Kanazawa Tea Districts

One of the best things about living in Hakusan City is the convenience of Kanazawa City 3 train stops or 10 mins/30 min drive away. At least from where I live :) Ask or research anything about Kanazawa and I guarantee that you'll hear about their gardens, or specifically Kenrokuen Garden. Not gonna lie; I've been here near 9 months and I still haven't visited them but I definitely plan on going there at least once before I leave.

On one day in September, a group of friends and I went to do a bit of sightseeing in Kanazawa and ended up in one of the "Tea Districts." It has been a second so I can't remember if it was the East or the West Tea District but I've heard both are quite a nice walk. The thing about these two areas is that many of the houses are in the old traditional style and even those that have been updated or renovated keep a traditional outer appearance, along with garden, and outer wall.

Believe it or not, these are also streets open to cars. Yes, I have driven down them and, yes, they are as narrow as they look. The entire time you're praying no one is coming in the other direction. 

Nothing like ending a pleasant day of walking with some cold green tea and a sweet red bean dessert <3

Exploring Hakusan

I honestly thought that once we got to Ishikawa we'd have a second to move in and get stuff settled. In a way, we got things settled but we've also been going non-stop since the second we arrived at the airport.

First, the most helpful supervisor Ogawa-san took us to open bank accounts, get cellphones, and treated us to a delicious lunch at Coco's (and all around lunch place I guess you could say). And then the present ALT's took us out to dinner at an Indian restaurant. Very good curry. But by the time I got home I was exhausted and proceed to pass out as quickly as I could.

Everywhere in Japan right now there are wedding ads and dresses set up. It almost makes me a little jealous that I have to wait exactly months until my own wedding! 

Ishikawa's horizon is absolutely beautiful. Once way you see the mountains and on the other side you see the beach.

We returned on Thursday to the au shop (cellphone provider) to settle some things, so I had extra time to go outside and play around with more settings. There's a temple across the street but you can only see the tori (gate) from where I was standing. I curious to see what the temple looks like. Otherwise I was playing with water droplets on flowers. The shop lady was soooo nice. She gave us free tissues and fans and folders. Then she came outside and even gave me a type of Japanese clover that always has four leaves. For good luck ;)

I think the trunk on the right was my favorite picture of the day. I love the way the yellow sits in the tree.

 Thursday was our shopping day, getting all the necessities. We stopped by Daiso (100 yen shop), Yamada (electronics), Book Off (second hand shop), Nitori (Ikea of sorts) and a couple of other places to get food and such. When we got home, we actually had time to do stuff but I fell asleep by 6 o'clock and woke up at 4 am. I was exhaaaausted.

Finally Friday we went sightseeing and stopped by Don Quixote and Costco. Apparently, if you want real cheese in Japan, Costco is the best place to go.

 This restaurant had the COOLEST design, slowly spiraling upwards. I was surprised at how well the tables worked despite chairs and tables being on completely different levels. And the entire place smelled like cedar. There was a connected shop selling wooden toys, figures, clocks, etc. I couldn't resist and bought two small figures of a dog and cat. We also got ice cream. mmm~

By far, this is my favorite picture of the day. I love the way the green and browns play off each other. 

 So this guy flew straight at me and I could've sworn he was going to land on my face. After I ducked down and saw him land on a leaf I decided I had to take a picture because no one would believe how big he was!

It surprised me when a huge group of kids came up to paraglide off the cliff but luckily they were there with instructors who flew with them. Tempted to try it out as well >.<

Can anyone find the frog?

  

The day ended very calmly and I fell to sleep as these photos uploaded around 9 pm. I didn't even realize it was the weekend! haha now to actually get my apartment put together ^_^'