Hotel Monarque Tottori

... watch the latest fashion victims.
So, our impressions of Japan after 10 hours here:
- The incredibly friendly and polite people;
- Amusement at the vending machines on every street corner. Beer, chocolate, hot noodles, coffee, cold tea...
- The Japanese guy who asked `Australia, Australia?` and then proceeded to jump around like a kangaroo and then imitate a koala (and ...

... which is a well-journeyed train as you can see from the picture below. I wouldn't say that it is a particularly comfortable train, but its retro-flavor will make you feel like you have slipped back into the good old days.

So, what is it exactly that makes Tajima beef so good?

According to Mr. Okamoto, one of the workers at the ranch, its superb and distinctive regional bloodlines passed down for many years are the primary reason for the excellence of Tajima beef ...

... an English menu, and ate there. It was a nice dinner, a few bits of sashimi, some edamame beans, some yakitori etc. We headed back to our hotel through the constant rain to our hotel. Tottori is a fairly nondescript town and we were there on Sunday which meant that many shops were closed, which made it even more boring and provincial. It kind of reminded me of Slough in its pure drabness.

... then boil it in the hot sulphorous spring water (the sulphur does not affect the taste of the egg) it took about 30 minutes but the eggs were still a little runny but OK to eat. They gave us soy sauce to eat with the egg, though in my opinion, salt and pepper would have been better. Daniella`s favourite onsen was a private one too, but this one was inside. The room was large with lovely tiles and 2 spacious baths, 1 of which had recliners ...

... but end of the end, I decided to return to Oregon so I can watch the Beaver games in person. I will catch the night bus to Osaka and then fly to Thailand on Thursday morning. Maybe it hasn't sunk in yet as I still have a lot of things to do before I go but I will soon be in the land of smiles with the temperature in the 90's (30's C), a big differnce of freezing weather and snow of Tottori. Let the journey begin!

... working on the plan but I will spend the first week in Thailand before heading to Cambodia and Ankor Wat, then to Vietnam for a week before going to Laos and returning to Bangkok. 5th Leg - Return to Japan February 8th - Fly back to Osaka. Go to Tokyo by the way of Fukui. February 13th - Fly back to Oregon via Seattle. That is the plan. Hopefully I will have an update during the Kyushu leg.

Greetings to the first entry of my big trip. It is ten days before I start the first leg of my trip to Kyushu. It will be my second visit to Kyushu as the first one was in 1995. I am planning to go to Fukuoka and then head to Yufuin in Oita prefecture and then contrinue down to Kagoshima and onto Nagasaki. The trip is part of the plan to visit all the prefectures in Japan which will be down to 1 after the trip leaving only Fukui..

... home, and I walked the length of the spit and back again, allowing plenty of time to reflect with only the sound of the waves to be heard. It really was a beautiful spot to be in, and I couldn`t have timed my visit any better as the peace and quiet did me the world of good - it`s something of a hidden gem as it`s never on any foreigner`s itinerary, and hopefully it stays that way. I went a few hours north to Kanazawa the next day, and ...

... no idea what to expect, and they'll be here in 20 minutes! AHH! On Friday we visited Hikone Castle and had a JET barbeque in Nagahama afterwards. There was this amazing 10 year old kid Benjamin from New Zealand there. I couldn't decide if he was really mature for his age or if his accent was just making him seem well beyond his years, but he was awesome! Yesterday I went to Kyoto with a few other JETs. I'm tired today but it was fun!

8-17-2006 Thursday Ahhh...it's nice to be back in my apartment again. :) Today after school, Zach and I took a train to Kyoto (the pictures actually correspond this time!). My favorite moment on that ride was when I looked away from the window as another train was passing by. "Ah! I get really car sick." I told Zach. "Oh, you do?" he asked, seemingly concerned. And then he started bobbing his head and body around in attempts of worsening my motion sickness. Hahaha! THAT DORK ...