Nostalgic Memoirs (ದಿನಚರಿಯ ನೆನಪುಗಳು): March 2006

The later half of the month of February is generally eventful as the university organizes winter trips. I remember the fond memories of my trip to Okinawa on last year, and hoped there could be more fun over this time around. I was fortunate to make into two trips - A ski tour to Rokuroshi Highlands and Kyoto-Nara trip.

The Ski tour was organized by Prof. Nakashima of Bunkyo campus. We went in a group of 30 students to Rokuroshi Highlands, a 1 hour drive from Fukui. The first day was pretty cold with intermittent snowfall. After having a short lunch, we adorned our ski gears to go for the slide. With me being novice, it took a while to balance with a proper stance. Thereafter it was fun skidding and making all sorts of side, front and back falls often colliding with others. The ensuing onsen (hot spring) bath and sauna made it a refreshing experience all together. The evening dinner party was fun-filled with lots of singing, dancing and enacting talents in full-flow. The next day was even brighter with blue skies and was perfect for skiing. The final glide from the mountain top was the best part with Prof. Yamamoto teaching the skills needed to control the slide. It was satisfying moment when I could make a long final slide without fall!

Rokuroshi Highlands

The Kyoto-Nara trip was organized by University of Fukui, as a part of annual winter trip. More than 50 students got an opportunity to make for it. The first day was spent at Kyoto visiting only two of more than 1000 historical temples. We also were taken to Kiyomizu pottery arena where each one of us had a chance to make cups or saucers. The evening traditional Japanese dinner had few surprises to the taste buds exploring exotic flavors of sea food dishes.

The next day was a visit to Japan's ancient capital city - Nara. The first place to visit there was Nara Deer park, where in nearly 1800 Shikas (deers) make their abode. The park also had a famous Todaiji temple where exists the largest buddha idol (Daibutsu) of Japan. It also contains a large Shinto shrine (Jinja) containing around 3000 lanterns. Then two other nearby temples -Kohfukuji and Byodoin were visited and their historical importance were learned.

Kiyomizu Pottery work (Made a large tea cup)