Trip to Dogo Hotspring

I went to Matsuyama, one of cities in Shikoku island.
I took a tram to Hiroshima port from Hiroshima Sta. and took a ferry to Matsuyama.
I chose a superjet ferry this time so it took only an hour to get to Matsuyama port.
and I took a limousine bus to Dogo Onsen sta.

 Then I checked in at  Sen Guesthouse. I drop off my stuff and went to Dogo Onsen. Stone made bathtub was deeper than I had expected and bit hotter than standard temperature. The atmosphere　was traditional so I was quite impressive. I felt I were a person in Edo era. Its a bit hotter than usual bath so I repeated soaking in the tub for a few minutes and getting out and take a cold shower for a few times. As I repeat that cycle, I felt like I refreshed from the core. That was impressive Onsen experience. I had some Dogo beer after and I headed for tonight's dinner place. 

  








I had a Taimeshi (Sea bream rice)  close from my guest house which was delicious.
Tai(sea bream) is a symbol of cerebration. When I was small, my mother served Tai on my birthday with birthday cake.

I went back to guest house and had some beer and talked with room mate and Matt-san and Nori-san. I had a relaxing time in Dogo. 

Guesthouse in Dogo Onsen
Sen Guesthouse
Dorm from 2700 yen
female dorm and private room available

Hola!!

Hi, it's mana from Kyoto Hana Hostel:)

How was your summer? Did you have fun on your vacation?

For me, it was the best summer in past 5years in my life!haha

I had my first Europe trip to SPAIN!

I visited 2 cities, Granada which is the south part of span and the famous sight is Alhambra palace and also visited Barcelona of course;D

I personally loved the granada,especially Albayzin area, I though the whole town in Albayzin area is almost the remains of ancient spain.    Topas and Sanglia was delicious!!

Barcelona, I was recommended a lot of times by my friends or spanish guests.
So i took 5days in there. I've seen so many architectures such as Sagrada familia, casa batllo......etc  

Anyway these guys i met are Daniel and Diego, first contact with them was at my hostel when they visited.

I totally loved their friendliness and personality, warm and relax and Fun!

They also work at Hostels in Barcelona"Saint Jordi" .  Their hostel was great as same as they are.

What else...o, i went to the beach "Casteldefelles" about 30mins by train.  Slept at the beach all day.

 YEEEAAAHHHH!   I got to see the soccer game Barsa vs Real Madrid on the last day!

When the 90000people give cheers, it made a earthquake in the stadium!

I was happy that i choose this such a beautiful city for my first Europe trip:) Thank you Barcelona and people who helped my trip!! 

See you next!

Besshi copper mine and Matsuyama Trip

Hi there! It has been very hot recently..I wonder when it'll get cooler....

anyway,,
let me tell you about my favorite place, Besshi copper mine　and Matsuyama this time.








                                                                                  
Besshi copper mine -The Besshi copper mine (別子銅山, Besshi Dozan) is  rich source of cooper in Niihanma of Ehime Prefecture.The deposits were discovered in 1690, and mining began in the following year. From then until the closing of the mine in 1973.
It takes about 20 mins by bus from JR niihama sta.There are hourly Bus to　(別子銅山, Besshi Dozan)　370yen.

You will be able to enjoy the fantastic scenery from here!!

I went to Dogo onsen next. Dogo onsen is the oldest hot spring in Japan and described in Nihonsyoki. 

And if you stay in Matsuyama,I definitely recommend  "Sen Guest house ".

There's a nice atmosphere created by the friendliness of the owners, Matt and Noriko who are both very dedicated to ensuring that you see the best parts of not only Matsuyama!!

I absolutely loved my time in Matsuyama　and besshi Dozan. Why don't you visit there If you want to take the oldest Onsen and enjoy nature?
 

'Learning Chinese'

Hello,this is Mio from Kyoto Hana hostel.

I started studing Chinese about a month ago.

My Chinese teacher is one of our staffs,Tsubasa who is from Taiwan.
However it is difficult to learn Chinese more than English in point of view pronunciation.
Chinese has distinctive rule called 'Shi Sei' which is for kinds of tone of pronunciation.
Also there are some pronunciation which Japanese do not have.
Tsubasa repeatedly pronunce words for me and I try to catch how to move my mouth.
Then I need to practice to pronunce words many times for remenbering how to do that like Tsubasa.
It is really defficult more than learning grammer for me.
But learning other language is enjoyable.
If someone can understand what I am talking in Chinese,it would become much more enjoyable to learn.

Some of my guests who is from Taiwan chould understand my greeting in Chinese a few days ago.
I was very glad for that.
Like that episode makes me happy.
I  will be able to better Chinese speaker with studying more!

･:*Good old days･:*

Still super hot in Hiroshima, really sick of it..Hopefully this hotness will be gone soon...

Hi this is Kana from Hiroshima HANA Hostel. Whole hostel in Hiroshima must have been really busy this month due to summer holiday and also Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony.

One of my best friend visited me last week all the way from Singapore. We were at same high school for about 3 years in New Zealand, we did many things together both good and bad as young people always get through.

As soon as she arrive Hiroshima around noon, we just went straight to IZAKAYA at Hiroshima Station and had FEW drinks!

Everytime she visited me, we always ended up drinking and being lazy at home so we determined that this time, "WE GO SIGHTSEEING"
After FEW drinks(We were there for about 3 hours) , we off to one of world heritage "Atomic Bomb Dome"

As we arrived there it was unbelievably hot so we just run into cafe near by A-bomb dome which was Caffe Ponte and had FEW glasses of wine.  We just wanted to escape from hotness..

After while we just had a walk beside river and had loooong chat about good old days with can of CHU-HAI. We are both Japanese but we met in NZ, now Im in Japan and she is in Singapore. Very hard to share things like before but I strongly believe that she will be here for me if I need. do not have much friend but I am very pleasure that I have friend like her.

Time DID fly so fast and time for her to leave..
This is our way to enjoy sightseeing in Hiroshima! Start with drink and finish with drink!
What a good day I had.

★My favorites 2★

Hello everyone-! It's toooo hot and humid in Kyoto! I am dying everyday with this heat but there is one thing which keeps me cool! Here they are... These are my COOL co-leagues who make me feel soooo cool! Some of them work at Kyoto Hana Hostel, some of them work at J-Stay, and some of them work at J-Hoppers Kyoto. Some of other staff are not even in this picture. Each of them has totally different background, humor, personality, and thoughts. That is way, we will never get bored to each other and to work together! They are AWESOME!! What I love to work at this fantastic place is not only meeting new people everyday and encountering new interesting events, but also working with these tremendous co-workers! Please visit Kyoto Hana Hostel/ J-Hoppers Kyoto if you ever come to Kyoto! You will be enchanted by these cool staff!

★Fireworks in UJI★

Hello everyone! It's been such hot days since the rainy season has ended. To kick this crazy heat, why don't you enjoy fireworks if you are in Kyoto? There will be fireworks festival this coming of the 10th of August in UJI. Uji is famous for maccha/ green tea and Byodoin temple. It is also famous for the fireworks festival! You can enjoy nice green tea ice cream to cool down　in Uji, and after that you will be ready to appreciate fireworks! Place: Uji (around Uji bridge) Time:10/08/2012 19:45-20:45 Access:walk about 7 minutes from JR Uji station For more information ↓↓ http://www.kyoto.travel/fireworks_festival.html http://www.kyoto-uji-kankou.or.jp/others/map/2400map-en-ko.jpg