Mood:  spacey

2 weeks ago, me and my friend went to sakunami. It was long weekend, so we decided that it was the time for adventure.....

Me and Dan went by train to sakunami. It was pretty cool place actually.. The mountain view creates a scenery that breath taking.. A perfect runaway place from big city routinity.  There, we took a walk, along the street, which covered by mountain, rice field, and nice river nearby, go to the Nikka whisky distillery.  Some of you might wonder, why i went to such place.. haha.. Actually, im just curious about the distillery, and since that place also famous for its beautiful lake, which inhabited by a swan, so i decided to go..  OOps.. and oh  yeah, it is free!! :D

afterthat, we went back to the station. Which we thought it was pretty small, to go to okunikkawa station.A place where i want to do hiking, which called the nikkawa line. 

When we got there, we were so surprised.. There is no officer in the station. It just one small room, with one bench, and one machine to say where we get on . Not even a single automatic selling ticket machine..

But then, we realized, it just the beginning of the scary part.. Soon we got out from the station, we noticed that okunikkawa is really remote area.. We only saw one old lady working in a farm.. We were talking about how silent the city is, when we heard something buzzing near us.. When we turn our head, we were shockeD!! it was the famous Asian giant hornets..

It was pretty huge scary looking hornets. According to wikiped, the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia, known colloquially as the Yak Killer hornet), the world's largest wasp, is a native of temperate and tropical Eastern Asia. Its body length is between 27 mm (1.1 inches) and 45 mm (1.8 inches), with a wingspan of about 76 mm (3 inches). Queens may reach a length of 55 mm (2.2 inches).

If a person is stung by the giant hornet and is allergic, he or she may die from a reaction to the venom, as with any strong allergic reaction; however, there is also a neurotoxin, called mandaratoxin,^[4] which may potentially be lethal in a large enough dose (relative to body weight of the victim). About 70 people die each year in Japan after being stung by giant hornets.

Now u realized how pretty scary the situation we faced.. Oh forget to mention, it only needs 30 hornets to kill 30,000 bees within 30 minutes!!! could u imagine that??  geez....

So, we ran and ran.. And finally we can get that thing out of our way..

Afterthat, we went hiking in nikkawa line.. IT has many different tracks, but after seeing the hornets, of course we want to do it in nice way.. beside we hate spider and hornets a lot!! and no way that we took any possibility to meet the other giant scarry creatures such that..

But anyway, the hiking was worth it.. ITs really nice there.. We saw natural river along the mountain.. no human being nearby.. no technological tool installed .. and everything seems living in peace.. The scenery also breathtaking.. Oh..and we also found the tool for delivering luggage from one top of the mountain to the other point.. ( if u watched vertical limit, u know what im talking about)

After that, e decided to go back to the station.. especially the sky is getting darker.. We took a walk towards other side of the station, and then we noticed that it was only 5 houses there.. Even 2 of them them are not inhabited.. And 1 of them seems just suffered from something scary.. If they pick that house as an opening scene for a horror movie, thats definitely worked!!

Towards the end, we also realize there was something wrong with the pine trees.. IT seems they were suffered from kinda disease coz all the leaves turn into dried, curling, brown leaves..

Moreover, at the end, we saw a spot which seem was used for tourism attractions.. It was  a bridge with river under, where u can see the naked stone and very clear water flowing around.. It was nice, until u have to rush to its toilets.. 

The toilets is , roughly speaking, seems closer to be a nest of spiders, hundreds spider, bugs, and unnamed creatures, than any definition about toilet.. Even the wastafel are being occupied by them!! every inches!! i mean it!! and one of the toilet room is too freakin scary that i just ran away as soon as i opened it.. The spider web is everywhere!! the coccoon, the larvae, and hundred bugs smiled back at me when i opened the door!! It is a real horror!!

glad, we finally make back to the station.. and get back to the train..

Posted by kurnia sofia rosyada at 5:46 PM KDT

Updated: Thursday, 5 July 2007 6:42 PM KDT

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Mood:  lyrical

lately, we are having rainy season here in sendai.. The rain drops are pouring 24 hours non stop!! And somehow i cant stand it anymore.... 

Rain for me, back when i were at indonesia, was a time that precious.. IT makes me feel lil bit mellow, melancholic, and perfect excuse to be lil bit sappy.. ITs perfect time to watch any sad romance movie, and daydreaming.. But, here.. geez.. its bitter ( 100% bitter, not bittersweet at all ) , draining rain.. the sky is cloudy, the rain wont let itself stop, never tired to make ur day worse, windy, and humid..  ( geez.. i turn into tiny whiny person now.. )

Speaking bout rain.. i remember several movies that honestly makes me cry when i watched it.. especially when i watch it during rain..  ITs kinda bring some feeling of blue towards me..  and makes me feel like a human.. ( geez..it sounds like im an alien , or something.. :D ) 

The most unforgettable one, is A Moment to Remember.. Its really sad story about rare case of early alzheimer diseases occur in a young wife.. both of the wife and her husband, struggle a lot, try to keep the love bound tight.. As if there still a hope.. 

