Back to Fukuoka

So I am back there where I was the first time I came alone to Japan.
But I am sleeping at a different place, so I have to take the train to go to the center of the city.
This is the train station.

the train takes around 20minutes. But there are many of them so that's ok, except at night it's stopping at 11:45pm, and going back by foot is no question (it will take all night!)
But from my place to the train station I need 5 minutes :-)

So I bought a one month path to go to my station.
You see from XXX to XXX :-)
Not always easy in Japan!!!

And near where I live there is a big supermarket, with all kind of food ready to eat (this is something special in Japan, many people don't cook, so you have a very big choice!!!)
And for lunch I had that, hummmm delicious.
And since I have a fridge I bought some other nice things to eat :-)
In the evening I went to my favorite onsen, stayed there around 2 hours, then eaten a Katsudon.
That's life.
But tomorrow back to japanese language school!!!

Last day in Wakayama

So for my last day I went first to Marina city in Wakayama.
There there are 3 things to see:
1- porto europa, an attraction parc with houses from europe

this is a view from outside because I don't really want to pay to see houses from europe :-)

this is a view of the city, I think this is a quite expensive place!

there are of course some shops with games

japanese of course

always funny and nice :-)

the 2nd thing to see (you thought I forgot!!!) is the fish market.

but well not so interesting and the third no picture a small fruit market.
So after a quick hour back to my hotel and onsen :-)

Then on the evening I met Lexis again. We went to 2 different isakayas to have dinner until 1 in the morning!
This is one of my drink, it has a skull form.
You push a glass ball on the top this is falling down, opening the bottle and doing some bubbles. Interesting :-)
Taste like melon soda, oishii !!!!!

And of course we had 2 great dessert: a crepe

and a chocolate cake to die :-)
After being back to my hotel onsen again in the middle of night but still some person there:-)
Next day (today) onsen (yes I know…) and then train train and train to Fukuoka.
Now I am there for 5 weeks, more tomorrow :-)

Tomogashima

Today I have decided to visit Tomogashima, an island near Wakayama.
So I have taken a train with air conditioning :-)
This is actually so hot that everything is good!

And then I had a lunch at a small and nice restaurant.
I ordered some local dish, rice with a plum

Some udon soup...

oh maybe you haven't look closely at the rice.
This is topped with these small fishes and actually as ugly as it looks this is delicious!

and this was the dessert
really great one.
Actually the menu was just in japanese with no pictures and I end up with this menu but it was a very good surprise :-)

Then I took this ferry to go to the island

Very nice rock formations on the way

My idea was to swim there, but then I saw that…
And not one or two really a lot!!!
So no swimming in the sea today (just the onsen as you can imagine!!)

I went to this island to see some ruins of an old military base.

Since I was alone there and it was very dark I was a bit scared there.
You never know if zombies are coming...

not a zombie but not far...

with the sun seems not so scary :-)

I took this kind of ways, great because of the shadow, but still I was a walking water!!

This is another fortress

Then I met Tukasa, who is there for a sumer camp.
We spoke mainly in japanese and a bit of english!
I am getting better everyday :-)
He was really happy to speak with me, actually he ran after me to speak with me :-)

Looks very nice right, but remember no swim...

After that back to Wakayama and on the way, who is that, smoking?? Bad boy :-)

a day trip in Koyasan

Today I was with Mikiko from couchsurfing. The japanese girl with who I spent the last evening :-)
With her car we went to Koyasan. This is a buddhist monastery and cemetery in the mountain.

Since it's in the mountain this is a bit colder but still very humid…
But we spend a great day there watching all the statues and temples and walking around.

This is a quiet one sleeping

Me on a traditional japanese bridge

and the very big pagodas

and temples

and demons protecting the entry. The one on the right and the left :-)

And this is explaining the story of the monastery. A monk from China sent this thing (on his hand) in the air and it came to this mountain and that is why they have founded the monastery there.

The part that I liked the most was the cemetery, very huge with very interesting thumbs

and what was strange for me is that many of them are sponsored by companies, like here nissan.

and then you have all kind of statues.
This one has a lot of make-up a bit drag queen no?

you have also very very big cedar trees, very peaceful impression

and the statues covered, but I think that for the season they should have less, this is too much ...

monument and trees, great colors and atmosphere.
Somebody told me that at night this is also to be seen.
But well I would be a bit scared actually ...

This one has a very old hat...

this is a very old stone carving, and my friend can not even understand the kanjis there...

these are the 2 demons, one with closed mouth

and one with open mouth. Even if they look scary they are there to protect the place.
After this pleasant day with lunch and small cafe with a great chai tea with cinnamon, back to the hotel for the onsen.
By the way this is 11pm30 now I am going again :-)
Hey that's why I choose this hotel!!! And it's open all night so what!!!
By the way more pics under koyasan