamaguchi-shi, at the 5-storey pagoda. I have been there before, so has Ellen…but she had the idea of checking out the blossoms in the area. It’s coming up to cherry blossom season in japan, and I think what we saw yesterday were plum blossoms (somebody please tell me if I’m wrong!), and so the trees around the pagoda were full of pink! Beautiful, tiny, fragile, pink blossoms, framing the magnificent pagoda, and set-off wonderfully by the blue sky. White, baby pink, and deeper pink. It was so nice to see some colour in the Japanese landscape after what has felt like a very long and grey winter. There were still lots of trees that were bare, but in a couple more weeks I’m sure that area will be an explosion of pink! Or at least…I hope! I’m definitely looking forward to my trip to Kyoto in Spring break. I’m going at the start of April, hopefully just when cherry blossom season has arrived! Fingers crossed for more pink!
As well as enjoying seeing the blossoms, we also had a great meeting with a group of old Japanese men. They were obviously also tourists, part of a coach party I think, but seemed more interested in seeing 2 foreign girls than seeing the pagoda and the blossoms! They came to try and talk to us, in their extremely broken English, and we told them we were from England and Australia. One guy in particular was very excited to meet us, and showed us a picture of some friends he has in Australia. They then all wanted to have a picture taken with us! Think of all the great things you could take a picture of in Japan ; the Golden temple in Kyoto, the floating torii in Miyajima, even our little Edo white-walled street in Yanai….now add Ellen and I to that list!!! We found the whole thing hilarious! It’s not the first time it has happened, but the excitement and enthusiasm of the people we met yesterday was the most I have encountered in that situation. It’s times such as those that I really love Japanese people, and their uniqueness. A lot of Japanese tourists visit York…but I have never become excited and giggly at the sight of them, and rushed over to have a photo taken with them! Maybe when I come home…I should start! Maybe not!! It would be boring if we were all the same!
posted by Lauren @ 9:14 am
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