Geibi Gorge

The cliff

Our boat

The bridge

Carps

The "wishing wall"

Geibi Gorge

I was so excited to post these pictures from the trip we had yesterday so I uploaded them and posted here now. It's really indeed amazing scenic views!!!

We went to Geibi Gorge or Geibikei in Iwate prefecture, it's about 4 hour-drive from Misawa. The trip was long but it's really worth to see these beautiful sceneries.

I enjoyed the boat ride, our boatman even sang the "song of Geibi" it's a folk song of Japan. Though I haven't understood any of the lyrics I enjoyed it hehehe. Our boatman is very friendly and accommodating he even let us paddle the boat with the long bamboo pole. My daughter and I tried it just for a pose on our camera hehehe. We even had a free foot spa, along the side of the falls. So hot but it's so relaxing.

The Geibi gorge is approximately 2 kilometers long with 100-meter precipitous cliffs.

Excerpt from the brochure:

"Geibi Gorge, where fantastically-shaped rock formations tower high above, and the lush greenery celebrates the glory of the seasons. Numbered one of the most picturesque spots in Japan, this beautiful gorge was carved from strata of limestone by the Satetsu River."

Kitkat Flavors in Japan

You can't leave Japan until you tasted their different flavors of kitkat!!

I didn't know about this kitkat's different flavors (exclusively in Japan) until I learned this from my Japanese co-worker. She let me tasted the green soy bean flavor or the edamame and it tasted so good. And the second time I tasted them when my boss came back from Tokyo and brought us some different flavors like Shoyu (soy sauce), wasabi, custard pie, orange and strawberry but unfortunately I didn't have the chance to take pictures of them ;-) The soy sauce and wasabi tasted weird though (yucky and eewwww!!! hehehe).

And the pictures above are all "my kitkats" hehehe, I asked my co-worker to buy me some online since we rarely see them from the grocery stores.

From the pictures above, I ordered, custard pie, maple, banana, framboise and strawberry banana.

Grab some kitkats!!

Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival (Part 2)

Hirosaki Castle with the cute Japanese Ladies posing on the side ;-)

Hanami (Flower Viewing), picnic under the trees

The Inner South Gate

The big clock at Hirosaki Arboretum

Mt Iwaki View

People at Firing Squad hehehe actually they're posing for the Mt Iwaki view

Here's the another view of Mt Iwaki and to see why the people were standing along the fence

The Bridge

The Food Booths

Another food booths

Grilled Mochi

Grilled Mochi (sweet rice)

Shrimp costs 600 yen (~$6.50) a piece (!!!!)

Chicken karaaga

Tako yaki (octopus ball)

Toy Store

Choco Banana

------------------------------------------------

This is the continuation of my post on Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival. Since we didn't get to see the full bloom of the cherry blossom we just enjoyed our trip by eating a lot of food from the food booths. Do I have to say only "cherry tress" now? hehehe since no blossom at all?

Some people were eating under the cherry blossom trees which they called "hanami" I feel so envy with them, they're so very happy eating food, drinking beers and playing some card games. And while Japanese people are enjoying their "hanami", my children and I just sat on the grass along the side of the road and found some plastic bags to sit on and ate our barbecue, grilled corn, choco banana, yaki soba while viewing the people who pass by our front :-) hmmm what do you think should I call that?? I don't think that's hanami hehehe since there were not eating under the trees ;-). I wish my husband was there that day so he could bring/carry some folding chairs for us LOL.

Oh well...I hope you enjoy my pictures, I know it took so long for my part 2 but I was so busy at home (doing facebook LOL).

By the way, we may be moving out soon from Japan and go back to US sometime this year (our tour was cut short from our 3 year tour). So I will be taking more pictures of Japan while we're still here and share the best pictures here on my blog ;-) so don't miss my posts, my few months in Japan ;-)

Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival 2010

Sakura (cherry blossom)

another cherry blossom

"Weeping" Cherry Blossoms (but not fully bloomed yet)

Hirosaki Castle view (see the cherry blossoms were not fully bloomed), young teenagers were playing cards along the side of the road ;-)

------------------------------------------------------

Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival (April 23 to May 5, 2010)

These photos were taken last April 24, 2010 when we went to Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival. We signed up for the ITT (Information, Tickets and Travel) Trip on base for this festival 2 months prior this date just to get seats (and so as not to drive up there). Usually this trip is sold out fast, so I bought the tickets during the first day of sale and we got on the 3rd bus already. Unfortunately we didn't know what would be the weather this day......the cherry blossoms were not fully bloomed yet. This year the spring is so late and same with the cherry blossoms. Last year, we went to Hirosaki same week as this date (last week of April) and the cherry blossoms were everywhere, pretty nice. You really can't predict the weather.

Luckily, I found 2 (out of 2,600) cherry blossoms tree which were "quite" bloomed so I took the pictures (first and second photos)....at least I saw some ;-)

The festival for this year started April 23 and ends May 5.

If you want to see my last year's photos in Hirosaki Festival, just click this.... "click" . It would be the same view anyway but different year hehehe.

I will post more pictures when I have time.

Wait...I wasn't joking when I said I found 2 trees.....here's the photo.