Before moving on to other topics, I want to write about one of my first quite-far-travel experience in here. Actually I always have the urge to write it as soon as possible, because I'm afraid I will forget it. Honestly, I don't really have a good memory. Most of my friends can prove that I'm sure.
So! Right after I got the news of my acceptance in here. I also told the my fellow lab mates (because I already know most of them from my previous internship in this lab) about that. Other than congratulating me, they also told me about their plan to go on a laboratory trip. I forgot the occasion, or if there's any occasion at all, but that is of course makes me quite excited because I will have the chance to go on a trip right after I got into Japan. Hahaha.. What a coincidence.... They said the trip will probably take place around early October, and I plan to come on the end of September, so.. Luckyy....
But... Objection!
Yes, that's right.. I ask and confirm with the graduate section of my institute that the earliest payment of scholarship money will be at the end of October. So for a month, I have to live with my own money first, including all the expenses needed for this trip.. Okay... That's alright...
Fast forward to my arrival in Japan, the trip we're going to take is to a place called Hatsushima. It's an island in Sagami Bay. Woohoo.. My first time going to another island... And we're going to spend a night at Hatsushima Island Resort, which for me, judging only by the website, is a very beautiful place. First, from ISAS/JAXA we plan to go by car to Atami, and then we will go by ferry from there to the island. I forgot (see!) how many people exactly, but there are around 10 members joined this trip. Everyone go except Nakamura-san, which might be very busy at that time, Semotaren (this is just his nickname, I don't even remember what his real name is), and Satou-san, which is the only female member of this lab (but I don't know the exact reason she didn't join). Ah, and there's another laboratory's member who join this trip too. Luckily, one of our laboratory members has a car so we only need to rent another car, and ready we go!
The journey starts at around 9 AM, and it took about 3 hours I think to reach the Atami port. We choose which person goes into which car by lottery, make a brief stop at supermarket to buy some food and ingredients for the night barbeque party, and finally arrive at Atami port.
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| Eating melon-pan is the laboratory trip's tradition (I heard) |
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| The ferry that took us to the island, don't remember the name either |
The journey with the ferry itself was very exciting! Some of us are sleeping inside the cabin, but me and a couple of other members were going to the deck and enjoying the sea. The boat shake and splashes of water sea, combined with the flapping sound of seagulls wings, really lift the mood. Ah~ This is sea... I don't remember when was the last time I go to the open sea like this...
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| Cool guys enjoying the view |
Right after we arrived at Hatsushima, some of the people who ride the same ferry with us took a tour bus, while us, as graduate students who tried to suppress the budget as much as possible, of course walk to the resort.
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| At the Hatsushima island gate(?) |
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| A glimpse of Hatsushima Island Resort |
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| My van, coincidentally called Ganesa! |
We spend our day exploring the place, playing catch ball (and because I couldn't catch my friend's throw, we missed our ball there T_T), playing volley ball, etc. Sadly one of the members has a huge project work that suddenly has to be submitted, so he spend most of the time in front of his laptop, with MatLab. There's one interesting attraction in there, called Sarutobi, which is some kind of an outbond track that consists of many hurdles and challenges. You could see some of the examples pictures at its site. There are 2 courses, the easier and harder course. We go through the easier course first, and then challenge the harder one. In my opinion, it was both physically and mentally challenging, this Sarutobi thing. Some of the hurdles require quite a strong physical ability, while some others require quite a nerve of steel. Overall, I enjoyed it very much! >_<
After some demanding physical activities, we spend the the early night at the resort's onsen, and that was actually my very first time trying an onsen! It is truly a Japanese experience that every foreigners must try in Japan. Hahahaha.... At first, I am a little awkard and full of hesitation, but those feelings slowly disappeared eventually. And it is a beautiful onsen indeed, with an outdoor pool viewing to the night sea, truly relaxing both your mind and body. I even tried the sauna, which is no more than 15 minutes I think, due to the heat and pressure inside. Huahhhh...
After refreshing our mind and body, we're preparing for the barbeque party. Everyone's helping, preparing the stove, ingredients, and cooking. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable night. Except... IMHO Japanese people are hard-working people, but they are also a hard-working party goers. I mean if they have a chance to do a party, they usually do night til drop, literally. Usually powered by beer or other alcohol, they seem have this insurmountable amount of energy to staying up and talk all night long. And my friends are not an exception in this case. I gave up and went to bed at 4 AM, and some of them were still going on.........
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| Barbeque night. Sorry Torimoto-san.. ._. |
At the next day, we are preparing our baggage because we are going to leave at the afternoon. After leaving the resort and looking around the island, we finally ride the ferry again to go back to Atami. Beside the Hatsushima Island Resort, there are other places that we plan to go to for this laboratory trip, and one of them is Atami Adult Museum. What? Adult museum? Yup, you read that right. Not ramen museum, science museum, traditional art or culture museum, but adult museum. Hahaha... It is actually one of the member idea, and everyone seems do not have a problem with it. Fortunately all members are male in this case. The place, so-called Atami Hihoukan means the House of Hidden Treasures really lives up to its name. It's a where we can see the all the history, weird, silly things Japanese and world about you-know-what things. Well, we actually prohibited from taking pictures inside the museum and I obey that rule. But if you're curious, you can find some of the pictures in here. It's really unique place! Hahaha...
The last place we went to before going back home to our sad, boring, laboratory (just kidding, it's actually a heaven on earth! :p) is a big onsen (yup, twice in a row for me) located near there (I just actually forgot the location). Unlike previous resort's onsen, the outside appearance of this onsen is more like a huge hotel consists of many floors. The interior is really nice, they have shopping center for buying omiyage, floors relaxation room including massage chairs, and different floors for men and women onsen. Once again, this place has an outdoor view to the sea. Another win!
After that long journey, we finally go back to our lab and arrive at night. Guess what we're doing after that? Yup that's right! Going back to resume our research!! (silly, of course each of us were directly going back to our room and not even a hint of research crossed our mind that night, maybe...)
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| Love from Atami/Hatsushima |
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