Weekend at the lake

This weekend I went up with a group of people to a place called Lake Biwa. Its the biggest lake in Japan, just north of Kyoto. The south side is nasty and polluted but the north side is actually very nice and clean. We stayed at a Ryokan (Japanese Traditional Hotel) right on the beach.

Here are some pictures of the Hotel.



This is a big dinning room.



Hallway



View from the Hotel



view from my room.



Traditional Futon style sleeping. Hey it was only 3500 yen a night. (about 30 bucks)



view from my balcony



restaurant on the beach



I took these pictures in the morning when it was a little foggy. This afternoon the clouds opened up and it ended up being a really nice day. This is looking across the lake.



another view looking across the lake.







The group I came with. The weekend was pretty come and go. Lots of people in and out. But a few of us stayed the whole weekend.



The Saturday cookout feast.



This was what I cooked. A little culture note on Japan. No matter what the situation, food is always shared. Even though I brought this and cooked it myself, you still share it as a group. But the great thing is everyone does that, so you get to try lots of different things. Its actually such an integral part of Japanese culture that even when a group of gaijin get together, we still do the same thing. Theres really no such thing as walking into a restaurant with a group of friends and ordering something for yourself. Everyone orders a little bit and shares with the group.



I kept asking people if they wanted more skrimps, but they didn't know what I was saying. I had to explain in Texas, at least with my friends, we call them skrimps.



A little Jack Johnson on the radio, it felt a little bit like I was already in Hawaii. Only two more weeks!



Overall it was a great weekend. It was one of those weekends where I wore my swim trunks for all 2 days and the only showers I took were going swimming.