TBC...

@_@

Byouki! Sick!

Sunday night I was feeling pretty rubbish. I had a slight temperature, but not too bad. I woke up on Monday feeling even worse. My bosy was achey, and I just felt really run down. My temp was up to about 38.5 degrees. As the day went on, I got more and more achey and shivery, and my temp hit 39.3 degrees. So at about 9 Bikke and Katsuhiko decided to take me to the hospital. I think I was a bit delerious by that stage, the whoe thing seemed really surreal. My bosdy was so sore though. Felt like I had taken the mother of all beatings. The doctor checked me out, said a bunch of shit I didnt understand. My blood pressure was high. Then they stuck a swab up my nose. It was hidious!! This was so they could check if I had influenza or just a cold. If it was the flu, they would have admitted me for a minimum 2 days! So LUCKILY it turned out to be what they refer to as a common cold. Seriously, it didn`t feel like a common anything to me, that was the worse I can remember feeling in a REAL long time. Oh, and get this! $280! That how much it cost!! Insane!! Luckily Bikke and Katsuhiko paid for me, as I didnt have any cash. I`ll pay them first chance I get and then claim in back when I get back to NZ (minus the excess of course!).

Anyway, I got a bunch of meds prescribed, took them and went to bed. Woke up an hour later totally soaked! Ew. Had broken sleep the rest of the night, sweating so much.

Now its Monday lunchtime and my fever has slowly been dropping. I`m feeling better. Head is still pounding, body is still a bit sore, but i`m a lot better. Hopefully well enough for my trek tomorrow. I may have to forgo Hiroshima this time, as i`m still feeling quite weak and dont`t know if i`m up to it. I`ll see tomorrow I guess!

Worst timing ever!

Final Fantasy Potion...

Yep. I felt pretty cool drinking this bad boy the other night. Replenished my HP and Mana points ;)

Exploring Fukuoka with Miho and Sean!

On Sunday, Sean and I got to be shown round Fukuoka by Miho! It was really good to catch up with her as I haven`t seen her in ages!! Fukuoka is quite a big city, about 40 minuts by train from where I live.

Here we are at one of MANY MILLIONS of HUGE shopping malls.

And here is Ramen Stadium! And entire floor of the mall devoted to Ramen.

There are like 40 odd different kinds of ramen here, all originating from different parts of Japan )as you can see in the photo, there are explanations for all of them and where in Japan they are from), all competeing for the #1 ramen. After you eat, you vote on what ramen you think is best. It was super cute, but all super NOT VEGAN!

Ah yes... these fucking things. I was so pumped on these Rilakuma pillows, I thougth i`d try and win one for Debra. By the time I walked out of there, I was $40 down and frustrated as shit haha! I got scammed!

Good god. These jackes were SOOOOOOOOO COOL. I wanted one so bad. They were really lightweight silky material, and were totally beautiful. I wanted to buy one so bad, but at 20,000 yen ($400) I couldn`t! I would totally feel like I was in the Yakuza wearing one of these babies!

This mall had like 6 or so levels, it was seriously HUGE. And turns out its just one of many many malls in the area.

After checking out the shopping mall, we caught a bus and then another train to get to Tenjin Temple (I think I soent about $60 just on travel that day eeeep!)

I really enjoyed Tenjin Temple, it was all very beautiful and tranquil (well, except for the millions of people haha - its a popular tourist spot).

The entance to the temple.

Massive Koi in a pond.

Here is me and Miho infront of the actual temple. This is about where I was starting to feel not so well...

You could pay 100 yento get a little slip of paper with your fortune on it. Miho translated mine, and it wasn`t so good haha - just my luck! After you read you fortune, you tie onto these bits of rope.

Here is a magnificent Kirin statue I found, I was so pumped! It was beautiful, and looks so similar to my Kirin!!! n_n

Here is the street leading up to the temple.. so many store selling HEAPS of souvineer type stuff.

Waaah! Look what I found in one of the stores! I wanted these so bad, and they were fairly cheap too! (About $30 for the big cushions), but there is no way i`d fit thm in my suitcase!! Sooo cute!

This was back in the city. Was feeling pretty shit by this stage, but this was very beautiful. The Japanese call this kinda stuff `illumination` haha

Saturday - Hippo Family Christmas and more sightseeing!

