Third day in Oita: Beautiful Ogata and Japanese Host Family

Bright and early Thuesday morning I got up and curiously peeked out of the window from Kei's little sister's room, which I had hijacked. Remember it had been pitch dark when I arrived the night before.

It looked like something from a fairlytale!

Ayano-san's room

Breakfast with Kei's momma and grandma
Rice, vegetable soup, umeboshi, tofu and green tea!

After breakfast Kei and I went outside to walk in the area around his house. Which was pretty much just fields and forest.

Bye, host familiy! I'm off to explore!

Kei's house

Kei and Subaru the dog

In the area around the house Kei and his family grow a lot of stuff like fruit, vegetables and mushroom, mostly for their own consumption.

Shiitake

Winnie the Pooh's house
Not a exactly a tidy fella

As happy as I can only be when I find fun things to photograph

Edible flowers

This is where Kei will live when he dies.
Together with the rest of the family.
Cosy, ey

Planning a run any time soon?

Then we took off in Kei's awesome grandma car to see some of the nearby attractions.

Green tea

Old cat

We went to se the old ruins of a castle from the Meji period,
and Kei was so excited to be there..

.. that he ran all the way to the top

And since I am the dragon warrior
I got the dragon scroll

Look at my ghost hand.
Yep, that's me posing.

Then I suddenly felt a bit suicidal
But Kei promised me ice cream
so I got over it

Hello, mountain!

Locally made peanut butter ice cream
The best ice cream I've had in Japan

Then Kei wanted to pose too
Like a Muay Thai warrior holding a coffee cup

Our ride
It's just like my mom's old car!

Snacks: Takoyaki
(Japanese dumplings made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus,
tempura scraps, pickled ginger and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce,
ponzu, mayonnaise, green laver and fish shavings.
Thanks, wikipedia)

Then we went to another place

with an enormous green limestone cave

We walked for 30 minutes
and it got a bit claustrophobical
and I almost wanted to run all the way outside

.. and feed the beautiful fishies
.. or eat them

I almost stepped in this
How cliché would that have been?

Then we got tired and went back to Kei's house.

Kei's cats eating out of an old pan
They didn't want to pose. At all.
Or let me come anywhere near them, for that matter

For dinner Kei's mother had prepared a feast of fried shiitake from their own mushroom farm that we'd sprinkle with a tea spoon of grated white radish and lemon from the garden. There was also a soup with the yellow flowers I had taken pictures of earlier, and fancy meat. Needless to say, it was all delicious.