Holiday season
People LOVE their Golden Week. And Weekend. I just came back from Mie, and I was out again today in Shiga.

Both are vacation country. Just think of a weekend up in Merrit area. Shiga has a giant lake, and Mie has rice fields.

Ise-Shima

I arrived bright and early in Nara. It was already hot walking around. Met the girls at the station, and off we drove as three.

Yadda yadda yadda, smoke.

This is where the





It was funny. See the people that were in the car?



No, I didn't get a shot of the girl other than a tiny one from the back. The guy had at least 20 years on her, and she probably took 2 hours this morning to look that way. And of course,



Please note the paint burning off, and the extreme heat you feel upon viewing the photo. I said before we passed the car "a white car is burning up there!". We agree now it was a Benz. I thought VW. I'll be wrong.

Finally we made it in to town. We even managed a parking spot.



We were on the right hand side. Didn't get a photo of our car. Didn't need to.



For some reason, everybody was skipping rocks. Some of us skipped them into ducks, rocks, and big fish.



Yadda yadda, coffee house. The walls were very nicely decorated.







This cat was named Nyanya or something like that.




Everyone petted her. She ate cheese from our hands. Sweet little thing!!




Don't be fooled. The rocks aren't that big. The torii on top is no higher than a metre.



Giant clams, and Akiyo!



There's a rock behind the tied rocks that is shaped like it has a frog on it. There are frog sculptures all over the area around the rocks, then. They're actually called meotoiwa, or married boulders. Not tied rocks. But I don't get who decided to tie them together in the first place.

Next Day (Mie)

I spent the night in my OWN bedroom on a futon. It was AWESOME.




The house was very spacious. I wonder what becomes of all those empty rooms when there are no guests?

We had decided the night before to go to the "Moku Moku Petting Farm" the next morning. The next day was also Children's day, a national holiday. Yes, I see where this is going.

Now, there's no photos for us having to drive a few kilometres away to park, then come by bus. I think it's 7k. It was a little odd, having to park in a giant empty area. Though the photos aren't in order, it will explain better this way.






We arrived half an hour before opening to make sure we'd get in. This wasn't even the only parking lot in a distant area for this Moku Moku place. We parked the car in one of the front rows - shows how early we were. We walked, got the bus, and rode down to the park.

And holy crap. Where the hell did all these people come from. People and CHILDREN. The line at front gate alone would've taken an hour to get through, the the girls put the estimate more around 2-3. In the blazing heat.

Count us out.





We go to pottery place instead, for some good old adult entertainment. No petting zoo for us.

Checked out the warez.



We saw the owners and everything. The old guy with funny hair was the 7th generation. The 8th generation was his son, who was rather normal and apparently kinda cool.

The kicker for the pottery place is the coffee shop. You grab a hand fashioned mug, pay 350y for a coffee or mocha from the vending machine. After, you keep the cup. It's good, because nobody has to run the coffee shop!

I forgot - the coffee shop with the drawings on the wall? They had the most WONDERFUL "Nuts Crumb Cake". I ate all the nuts. All the crumbs.

Pottery over. Now what. Let's see what photos remain.



Paddy castle. The rice was being planted while we were there. The castle was elusive and in a hill.



Tea. You see it everywhere. Mountains and hillsides with crazy cornrows and fans.



Can you find the monkey? It's better in motion. Staring out the window in an endless line of cars, I see these animals coming down from the trees and ambling along a wall of sorts.



So it wasn't at a tourist spot. I didn't get to pet it. I didn't feed it Pocky. I hardly saw it. But I saw it in the wild. And there were plenty.

Gosh, I'm out of photos. Now what?



HORSE



SAKURA



All the people on the hike with us. Count 'em.



Then we all hung out at the bar.



Statue next to the bar.



First comes sakura,



Then come the bushes.


Oh, and the mountains were full of bright purple flowers amid green trees, and all those stems and brush. They also have a LOT of wisteria, it's gorgeous. And it sucks the life out of things. Like, as we were driving I see all this.