Sorry for no updates for a while - i`ve been really sick, but i`ll get to that later.

On saturday we had the Hippo Family Christmas. it was heaps of fun, and a bit hazukashii to boot haha, only cause I refuse to dance LOL!

Here is me and Bikke!

Holy moly! The food was great! All the families went to the trouble of trying to make some dishes I could eat, so consequently I had LOADS to choose from. Oishikatta! The ganmon (I thinkt hats what its called - bascially little tofu, vege and batter nuggets) were my favourite.. soo good! Grant will know what i`m talkign about (Cherie made them one time at Nombe)...

Here are some of the kids... seriously hese kids were the cutest things ever!! Can`t remember the naam of the boy on the left, but in the middle is Otoha and then Shunta o the right. Haha is was so cute, Otochan took a liking o me and was talking to me non stop through lunch, only i coudln`t understand most of what she was saying. One thing I understood was her telling me about how her class had made mochi at school (mochi are little sweets which are made from rice and have sweet beans in the middle), and she kept saying "mochi tabete!!!", which means "eat the mochi!".. she was so proud she had made them. Haha so cute!!

There there was some singing and dancing from some of the families, these guys sang the theme from Totoro. Yes, it was that cute!

Here is me with Otoha, Shunta and Sean`s host mother Lala.

After that, Aja and Waka picked us up and took us to Mojiku. I had already been with Bikke and Katsuhiko but Sean hadn`t been.

Don`t ask about the face haha...

Here we are on this famous bridge. I forgot the name gomen!

Here are some shots from the top of this 33 story building we went up. The view was amazing!!

Boys eat Genghis Khan apparently...?

Today! Vegan lunch / Kokura Castle / Christmas Party / Yakitori

Phew!!! What a day! So busy from start to finsih (now)... Heres the rundown (big breath)...

Well first I had class obviously, but then Bikke picked me and Sean up and took us to tis vegan restaurant she had tacked down. Lucky huh!! Turns out today is Seans 21st birthday too! Omedetou!!

This place had 3 main dishes, a sampler kinda on, a vegan curry and a MOTHER FUCKING VEGAN KATSU (cutlet) SANDWICH. Well suffice to day I went with the sandwich. And goddamn, it was beautiful. One of the best things i`ve eaten here so far! AND it came with some home made chips... it was too much!!

Afterwards, I was like "I HAVE to have more chips onegai!", thy were GREAT. Also, we had some cake with blueberry sauce, it was EXTREMELY delicious. Greta lunch! Yokatta!

Here is Sean, Bikke and I outside the place. It was called Sairam. Subarashii yo!

And yes, that is a thumbs up. This place warrented it!

Then Bikke took us to Kokura Castle, which is a museum of sorts, as well as being an actual castle. It was really beautiful and interesting. I love old Japanse architecture.

Now, words and photos will never do the follow justice. It was a HUGE model of Kokura city back around 200-300 years ago (cant remember exactly when - I fail!). Along with the model were various noises from the city, and it essentially cycled through a day. It was AMAZING. The detail was exquisite. It blows my mind to think how long this took to make. Totally amazing, I probably could have looked at it for hours. In fact, the detail was so great they had little telescopes set up so you could focus in an anywhere int he town for a closer look.

Here is me in a palaquin looking like a spoon as per usual. Whats wrong with me? Did you drop me as a child Mum?

This no smoking sign was cute as n_n

And here are some shots from the top floor... amazing view.

Here is the castle in all its glory. Beautiful.

There we had the Christmas part at Uni. There were heaps of strangers there so I was nervous as, and consequently had a few beers lol! But it ended up being fun. Except I think Sean and I were somewhat of a novelty and so we had to have a good 20 photos with various people haha. But still, it was fun!

Aaaaaaaaaaaand when we got home, my host family took me out for Yakitori! It was spectacular! I had piman (capsicum), jyagaimo (potato), ninniku (garlic), ginnan (ginko nuts) and tofu up the yinyang. Was really good! Also had another beer, hence I need to go to bed now!

Here is Hirokun, Bikke, Satokun (boy who is staying with us for a wek to practice engoish with me, he is going on an exchange to Australia for 10 months soon) and of course, retarded ole me.

Oyasumi!!!