Darlo's World

So after my balls up with a pair of slippers and a very nice meal, we walked up to the Eihiji Temple. Fukui Prefecture’s Eihiji Temple is, according to the brochure I picked up, the “temple of eternal peace”. Well even though it had noise from tourists, of which we were not the only ones, it was a truly peaceful place. So peaceful in fact that while we were there a funeral service was also in progress. Hopefully our presence did not disturb it.

From here we travelled up to the Tojinbo cliffs. These cliffs are of a unique geographical feature, shared only with a cliff range in Norway and one in Korea, where it’s natural columns are of a hexagonal and pentagonal shape. If Wikipedia is to be believed, it is also a popular spot for suicides. Apparantly as many as 25 people a year jump from the cliffs every year. Thankfully no one felt a need to end it all on that day. We had a boat ride at the bottom of the cliffs and saw an awesome sunset. Once again I was thankful that no one fell it the water; not that I mind everyone’s safety and well being, but we were already quite late compared to the schedule (I don’t like being late).

Arriving at the hotel and being given our meal allowance, conversations could be overheard about where people would want to eat out that night. Apparently Kanazawa’s famous for it’s fish and people were talking about various places that were about. As usual I seemed to have a different idea from most about the meaning of the word ‘cheap’. I know I’m here to try as many things as possible, but come on, I don’t want to pay 30 quid for a fish … a fish that I probably wouldn’t eat the entire thing of at that! The next day we were meant to go to a garden area and castle park, so I thought I’d take a walk there, even though is was now dark, and eat at a cheap food place I would hopefully find along the way.

Sorry to cut short again, but fatigue strikes once more. I’ll try to catch up on this over the weekend probably.

(Happy Birthday lil’ sis!)

It’s cold back home in Telford, or at least it is according to various weather sources. Since my arrival in Japan I’ve been enjoying warm weather and only the occaisional spot of rain. This of course excludes the trip to Koya-san where things were a bit nippy. Unfortunately the weather has cooled down now and it looks like it is getting ready for the Winter. Last week it was only first thing in the morning that was cold, leaving us with the agonising “do I take my coat” question. If I went out with a coat it meant that by the time I reached Uni I was sweating like a pig. If I left my coat I’d freeze my nuts off so bad that they’d actually stay in bed. But now that’s changed, as I take a coat with me on a daily basis now. Those of you who are now checking the Osaka weather forecast and are about to bombard me with emails saying it’s not that cold, you gotta remember that it’s been really warm and has dropped suddenly … unlike the UK where it’s cold for most of the year.

So this weekend gone was the class trip to Kanazawa. Leaving University at 8.15 (well, we would have if it wasn’t for certain pillocks being late) meant that the dormies missed out on breakfast again as we had to leave early. I managed to pop in and grab a little bread, but not what I needed to keep hunger from striking on the LOOOOOOOONG coach ride. I felt sorry for those at the girls dorm as they had to leave even earlier. Our main annoyance about this was that if you look at a map showing the route we took, we go right by Osaka! It wouldn’t have taken much time to make a pick up, but I guess we have to play by the rules here; something I keep having to remind people … sometimes myself also.

Just like my entry about Koya-san, most of the names and locations of places have been forgotton, so bear with me.

So along the way a few of us managed to secure a spot near the back of our coach (there were two coaches), and various DS games were played including a pretty long Mario Kart tournament; I was glad to have brought my charger.

We stopped for lunch at Eiheiji at a traditional styled restaurant. I admit it. I made a dumb mistake. No one actually noticed me do this, but I write it to remind others to try and avoid following my footsteps. Upon entering the restaurant floor I took off my shoes and grabbed one of the few remaining pairs of slippers. I went into the room and sat on the cushion and admired the food that was already laid out. But something wasn’t quite right. It felt like I was sitting awkwardly. I looked around and noticed what was wrong.

The slippers! No one else was wearing slippers!

Gah! I’d put on the slippers that a member of staff had taken off when they came in the room. I managed to suavely leave the room and put the slippers back before anyone noticed, but you guys (and me) should be careful.

I’m going to have to cut this much shorter than usual, and I know I’ve not finished talking about the weekend, but the truth is I’m tired and want to go to bed.

G’nite!