Living the journey

After a lazy day of not much it was time to dress in suitable attire for an evening of fireworks and meet my friends at Wakayama city station.  All I can say is WOW, there were so many people doing exactly the same thing I was...yukata's (summer kimono's) everywhere and kids and families all over the shop.  Acting as the contact point I managed to gather a group of 15 people together to watch the fireworks at Wakayama port.  They started and finished on time and boy were they spectacular.  A whole hours worth of explosions and colour!

This morning it was an early rise to get up and head to Koyasan (otherwise known as Mt Koya) with a group from Wakayama university and other ring ins like me.  The students (two of which were mine that I teach at Aeon!) were giving us a tour of Koyasan in English and lets just say I took copious notes and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  My favourite bits were the legends of how Koyasan came to be, learning more about Buddhism, the nightingale floor and the biggest rock garden in Japan.  Also managed to talk to a chap who is over here learning organic farming - quite a few things to look up on the internet now!  Am very willing to bore anyone with history and legends of the area as heard through my ears!  This was my second visit to the large buddhist area and just as enjoyable as the first.  Many new people met including an Aussie.  If interested just ask.