Pretty Places

That last blog, upon a second reading, came off a little depressing. It was not intended to be so... it was simply a way for me to vent some of the frustrations that come with life in a foreign country.

The feelings I expressed in that blog are really only how I feel maybe ~5% of the time. So make no mistakes: 95% of the time, I love everything about my life here. I have great neighbors and friends, my supervisor is incredibly nice, I love my new house, and my work is almost always enjoyable. I would be lying if I said everything was perfect - nothing in life is. But things here are as close to ideal as they could be.

All that said, please enjoy these pretty pictures from my trip to Kobe/Osaka/Kyoto during Christas Eve as well as other pictures from a hike I did today (please note - you can click any picture to see an enlarged version of it):

Kyoto Station is really something else

Kyoto Tower

Artwork from 1st Graders on the bus in Kyoto

Entrance to Kinkakuji Temple (The Golden Temple)

And there it is!

It's really pretty

Kinkakuji

This bird adorns the top of the temple

Kinkakuji

Kinkakuji

Kinkakuji

Kinkakuji

This one is called Kiyomizu - its extremely famous

Kiyomizu

Part of Kiyomizu

I drank from this stream to receive a blessing of good health

A street at night in Kyoto - restaurants here are by invitation/connections only

Kabuki theater

A river runs through Kyoto at night

Xmas eve was slightly crowded in Kyoto

The rest of the photos are from my hike near my hometown.

A small waterfall along the path

A small shrine along the path

Part of the path on the way up (looking back)

The way up

Slowly getting steeper....

A small respite on the way up

Giant rock! Right in our way!

View of Owase city as we ascend

Slowly getting more and more difficult...

...but nevertheless gorgeous!

Another nice view near the top by the radio tower

Dont mind the wires from the radio tower lol

Click this one to see this awesome panorama from the peak!!!! Its amazing!

At the top! The view was incredible. We had lunch on this rock.

Contemplating life

Hello there, sir!

A bit steep on the way down...

Another little shrine on the way down

Hope you enjoyed this picture bonanza!
See you next time!

JJ