It got CHILLY

Hi people,

Sorry I've been slack about updating this! 

On the temperature front (do you notice a theme to my updates??), yesterday we passed a sign that said it was 14 degrees.  Jeff pointed out this meant the temperature has dropped 10 degrees in a week!  No wonder we are feeling the difference!  While it is now a LOVELY temperature during the day - tshirts and long pants type weather - the nights are not so ideal. 

When it was really hot we bought 'summer sheets' - like a really light single duvet, so you have one each.  They provide a little more warmth than a couple of sheets and are easy to throw off or pull on as the temperature changes.  They are pretty small, so Jeff's feet hang out the end - not that this is an issue in 30 degree heat.  However, now that things have cooled down SUDDENLY we need something a little warmer.  We tried to cuddle to warm up, but that just mean one person's blanket would fall off them entirely, so you would wake to a slice of cold air down your shoulder...  But tomorrow we can go shopping, so we will pick up a 'normal' duvet (to go with our 'normal' bed!).  So only one more night and we will be PERFECT. 

In other news... on my way home to Jinseki on Wednesday night Jeff contacted me to warm me to drive carefully because of the bear warning!

I didn't pick this as ideal bear territory...

Apparently he was shown the Bear Poster by his supervisor at work.  The language gap was too great for them to explain much, but they were able to tell him that a bear had been seen in Jinseki (our little town) and another one in Yuki (where Jeff teaches at a couple of schools).  He wanted to know how careful we had to be - is it a bad idea to walk around our little village at night?  Are we safe to take the rubbish down to the shed? - but they didn't understand, and one bloke just started doing his best snarling bear imitation at Jeff.  Ok, helpful... 

Ah, this looks more like where we will find the bears...

Other than that, not too much going down over here.  We had a big weekend last weekend, as Monday was a public holiday, so we went North to Matsue.  A quick itinerary:

Saturday - Went to Izumo taika, to the second most important shrine in Japan, the shrine of marriage.  Wandered around, took some pics, were completely swamped by all the Japanese and didn't really know what anything was.  Highlight was the frogs in the pond. 

Looking for frogs

Jeff's wildlife photography

               - Headed out to a lighthouse, where we were able to go for a a walk on the rocks and look at the sea.  Made us miss home a little bit, especially after the chaos at the shrine.  I noticed my conversation was veering dangerously close to what was wrong with Japan and what was great about NZ.  So not our BEST day. 

Charly sitting on rocks by lighthouse.  Yes that bloke is taking my picture.  Odd...

               - Got out to Matuse that night.  We intended to have a quiet evening, but there was some kind of festival on at Matsue Castle (an ancient samurai castle), so the lovely people running our accommodation took us out there (actually, they TOLD us we were going and pretty much put us forcibly in the car lol.  Obviously they felt it would be unforgivable if we missed it!).  The castle and grounds were all lit by large paper lanterns, giving an other-worldly glow.  It was insanely beautiful, sitting up at the edge of the grounds looking down on the lower gardens lit by lanterns, the city lights beyond and all over, the moat and canals reflecting all these lights.  Totally the highlight of my trip.  Probably one of those experiences I will remember Japan for in ten or twenty years time.

Castle grounds lit by paper lanterns

View from the top of the castle

Sunday - We thought we would spend the morning wandering round the shops before going on the canal boat and hitting the other big tourist spots in the afternoon.  Unfortunately we thought we were going the right way, judging by the road signs, and didn't bother checking the map (ok, three maps!!) in my backpack.  Turns out we were wrong.  Several hours in the sun later, we finally found the shopping mall in time to grab some sushi, let the sweat dry and head back to our accomodation.
           - Back in our room Jeff fell asleep while I read a little.  I finally woke him, concerned we would miss the boat if we left any later, and we headed back out.  Refreshed after our downtime in the air con, we went on a supercute little canal boat, going under some bridges so low we all had to lie on the flat floor of the boat while the awning was lowered.  There were lots of giggle from the Japanese women watching Jeff try to squash down enough! 

Squashing down in the teeniest tunnel!!

           - After our boat ride, we had a look at a traditional samurai residence (I learnt the true reason Jeff learnt Japanese and came to Japan: he loooooves samurai stuff!).  Jeff was delighted to see that the room for the 'Master of the House' was much bigger than the room for his wife - and pointed out to me that he should therefore get a bigger room than me.  He loves that I can't argue this, because my Foreigners ID actually says 'Master of the House: Jeffrey Wigg' on it.  When we go to England and he can only stay because of MY passport I'll make him pay!! 
           - We then went back through the castle grounds because Jeff wanted to see them by day AND night (ok, I'll be honest, I wasn't complaining.  That castle was seriously cool!).  After taking onehundredmillion photos we headed off for dinner. 

Jeff with his castle

Sunday - We headed out of town, stopping at Cafe Rosso, recommended by a friend.  There Jeff had the most amazing coffee ever.  No idea what it tasted like, but I wouldn't let him drink it until he had taken photos of it!! 



Jeff's amazing coffee!

             - Next was Saioogobasogeuwr (yes, it has a real name, I just never remeember it!).  It is a manga-themed town, with a street lined with statues of manga (Japanese cartoon characters) and every store selling some type of manga product.  Unfortunately every other person in Japan also considered the public holiday a good time to visit, so we shot out of there fairly quickly (well, ok, not until I had time to eat an eyeball - one of the manga characters). 



Eating an eyeball... yeah :)

             - We had lunch and hit up the Body Shop (yay!  Products that I know what they are, and don't contain bleach!!!) in Yonago, then headed down to the Adachi Museum.  This place is famous for having been voted Japan's no. 1 garden for seven or eight years now.  We thought a beautiful garden would be just the antidote to all the crowds, people and heat of the last few days (yes, those of you who are knowledgeable about Japanese culture will be laughing at us know!).  Oh, how taken aback we were to discover the garden is kept so beautiful by only letting people view it from behind glass!!  We felt very very stupid! 

Photo taken through glass...

Fenced off from the garden...

After trying to decipher the Japanese signs, we managed to find one area where we could at least hop from stone to stone, admiring the pond and getting some fresh air.  For the three metres the path lasted.  They were right, it is a truly beautiful garden.  But I think in future we would trade a little beauty for the chance to wander round in it.  Although maybe we just have to wait for the next country for that!!

Hope you are all doing well...

Cheers Charly

P.S. Yeah, managed to add pictures!!  Will try to keep this blog interesting by adding pics when appropriate.