Sunday, April 29, 2007

Ishigakijima to.....Ishigakijima!!!

Hello!!!
So I know these are going up fast but I want to get everything posted before my FAMILY gets here!!! And since I only have 5 more days and a million other things to do this one is going up now. Ian has another video in the editing process that should also be ready to go very soon. If you haven't seen the previous video or pictures, PLEASE LOOK!

Ok, to the pictures. These range over the span of 2 days, with most of them coming from our second to last day (my Birthday!!). There are things I will leave out, as they are more effectively depicted in Ian's video (best one yet, I think!!)

So, as our stay grew to a close, the weather grew steadily worse. One day we were confined to our area, and spent the day jumping from coffee shop to coffee shop in between souvenir shopping.

Smoothies!!!!





And the infamous 3 faces shot....Ian's, Maria-Chan's, and if you look into Ian's coffee....well, you just might see an evil grin staring out at you!





Ok, there are about a million other similar shots in around 3 other locations, but I will spare you from those for now. What else could we do?!?!

The next day was a bit more adventurous. The owner of our Minshuku recommended we make a trip to Kabira bay, on the other end of the island. So for my birthday we took a bus out there to explore. It was magnificently beautiful, though our trip hit a few snags. Since the water isn't safe to swim in (poisinous sea creatures abound) the trip is quite literally a sight seeing one. Unfortunatly it was about the coldest day yet, and when we got to Kabira we realized that other than the beach, there weren't really any 'sights' to see....not a problem if the buses are frequent.

We were there for about 5 hours....hahaha
So once again, we just took alot of pictures!

Ian, posing before his beautiful little boat.
I think he really debated stealing it....
Though seeing as the rate of foreigners is quite low, we would probably be pretty easily identifiable....


Just to mix it up a bit, Ian and I swaped recording mediums for a while.




Beautiful Picture eh?
I was quite proud of it...until upon returning home I did an online search for Kabira and found that EVERYONE has this exact same picture....
Popular spot I guess! Though I can't say I blame them....




So I have decided that there are alot of places in Japan that remind me of Lord of the Rings...particularily the Elvish portions....

I think its the trees....


Ian REALLY liked the trees....





Hello Shisa!!! And hello....Ian pretending to be a Shisa....
Who shall I choose to protect me and ward off evil spirits???!!!!



....It was a tough decision but it had to be made...




La la la la la.......



I am KING!!!!



Eventually we did actually DO something...
After a failed attempt at finding playing cards (the ONE time I don't have any with me...) we decided to go on a glass bottom boat tour. No pictures from that but I am pretty sure Ian has some video of it..
Anyways, it was a good and cheap way to waste half an hour, though it made me feel bad for all the fish we were staring at..all those boats just can't be good for the reef....


ok...back to more...wandering.



Hello!!!!


Alright. I apologize for the lack in commentary. Its just that....there were SOOOOO many pictures....haha.
It was a good day though. We topped the Kabira trip off with some sweet potato ice cream (mmmmm) and then headed back to our Minshuku.
That night we went for an AMAZING dinner, and then per suggestion of the hostel owner, we went to see some traditional live Japanese music and dance.
Lets just say...the video will do that part much more justice than my description. I will leave you just one tidbit....We left the place frightened and wondering if we had been cursed....hahaha

To top off the night we headed back to a local favourite of ours. This one bar where the owners seemed to love us and always brought us free food...anyways, we went to have a drink and turns out they bought me a birthday cake and presents!!!
It was awesome. The day had been nice, but it was lacking that birthday spirit...so this really made it seem like my birthday. Thanks guys!!!
This is just a shot of us inside the restaurant:


The owners were sooo nice to us....all night we stayed there, eating and drinking, and all they would let us pay at the end of the night was 2000 Yen (about 20 bucks Canadian). When we were leaving I thought the one guy was actually going to cry! Anyways, they begged us to come back, and so, Ian and I promised that in about one year we would revisit them...thus setting the first step for our journey home. Fly to Ishigaki, stay a few days, hop a ship to Taiwan, and then a flight into China. Phase one....SET!!!

Ok....keep checking for Ian's video! I promise its a GREAT one!!!

Lots of Love!
Tara

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow it looks so gorgeous there, too bad you couldn't swim!!!
annnnd you guys still amuse me hahahaha I can't wait to see you!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

awesome pictures guys
it looks so great
you guys look great too
i love you
aunt judy

Daver said...

No kidding Meaghan, that beach looks amazing, damn those deadly fishs! Oh and I would so pick that freaky statue over Ian to ward of evil spirits! Those little guys scare me hahaha.