matsuyama adventures and marathon fun :)

matsuyama adventures!

mon nov 2 - tues nov 3, 2009

Me and Rachel on the ferry bound for SHIKOKU!!!

So my friend Rachel and I had this semi-spontaneous idea to go to Shikoku for a 2-day, 1-night adventure. We awoke Monday morning bright and early in time to catch a ferry from Yanai Port to Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku. Roundtrip for 2 people and 1 car costed about $220, so we ended up paying about $110 per person. Not bad at all ;) The first sight we decided to hit up was the Kotohira Shrine in Konpira (a 2.5 hour drive from the ferry port!). The cool thing about this place is that you need to hike up 785 steps to get to the shrine. Crazy stuff. It took us about 30 min oneway. The stairs are lined with cool little stores and things, so it wasn't too bad of a trek.

A journey of a thousand miles (or 785 stairs) begins with a single step. Confucius knew his stuff.

So there's this cool service for old people (and I guess lazy people), that if you pay about $36, you can get carried up the stairs by a team of men! ($56 round trip...it's more expensive going up and down...go figure) An amazing feat, seeing as how the guys carrying people aren't the youngest. They literally carry you on poles resting on their backs. Extraordinary!

On our way back to the car, we stopped off at this little cafe place for some ice cream!!! They had a mini hot water bath for your feet! It felt soo good considering it was freakishly cold outside! Getting our feet out and putting our shoes back on (soaking wet) was the downer part :( But it was a neat experience!

Me and my green tea ice cream. My hands were FREEZING but my feet were warm :)

After, we drove back west to Matsuyama and went to Dogo Onsen...a bath house famous for being the model for the main building in Hayao Miyazaki's movie "Spirited Away". And to tell you the truth, while we were inside, it really felt like I was in the movie. For some reason, Miyazaki was able to capture the essence of that bath house. Simply amazing. It was my first experience in a public washroom. I had to take my glasses off so I didn't see any naked women up close and personal...but it was awesome! Outside was freezing, so when I went into the hot, cleansing waters of the onsen, all my worries and cares literally melted away.

Dogo onsen...a spectacular sight!

Rachel and me in our hoppy coats, all clean and happy ;)

We then had dinner in Matsuyama and then spontaneously drove down to visit our friend Pete (cool kid from New Zealand!) who let us crash at his place for the night. Thanks Pete for the AWESOME accommodations! You are an awesome host! The next day we checked out some cool sights around his town and then drove to Uwajima to have lunch with another JET, Travis, who's from HAWAII!!! It was cool seeing another 1st year Hawaii JET. Glad to know I'm not the only one freezing in this autumn weather ;) On the way there we drove through a small little town...a freaking AWESOME town called "YOSHIDA"!!!!! I wonder if I'm related to anyone down there....?

Pete, me, and Rachel hanging out at a cool, secluded shrine up in the mountains.

This is where little Yoshidas are made!

All in all, an amazing trip! We got to see all kinds of cool things and ride a ferry! Lots of fun...I hope to do it again soon!

marathon fun

sun, nov 8, 2009

Daryl, Rachel, and me getting pumped up for the race the night before!

So my friends Daryl, Rachel, and I decided to participate in the 2nd Annual Shimonoseki Kaikyo Marathon. Daryl did the full marathon (just under 5 hours! SWEET!!!) and Rachel and I did the 5K. It was an awesome experience...I'm so happy we did it! The night before, Rachel's uncle and aunty took us out to eat at this great little Japanese restaurant. We ate soooo much food! The sukiyaki (kinda like nabe, but you dip the food into a bowl of raw egg) was freaking amazing! Then we went back to their place, crashed, and woke up at 5:30 AM!!!! Got to the starting site, registered, changed clothes, and then got ready for the race! There was over 9,000 people competing in the different events! When the 5K event was ready to begin, Rachel and I got to our places and waited for the horn to blast. After what seemed like an eternity, the horn blew and we all started running like crazy. When I was running, I was really touched by the support of the community. The streets were lined with people who came to cheer on the participants. Store owners stood outside their stores, waving and shouting "Gambatte!" While we were waiting at the starting line, an older lady motioned to Rachel and I and said "gambatte". So cute :)

Got our numbers on...bring on the run!

Didn't do as well as I had hoped...as I was aiming for under 25 min. I ended up with 26:59, which is pretty much 9 min miles. I placed 39th in my age class...out of a total of about 253 people. All in all not a total fail...just means I gotta do better next year! Rachel did AWESOME! She placed 13th in our age class! Fast like the wind ;) Daryl did awesome too...he ran the full marathon (his first marathon ever too!) in just under 5 hours. Pretty awesome in my book!

There were some pretty famous characters running that day...Mario was one of 'em! He may seem slow in the video game, but in person...he's runs like the wind.

It has been a great and memorable couple of weeks in nov thus far. Can't wait for thanksgiving! ;)