After that, maybe 1 litre of tears..  and, il mare..( the letter box.. )that buried the heartwarming love story along with time different that exist between..  

Posted by kurnia sofia rosyada at 4:42 PM KDT

Updated: Thursday, 5 July 2007 5:21 PM KDT

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sendai, is the biggest city in miyagi prefecture. Famous for its cow tongue, and regarded as the city of trees. Sendai population only about 1.5 million people, not so crowded, and quite beautiful because it is surrounded by mountains.

The famous warrior or samurai clan here is Date masamune. With height only 1.53 metres, he was amongst one of the best general that fight together in the battle of osaka with Shogunate Tokugawa. Masamune lost one of his eyes due to chicken pox when he was a child, but that thing, didnt seem to be a thread to make him on top..

moreover, near sendai there are several scenic spot. The famous one is Matsushima, regarding as one of the best three scenic spot in japan. IT is a beautiful beach landscape with several small island spread nearby. Not only that, we also have sakunami, nikkawa line, and several other places that famous for hiking.. Amongst winter sport lover, Zao with its snow monster probably the best.. In the summer, u also can see the crater lake on top of Zao. . it is breathtaking...

now, im only posting some of the pictures i took in sendai.. more photos will be uploaded soon :)  

Posted by kurnia sofia rosyada at 4:33 PM KDT

Updated: Thursday, 5 July 2007 4:41 PM KDT

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Mood:  on fire

lately, i join the archery club. Along with kevin and eddy we go for the practice twice a week. At first, i was lil bit skeptical whether im gonna like it or not, but once u tried it, trust me, u will get addicted to that..

Kyudo, or archery train ur body and mind. Ur upper arm, and shoulder will be getting stronger. And since u r aiming a point, u will used to concentrate and relax mind more.

I still sucks on it  now ( LOL.. ). My arrow was spread along the tatami board ( LOL ). But i have lots of fun doing it. and slowly but sure, im getting better ( at least now the radius of arrow spread is small ;D ). Im gonna try to catch up with kev and eddy, because theyre pretty good at it now :D 

Posted by kurnia sofia rosyada at 3:31 PM KDT

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Mood:  energetic

last saturday ( may 5th), we got a golden week vacation. Since its cost me lots of money for doing trip in japan, i prefered to just spend the vacation in sendai.But to celebrate the holiday, and feel the joy of golden week,  me and bunch of my friends, mostly chinese and americans ( colin, dan, keith, xu, li, mang, and liu ) went to fukanuma beach. 

Fukanuma is the nearest beach in sendai. IT takes us bout 1 hour and a half by bike to get ther. Theres many interesting things happened during the trip.

First, on our way to get ther, we found a snake river swimming smoothly under the bridge.. The snake is pretty small though, and seem to be harmless.. But its amazing to see them during may, considering how cold the temperature still.

When we got ther, the ocean is still colD! and its lil bit windy. So, i decided just to hang around the beach, playing frisbee, and some stupid game involving run into the beach, and then run again from the waves. it was fun, eventhough afterthat my feet is freezing.. ( since the weather in sendai still cold!! around 7 - 10 degree ) 

Apparently, some of my friends, went crazy and started to challenge everyone there, to proof that they r real man by doing body surfing on the ocean waves!! 4 of them ( the crazy americans, and xu ) answerred the challenge, despite the facts that they might get hypothermia...  So, they went to the sea, looking for the waves and ride on it.. It seemed so fun, but since its freakin chilly ther, i decided not to join them ( eventhough i really really really wanna try body surfing ).. 

While they were surfing, we made fire. We collected some branch of woods, and light up the fire..  And then the night falls.. soon,  everyone gathered together around the fire, eating dinner.  

Afterthat, i forgot who started, but we found a rope. Then, we tied up a wood that was burned by fire on one side and swing them on the sky, like what cowboy usually did..  It was funny, coz everyone do it over and over again and shot them on video. The chinese even make a slow motion pic shoot which is awesome, coz the result looks like we make love sign by fire flying in the sky! :D  

Later, on the other side of the beach we saw someone lit up fireworks. Since i was desperately looking for playing fireworks, and i didnt bring one ( coz i dont know where to buy it ), i decided to watch them closer and join them, so did the americans. 

It was japanese couple who bring it. And they were so nice,and let us to watch the dynamite fireworks. Its so beautiful!! 

oh yeah, forgot to mention. When first we introduce ourself to the japanese couple, they asked us bout our fireworks ( the rope tied up with burning wood ). " what kind of fireworks is that? " with a very enthusiastic face. And Colin who hold it, just dont know how to explain that its not a fireworks at all to them.So, we just laughed and smiled " ah.. its not fireworks.. " with a blush on our face... ( which fortunately hidden by the dark ) 

Posted by kurnia sofia rosyada at 2:58 PM KDT

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