Ponyo Town

Tomonoura (鞆の浦) is a port town at the southern end of Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture. Situated at a bay facing the Seto Inland Sea, the picturesque port town features an endearing old-fashioned fishing townscape, with a calm and laid-back atmosphere. Tomonoura is part of the Setonaikai National Park.

In recent years, Tomonoura has been picked as a filming location for several international and local movies, such as “The Wolverine” starring Hugh Jackman and “Ponyo on the Cliff” by the popular Studio Ghibli. The port town portrayed in the beginning of “Ponyo on the Cliff” was modeled after Tomonoura (from Japan-guide.com).

I went to visit my friends Anees (the male version of my name) and his beautiful wife, Amy this weekend in Fukuyama (about 2.5 hours drive). They took me to Tomonoura the port-town that inspired Miyazaki’s Ponyo and it was unreal. Though I  wish you too could have been there. Or at least, been there for the road-trip. Though I am used to living and travelling alone, I am still human. I wish I could have been there on a romantic date. Speaking of dates, I took them raw truffles. For lunch, we had local snapper (not pictured). For dinner, soba (pictured). I stayed the night. For breakfast, homemade sourdough with natural yeast (made by Anees) and fresh vegetables and herb (basil – homegrown on their balcony).

A day in the life of me

Apart from the usual eat better, exercise more, spend less time stalking ex on Facebook guff, I’ve decided to 1.train more (because I am SO tired of driving and I think I can read/knit and overall get a lot of other shizz done on route as opposed to actively wasting my dear dear precious time, like, where the F did 2015 go?). And 2. see more and do more in Japan because guys, I’ve decided not to re-contract this time round, meaning, I’ve only seven months left to make the most of this Hello Kitty life. Where to next? You might or might not (probably not) be wondering? Well, I don’t know… maybe The Big Smoke, you know, in contrast to the fresh-aired farm life and all.

Lunch with a view (review I’ve lost count)

Turns out Mimasaka ain’t as shit as what I initially thought. Apparently, good old Confucius was right: everything has beauty, but not everyone can see it or something like that. For up in the mountains in Yunogo, there is a little gem of a restaurant called Yukuru Terrace and it’s B.E.A.utiful.

Yukuru terrace is where I’d take my mama (if my mama were in Japan) for lunch. You know what I mean? It’s one of those places. Lunch with a view, free-wifi (if she starts giving you a lecture), an abundance of artsy magazines (probably for the same reason), hot sun shining through the large glass windows and slow slow relaxing (yukkuru) ambiance.

But before you start punching the address in your GPS, there’s a few things left to mention. According to my Japanese friend, they only serve 15 meals per day. After that, it’s only coffee and cake. So, if you want to have one of the two lunch options on offer, you should probably go as early as you can – they open at 11.

Both choices are 1400 yen with an option of adding a tea/coffee and cake for an extra 300.

Of course, we did that because it takes insane self-control to turn down cake and overall, everything was great.

For 1700 we were given a garden salad, sweet potato soup, octopus spaghetti, bread roll, coffee and a slice of apple ricotta cake fit for an anorexic caterpillar – you know, the usual Japanese standard.

that time i went hiking with an 8kg watermelon and a concealed weapon in my backpack

On the last day of my wee holiday in the beautiful Bay of Plenty (situated in the North Island of NZ), I went hiking with an 8kg watermelon and a concealed weapon in my backpack. Yep, you read right. My cousin and I wrapped a very dangerous knife in two tea-towels (kids, don’t try this at home) and placed it in my backpack alongside a big round stripy watermelon. Why? 1.Addiction and 2.Because there truly is no other food one wishes to gulp after a long and sweaty hike. Seriously, no other.  I’m not going to lie, heaving an 8kg watermelon up a steep hill was not the most comfortable situation I’ve found myself in during my mere 22 years, yet every freakin’ sweaty step is totes worth it in the end (once you learn to disregard the sharp stomach pains eating too much watermelon can and most possibly will, induce that is)

After food and literature, my third favourite past-time are hikes. The feeling one receives after eventually (emphasis on eventually) reaching the top of a hill/mountain and as a reward, being greeted by ‘dat view tho’ is frankly incomparable. Except well, if you reach the top and get to smash your face into some sweet sweet melons (get your mind out of the gutter!).

Between the two of us, my cousin and I ate half a watermelon each. Minus two slices, which we generously (not really as two slices were truly zilch compared to the whole fruit) hand delivered to two tourists. So, if NZers get a reputations for being generous and self-less souls (as evident in former image), you know who to thank.