a h r l i n d . c o m - travel and stuff

My first day at work after three weeks of Japan I found my desk to be all plastic!

The funny detail here is that inside all the platics there was a knife… Thx you guys that did this

22/4 Tottori and Kinosaki

On the way to Kinosaki we visited a place were they have sand. Tottori. We did some walking and took a few pictures.

Then after some hours by train we finaly arrived to Kinosaki! This place it my favorite to visit! Every time I have been here Kisosaki has been on the schedual! We are staying at the Mikuniya Ryokan (first picture below) as always. Christers friends own the place (Fam Taoka).

After a few Onsen-visits (second and third picture above) dinner was served ala Japan! It is great and I guess my friend Dan would LOVE this:

We finished the evening with bath (Onsen again) and got massaged by two blind Japanese men! It was very nice. Movie and sleep.

23/4 Kinosaki

The day started with Japanese breakfast in the hotelroom. Then we borrowed one car from Taoka san and went to “Take no Hama” (beach and some cliffs). We walked near the water and saw some cool things:

as I said there is a very nice beach there were you can swim out and do some snorkling. I (Mattias) took a VERY brief swimg, less then 20 seconds, in the cold water (around 16 degrees) *laugh*

After a bit more “Onsen” and some shopping me and Christer took a “beauty massage”. Two japanese girls used som flavoured oil and stuff… ahhh, very nice indeeeed! Dinner this time was “Sukiyaki and one more Onsen.

This day ended with Karaeoke together with Taoka san and his wife. Two frinds of Taoka-san joined the singing (Juli and Linda, sisters) and the we had a good time in the karaeoke-bar!

24-27/4 Okazaki (back were we started)

The last few days we spent in Okazaki and a brief visit to Toyota again. Now after several hours of flying we are back home in Sweden, me at work… This journey has been great in many ways and I will definitely go there again.

For full albums visit the following links (opens in new window):

20080407 Okazaki Toyota Tokyo
20080415 Yokohama
20080418 Tokyo Fishmarket and Hiroshima
20080419 Fukuoka o Beppu
20080422 Tottori o Kinosaki
20080424 Okazaki o Toyota

Cheers all!

Mattias and Christer!

Fukuoka is a city in northen Kyushu. I must say the hotel was the best one so far! High class and stuff! I definitely will go there again! (movie might come later).

We took a walk and found this thing called Yatta. It is a portable restaurang. The first picture shows the small version and the third how they look like when in use! It was very nice to see these restaurants appear near the river and best of all they server delicious food!

One of the lights is the Moon in its full glory Also take a look on what you can buy *laugh* (boobies)

We only stayed in Fukuoka one night and quickly moved on to Beppu. Beppu is a smaller city and is famous for all the hot springs located all over the area. To make things more interesting some of these locations are special:

These locations are named with words like red, white, devil, hell etc. We had our own private taxi driver taking us to all these locations (a total of 8).

Today, 21st of april we have been buried in sand, been playing with muddy water and relaxing on the roof-floor of the hotel (getting the tan ready before everyone else!!!). Very hot and clean so to say. Tomorrow the journey continues to Kinosaki were a few more “Onsen” awaits.

(sand bath, curry and relaxing at the hotel)

And to finish this post here is a picture of something you must put on your car if you are 1. recently taken your drivers license. 2. if you are older then 65 (other colours).

What if we had that is Sweden, might spawn some headlines..

Before going to Hiroshima we went up early in the morning to visit the “fishmarket” in Tokyo. It was kinda crazy with all people running around with loads of fish!

Some big tuna that was Well, moving on to Hiroshima. Since it was raining it was a good idea to start with a museum: “Hiroshima Peace Site”. All you need to know about the a-bomb that the US droped on Hiroshima. Very interesting and most of all, frightening.

The second day in Hiroshima we went to the The Itsukushima Shrine. The Shrine has a big gateway at the entrance called “Torii”.

I found some stuff to bring back home, wohoo!!

Before we headed back to the hotell we visited one of the famous bridges in Japan! Kiantaikyo Bridge and the castle up the mountain.

Last but not least are the two places we had dinner at. Great food and nice atmosphear! I added a bonus picture with me and a hightech mirror and an animal=D

So, this is the final evening in Tokyo!

It has been nice working on the 36th floor with a view over central Tokyo! Also walking aroud in the city and see all the lights, electronics and people all over. And not to forget the VERY interesting places were you can eat!

To start with here are some pictures from ZU SHI ZEN YA. I must say I realy liked that place eventhough I did not eat all things on the menu. First you see the “Taichou” himself and the other pictures are a few things that can be served:

A small movie-clip: sushizenya

Another place, were Christer used to eat, was were I had my first RAMEN! (Nishi-oi ramen)

Very nice!

But this sign was interesting… See if you can understand what they all mean and also… what do you think of the sexy “action figures” hehe!

And when we normaly hear the Ice-cream truck this is what they have in Japan:

Now it is time to pack our stuff and go to bed! Hiroshima is next on the list!