Welcome to Phuoc’s Osaka Picture Gallery!
As promised, here are the pictures of our fun (and danger) filled 3-day camping trip. We went to an area in southern Nara Prefecture called Yoshino (about 2 hours from Osaka by car). Here are some of the many highlights! The only pictures that I don’t have are the ones from our Onsen (hot springs) visits, only because it might seem a little strange to take pictures of men in their birthday suits. =)
5-STAR CAMPING
The seven of us from left to
right: Koichiro, Esther, Misaki, Takumi, Phuoc, Mike, and Esau. Together, we represented 4 countries and two
Japanese prefectures!
Day
1:
The drive there was chotto abunai (“a little dangerous”) as you can see here. Several days of rain before our trip led to lots of rock slides and the roads were littered with obstacles like this. We were fortunate to have 2 very skilled drivers at the controls.
Now do you see why I call it 5-star camping? Our first night, instead of canned chili or couscous, we had yakiniku (grilled meat). It was so good we had lots of the locals visit us, like the one above to the right. Too bad for this stinker (it really is a stinker bug) we devoured our food before it had a fighting chance!
Here’s Takumi doing an imitation of Esther. And here are Takumi and Koichiro being a little “too close for comfort”. =)
With our bellies satisfied and a few beers to loosen things up, we really had fun talking, singing, dancing, and laughing! Although I didn’t understand much of the conversation in Japanese, I was still able to enjoy the antics. And I lucked out because Mike and Esther filled me in when important words came up that I needed to know. Thanks guys!
Day
2:
Imagine waking up at 8 in the morning to birds chirping, the sound of water rushing, and a view like this right next to your campsite. How much more utopian could this place have been?
More 5-star eating. Mike and I were the chefs for this pancake breakfast.
Early in the morning, Takumi and Esau set out to fish in the streams. Although they put in a valiant effort, the fruits of their labor weren’t enough to feed us all, so they let the fish go to catch another day!
At 10am or so three of us went on a beautiful hike that led us through rocky riverbeds and densely forested areas like this.
We were also able to witness stunning views of the surrounding mountains. Wow!
After an hour of hiking, this clean water was a welcome sight!
Koichira cooked up a great lunch of yakisoba.
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After an afternoon spent at an onsen (hot spring), we all came back clean and very relaxed. For dinner Esther and Misaki made a wonderful beef stew (see, 5-stars!) served with rice and bread. After dinner we all sat around the campfire enjoying the moonlight and interesting company.
Day
3:
Breakfast was bacon and eggs. Then it was time to clean up for our journey home. On the way home we stopped at another onsen (I’m hooked now!).
We didn’t see much wildlife, but we did happen upon this 2.5 foot snake just basking in the middle of the street!
We had a fantastic time!