Last days in Sasebo, Fukuoka & Kyoto

Well G'day again. I write this post with a bit of dissappointment.....the Dees have been bundled out of the Aussie Rules footy finals tonight.

On a brighter note, things here in Fukuoka are going great, this city is really interesting and exciting! having a great time, wish I had got here earlier.

Been here over a month now, and settled in nicely.

A few weeks ago I went to Kyoto which is a very famous part of Japan, famed for it temples. So there are a few photos of my trip here as well as some pics from my last few days in Sasebo when I rented a car and did a fes short trips.



Recently I went to the baseball to watch the Fukuoka Hawks play the Nippon Ham Fighters. Interesting name. Well with baseball officially the most boring sport in the world, the crowd had to create other forms of entertainment. Halfway through the 7th inning everyone in the crowd blew up a balloon, sun a song, and then the simultaneous release created a spectacle far more interesting than what was being offered on the field. It was good to go once to the baseball, to enjoy the jovial atmosphere, but once is enough. Baseball is incredibly popular in Japan, and when I asked the opinion of some people who went to the same game they said it was really exciting. Well watching baseball is boring enough at the best of times, so a 1-0 scoreline didn't exactly raise the heartbeat for me or Trev.




















































Trev and his girl Chizuru, who is not too impressed with his new mullet look. Yep the mullet wigs are still around.



















As I said I went to Kyoto with a friend of mine, Heather. We caught the Shinkansen up, which is the bullet train. Very smooth, fast ride at speeds up to 300km/hr. Kyoto's markets have a great selection of Japanese food which are probably a bit different to the traditional Japanese food seen in western countries. Below are a few pics of this popular food over here.





















































Dried squid. A tasty snack.



















Some tasty Octopus tentacle.








































A dried mat of fish.

















Octopus.



















Lightning struck the ground here as I was taking video. I have some great footage of this.















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Ginkakuji Temple. Also an interesting sand creation at Ginkakuji, below.







































Kinkakuji Temple.






































Having a refreshing dip at Neshiko beach in Hirado, about an hour from Sasebo.


I also went to a really beautiful mountain area which was like a gorge with natural swimming holes. Great place.










































































Well hope everyone is well and look forward to hearing from ya soon. I've got some time off coming up soon, so It will be great to do some more exploring. Rob will be here shortly so will show him around, and might go to Okinawa or China as well soon after that.

Take care, Shutes.