Last week I went to Shikoku Island with my father-in-law to continue our `Henro` 88-temple tour. As usual, we went there by train, then rode our bicycles from temple to temple.
This is the fourth time we`ve been to Shikoku to do Henro. This time we visited temples number 61 to 88. Yes - this time we finally finished!
Over the next couple (2 or 3) days, I`ll blog about it. Please look.
On the weekend my family & I visited Mizushima in Fukui Prefecture. In English, Mizushima translates as `Water Island`. That`s kind of a boring name, isn`t it? It`s like calling a beach `Sandy Beach`, a road `Asphalt Road` or a forest `Tree Forest`.
Anyway, it`s a pretty nice place, and I enjoyed catching a ferry across to it. I hardly ever travel anywhere by boat in Japan.
I enjoyed watching, chasing, catching & taking photos of Ishigaki Island`s animals. I also had the chance to drink one of them!
This is `habushu`, which is made using awamori (a kind of rice whisky made in Okinawa), herbs, honey, & `habu` snake - similar to an American rattlesnake. I saw a bottle in the shop with a full snake inside, but it was expensive - 12,000yen ($120). This bottle only cost 750yen ($7.50).
It actually tasted pretty good. I was surprised.
The beach & sea are not the only places to see interesting things on Ishigaki Island. I went walking in the jungle & fields, & found various interesting plants & animals, as you can see. I was especially impressed by the many kinds of butterfly there.
I could also hear pheasants [きじ], & I found some wild boar [いのしし] footprints, but I didn`t see them.
This Golden Week holiday, I went to Ishigaki Island, in the far south of Japan. I came here for Golden Week last year too.
Now there is a new airport on Ishigaki Island, so it`s more convenient to fly there than before. Last year we had to transfer in Naha, which was a hassle [= troublesome].
Anyway, on the beach & in the water, I saw various interesting creatures [= animals]. I have a waterproof camera, but the water was pretty cold, so I couldn`t stay in the water very long, & I couldn`t take so many pictures of fish. I still had fun though.
Have you ever been to Ishigaki Island? How about Okinawa?
Elephants are popular animals in Thailand. Thai people think white elephants are especially lucky. For this reason, you can often see them on Thai product labels, like this one.
But what is in the box??? Can you guess?
Hints:
- I bought it in a stationery shop (ぶんぼうぐや bunbouguya)
- There are 60 pieces in the box
- I got them for my kids to play with
Please write your answer in `Comments`!
UPDATE:
The answer is in `Comments`.
Thailand has really nice stamps - big, colorful & interesting, so when I travel to Thailand, I look forward to visiting a post office. In this photo you can see some of the stamps I selected & used. Of course there are various values of stamp, from cheap to expensive, but I mostly chose low-value stamps, between 3 & 9 baht (10 & 30 yen), so that I could use a lot of them on my packages.
Looks good, don`t you think? I would like to get a package like this!*
*Actually I kind of did - I sent a couple of packages of presents from Thailand to my kids, so I can keep the stamps!
Do you know tuk-tuks? They are common in Thailand, but you can also see them in India, Africa & other places, though the design varies. I saw one in Ichinomiya once, driving along Route 22 - wow! I was surprised.
Anyway, this is a special, stretch version tuk-tuk I saw. I guess it works, but when I saw it, it was just parked in front of a shopping centre for display, so I don`t know.
Have you ever been in a tuk-tuk? Was it in Thailand?
Before I went to my graduation in Malaysia, I spent a week in Thailand, mostly in Bangkok (thanks boss for letting me go!).
The main river in Bangkok is the Chao Praya River. My favourite restaurant in Bangkok is next to the river. It`s a great place to enjoy a cold beer, cool breeze (= wind), & delicious Thai food, while watching the sun set & various kinds of boat go past.
Another good thing about this restaurant is that it`s near a night flower market. It`s not a famous one - our taxi driver didn`t know it so he took us to the wrong place... - but it`s very colorful, active, & interesting.
Dinner at this restaurant, then a stroll (= casual walk) through the flower market always puts me in a good mood. Whenever I visit Thailand I usually do it.
One thing I really look forward to when I go home to Australia is going for a long drive in the countryside.
As you drive inland, the roads become long and straight, the traffic starts to disappear, & the views get wider. I feel more & more relaxed & happy.
My excuse for driving west this holiday was to visit my aunt`s farm, about 4 hours west of Brisbane. As you can see, she keeps cattle (cows) on it. She used to have sheep too, but not anymore. It`s a really interesting farm, with various old cars, machines, a shearing shed, windmills etc. We also saw some wild animals: kangaroos, a goanna, and a big snake too - Wow!
Thanks for showing us around the farm, auntie. We had a great time!
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