Birthday

Hello all, sorry its been so long between posts, we are in the middle of summer school and have been real busy. I would like to say thank you to every one for their birthday wishes, cards and gifts sent. It helped to make us feel a little more at home.

The day its self was put in as a work day. All the staff in our area were in the office so not alot of work was done. Tan aranged a cake and the teachers and office staff sang happy bday, after that a few games were played before finishing work and heading for dinner at an Irish resturant.

A big thanks to everyone who came, it was alot of fun and an extra specil thanks to Aiya for the Snoopy Ice Cream Cake, it was delicious. With a few beers a long awaited serve of good old fish and chips was served. It was good.

Thanks mum and dad for your gifts as well as Heather everything fits well. Age and Cummo I was expecting a rubber steak or something smart, thanks heaps, all of the goods you got me, they are being put to good use.

Anyway I had best go, got class to teach and dont wanna be late, cant believe its the end of August already, where has this year gone, its been so fast. We will be home before we know it.

Tan And Mark Slide

This is Universal Studios Japan. We decided that whilst a friend from Nagoya was here and the group had a day off it was time to try out Universal Studios in Osaka. Our friend Brian got us some cheap tickets as his girlfriend works there so we headed out for the day. It took about 2 hours to get there leaving at 9 from Kainan. It was hard to get up as the night before was late with a few drinks.

We didn't manage to see everything there as we were low on time and sleep deprived. Unfortunately we missed Backdraft, Jaws, Peter Pan, Waterworld and the 4D cinema shows. we did see some cool stuff but. We got to Universal around 11.30 and although it is open till 9pm we left around 7ish to make sure we could get tea and still catch a train home. Oh, we not real sure what s going on with gingerbread man and Pinocchio. What The ...?

In the 7hrs there we went to Spiderman, E.T, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Snoopy Town, Terminator and the Roller Coaster as well as a street parade and Pink Panther show. We still had a fair bit to cover so will prob go back if anyone visits, maybe even when Platty comes.

It was a really fun day out, saw plenty but the line ups suck!! Ended the day with buying an Elmo and Cookie Monster teddy who now take pride of placement on our couch. Finlay finishing with tea at the Hard Rock Cafe and a long train home, getting back to watch a disappointing replay of the Socceroos draw against Oman and the Wimbledon Final. We later received a phone call from our friends saying there was a accident on the train lines and trains had stopped. Poor buggers were stranded in Wakayama. We were in bed but a longer night for them.

All in all it was a great day out and worth doing again. Next time we will spend a little more time there to see everything and make the most of it but its hard to balance train schedules etc. Hope you enjoy the pics. Take care of you all and Talk soon!!

Kimiidera Temple

This is Kimiidera Temple. This is one place we actually managed to find on our bikes!! One of Tans schools is at the base of the hill the temple sits on.

Kimiidera has something like twelve-hundred years history. It is renowned for its three wells; Shojosui, Yoryusui, and Kishosui, from which pure water springs forth year-round. It is the second stop among the 33 sacred locations in the Kansai Area on the pilgrimage in honor of Kannon, the goddess of mercy.

We had no idea about all this. Just thought it looked cool and was worth the visit. One problem, we should of done our research, to get to the top you have to climb up the 231 stone steps to the main grounds. BUGGER

I was told that Kimiidera is also an ideal spot to watch to sun setting over the ocean. May have to try that!!

It used to be a place where lords from all around Japan came to pray for the prosperity of Family.

We are going back in March next year, apparently there are about 900 cherry blossum trees on the temple grounds. That will lok amazing. If anyone wants to VISIT us we strongly suggest Spring in March, Beautiful weather and Cherry trees are cool.

Wakayama Castle

This is just a quick update on what we have been up too. This is Wakayama Castle, we decided to go and have a look as it came recommended.

As you can see i the photos the castle has been restored but allot of old artifacts have been saved and displayed. The view from the top level was fantastic, A beautiful view of Wakayama, surrounding area and the Pacific. We tried to ride there the day before but kind of got a little lost so we took the train the following day. Safer and easier option.

Wakayama Castle was built in 1585. In 1846 the castle tower was struck by lightning. It was severely damaged and was rebuilt, but was burned down again in 1945 by wartime air strikes. In 1958 it was reconstructed to look as it did during the Edo period. Not bad history hey?

Check out the amount of fish!! There is a sign saying don't feed them but people do. I think they are carp, the carp are like some kind of fish God or something. I reckon (not a fool) there were easy 200 - 300 fish around the bridge at the entrance of castle grounds.

Wakayama Castle looked pretty much the same as Nagoya Castle as they are all built in same era so have similar style. The Castle grounds were allot more attractive, making it our favorite Castle so far. Cant wait for Platty to get here and go see Himeji castle and some temples and castles around Kyoto. we will keep you all posted.