Guest house Pongyi, which is Burmese for Monk. Because, the owner (named Masaki-san) is an amazingly good guy, who use to be a financial banker and was unhappy, then had his own multi-media company for a while and was still unhappy, and then did two 3 month Buddhist monk experiences in Burma helping children. With the shaving his head and wearing a robe and donating all his money and everything. After that he decided to open his own guest house (from starting with 30 dollars!) and is now very happy and is practically a local hero. Next, he wants to start a orphanage/ halfway house for kids and teens in Burma. Ha, also he would also say things like "I have a very big car! it has seats for 4 people!" and when asked about the weather tomorrow, he looked it up and with a smile said "Oh, congratulations! There is only an 80 percent chance of rain!"
My amazing bowl of ramen recommended by Masaki-san. He also recommended I get the bowl with extra meat! It's heaped with sprouts, and yes those white chunks I believe are delicious pieces of pork fat. (there are big slices of roasted pork on the other side) It was definitely only a sometimes-food.
Masaki-san also insists that every guest that stays at pongyi folds at least one origami crane, with a peace message inside, then once a year he takes them to a nearby temple, or if he has time, to the memorial in Hiroshima.
I guess that for some reason 98 percent of all the gold leaf in Japan comes from solely from Kanazawa. Here, you can see light through it!
A display showing the process of making gold leaf.
The incredible rain I walked back to Pongyi through. Apparently in Kanazawa, the saying goes "Even if you forget your lunch, don't forget your umbrella!" Which held true.
Me at Kenroku-en and the often depicted stone lantern. (its raining again, but it cleared up later)
Everywhere in the garden was very picturesque.
I can never tell if even like, the shape of the raw stepping stones and trees are selected and form organically and beautifully by directed chance, or if the whole thing, down to the direction of the grain in the rocks is carefully selected and engineered. I didn't get any very good pictures of examples, but like how the rocks are around the waterfall. Did they just put rocks together, or is every single one, its size and shape and orientation and location and make up, carefully selected and placed, with also respect to the whole, to make an small, amazingly picturesque, waterfall. And is this true for the whole place?
And Hot Pot-Nabemono! This one had a ton of people though. Also, Masaki san kinda pre-cooked it in the kitchen before bringing it out. Ha, also, whenever there is nabe mono, he insists that everyone involved go together to the grocery store if they can, everyone splits the bill, and everyone helps clean up.
Everybody for Nabenono! It was a lot of fun. Also, guess who was from New Zealand (the two blonds on the left), who was French (the dark haired western girls, on the left back and in the center), who was from Finland (the white girl in the right center), and who was from the Netherlands (the white guy in the left center) and who is Japanese (the other folks)! Then theres me! (who is a little red)
Departing from Pongyi. It was fun there. I also went to a local onsen resort hotel with Masaki san, where he started working again after being a monk, and 2 japanese people, who want to start their own backpaker place in Takayama. It had like, 2 restaurants and a cafe, a spa, a uni-asian-ish massage center, an ice cream bar, group and meeting facilities, a game/arcade corner, a huge room filled with rows of plush reclining chairs with built in speakers and a tv infront of it, a whole bunch of hotel rooms, aaannnddd the multiple indoor outdoor pools ranging from cold to 105 to naturally mineral rich to herb bath and with a sauna. Ha, and a lot of naked Japanese men. And you take your shoes off in the lobby, so you walk around everywhere barefoot or in socks.
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