had a weekend trip at Boss' fren's place in Fuchuu 府中, which is like on the eastern part of Hiroshima 広島 and very very inaka 田舎 (aka countryside!).
woke up very early on Sunday morning to catch the highway bus. the journey took abt 4.5hrs, which is pretty tiring but lucky i had my MP3 player (listened to many Chinese songs which I haven't heard in some time). anyway, we were quite lucky cos there was a campaign going on and so we managed to get our bus tix at a promotional price of onli 2000yen per trip.
we reached the secluded 府中 bus terminal ard noon and Boss' fren, M came to pick us up. the place is really very countryside. lotsa mountains, many houses and a big river.
upon arrival in M's place, we were welcomed warmly by his family and a sumptuous lunch of curry rice. we also had a fun time playing with M's granddaughter, Mina-chan, who is oh so cute and clever!
after some time, we set off into the mountains where our main activities would commence. the drive took abt 1 to 2 hrs, with a stop at a supermarket to get our dinner for the night. along the car ride, C and I played with Mina-chan. C really knows how to keep a little kid entertained. i muz learn tt too! =P anyway, we finally reach the pottery place which is like so high up in between the mountains. there's no other buildings nearby. onli this big house, occupied by an old couple and their dog!
we started off by looking thru the extensive line-up of pottery artworks on display. there are all very elaborately hand-made... but the prices can cause great heart-attack!
10,000yen for a little cup... tt's like SGD140!
cute little Mina-chan is really good at posing sia!
then we went off to make our pottery. my first time doing pottery wor! made a cup with my favourite 4-leaf clover design. received lotsa help from the pottery master tho. =P
everybody's working hard
but we couldn't get back the cup yet. it needs to undergo baking and painting which will takes around 3 months. btw, making this pottery cup cost mi a whooping 3500yen too! in other words, i actually bought myself a DIY cup for SGD45! =P
development of my masterpiece =P
then we played with the dog for a while. it was really big and pretty scary for mi at first. but it also looks so clean and fluffy tt i couldn't resist touching it. turns out tt it's a very obedient dog and smart dog. (altho i still couldn't stand its hot breath whenever it comes near mi. =P)
soon, it's dinner time. we had a feast at the outdoor round table. quite nice to be eating within the mountains.
with the sky slowly darkening, our highlight of the trip soon arrived - Hotaru 蛍 aka FIREFLIES!!! it was onli a few blink-blink in the distance at first, but soon the whole mountain was illuminated with shiny green lights! very beautiful~
EEEKS~!! it's actually so ugly! like a little cockroach!
despite the ugly appearance of the firefly in actual, i still had a fun time capturing them in my hands. =P we also went further into the woods and it was totally covered with sparkling little lights. how magical!! (unfortunately i couldn't capture the scene with my camera.)
venturing into the dark mountains
finally, after a great day, we bade farewell to the ppl in the pottery house. wat an experience~
then we spent the night at M's place, sleeping on futons. early nx morning, Mina-chan came to say to goodbye to us b4 setting off for school (she was so cute in the uniform!). then M treated us to breakfast and sent us to the bus terminal where we took the bus back to Kobe.
and yes, it was back to teaching again right in tt afternoon. how tiring! but it was a really nice trip. =)
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