2 day school trip | okayama x kagawa

Haven’t made a post in a while even though I have taken quite a few photos and videos lately, so here’s me getting back on track. Last week on July 6th and 7th we had a trip that was setup through my school and I didn’t want to go but my classmates asked me to go haha. The trip took place in Okayama and Kagawa.

Day 1

Departure time was 8am and of course I arrived juuuuust on time with a couple minutes to spare. Same thing happened on the last school trip too lol. At least I took the correct station exit this time.

First location was Himeji Castle, kind of funny cause I was thinking of going there just a week or so before the trip.

Castles aren’t really my thing but it was cool to walk inside and up all the stairs.

But before entering let’s take some selfies.

There was many sets of stairs, I also had a hard time of choosing which lens to use, I think I switched lenses a good amount of times.

Here’s a quick view from out one of the windows. It was a really warm and humid day so feeling the strong breeze from the windows was very nice.

It would have been cool to see how this place was furnished, like if they had a display room or something.

Stairs stairs stairs, very steep and little headroom.

The lighting contrast made for some cool photos though. My classmate ended up being my trip model haha. Here is the cover to her anime lol.

Ah yes, more stairs.

And more cool lighting areas.

Check out the drip.

Last little outside view while making the trek back down all the stairs.

After exiting I took one of those super typical castle pics, I want to try again during cherry blossom season.

After checking out the castle I chatted with a few friends from other classes before making our way back to the busses. The next location was a lunch spot that was on the way to our hotel.

Traditional Japanese meal set I suppose.

Everything was pretty good, I had no complaints at least. Especially considering it was a catered event.

My classmates were excited to eat haha.

Ahh yes, before eating we gotta take selfies. I mean, my camera always eats first as well.

Before heading back to the bus I was on my lil nature shit and took some dragonfly pics or whateva.

Speaking of bus, these are the busses we were riding in. No bathroom so I had to take great consideration when drinking things haha.

On to the next destination.

Then mid nap I woke up the this sight! I think only certain people know of this car, it’s a Mitsuoka Le-Seyde which is based off of the Nissan S chassis platform, this on being a S15. I don’t know any details about them, they just are interesting. Crazy how I immediately recognized it upon waking up, never seen one before. I wish I was driving so I could have turned around and got out to take a closer look. If I pass through the area again I will.

The next location was Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter. Never heard of it but it was a gorgeous area. To be honest I couldn’t help but think of how cool it would be to take photos of my silvia here. Once I get that thing registered I’m gonna do a serious road trip haha.

Cool pic of one of my teachers before crossing the main street.

This place gave Kyoto vibes but I’m pretty sure anywhere you got that has this kind of preserved architecture seems similar.

I really enjoyed seeing ivy plants around the entryways and covering the sides of buildings.

Another one of my teachers, staying cool by enjoying an ice cream.

I had to test my car photo theory on this mercedes that parked in the middle. I wish the wheels were straight but it still looked pretty cool parked in this area.

In the center canal you could ride this little boat and it seems like the operator was telling the riders historical facts about the area.

Take this photo for what it is, but you know what I am imagining hahaha.

This was a small remaining bit of the government building moat. Hmm, I wonder why they needed a moat.

Yep, more ivy doorways.

This would have been such a dope pic if somebody was walking across the walkway.

After working up a sweat, I got this white peach ice cream, flavor was out of this world, also had little peach chunks inside. Was 350 yen I think.

With my ice cream in hand I went to this little bamboo forest section. I always love little water features, especially when they include fish.

One little fishy, just keep swimming just keep swimming.

Very relaxing area, perfect for a picnic, wish I had more time to chill here.

Later that evening we finally arrived at our hotel https://www.marine-hotel.co.jp/. When we arrvied it felt like high school grad night trip all over again hahaha.

More pics of my classmate at the beach. Speaking of beach, we were told not to swim but the thing about me is, if there’s a water, I’m a gettin in soooo yeah.

Changed clothes real quick then went to the 2nd floor for dinner and a few rounds of trivia.

The trivia consisted of A or B type answer questions and the last person standing got to choose a gift.

Once trivia was over a bunch of us went out to the beach to light some sparklers and have some drinks together. Can’t wait till I make the switch to full frame, so I can take advantage of better low light shooting performance.

To finish off the night, a group of us had some drinks, interesting snacks, and a good laugh. It’s a really unique experience to get together with people from all around the world but speak with our common language being Japanese.

Looking back on it, this was a super action packed day. I slept soo good that night. My classmate who is always up super early invited me to join her on a morning walk if I were to wake up early. Which I did, so I joined her.

Day 2

I woke up around 5:30am and just laid there till about 6am before leaving my room. I headed down to the beach to find my classmate.

After I found her we set out for a walk, the morning lighting combined with the vibrant greenery made for some lively photos.

I’m glad Jehi didn’t mind me taking photos, it was good practice with my sigma 56mm.

Grass, because grass.

Here’s where my spidey senses started tingling. We were walking through an alleyway and I caught a glimpse of a white 2 door car to the left across the street behind a fence out of the corner of my eye. Boom! A s13! Immediately had to go over there.

Looks like it has been sitting for at least 4 years, based on the moss and mold growth.

Very tastefully put together, definitely saved the location so I can make a trip back when I have some cash to spend and see if I can work out a deal somehow. Worth a shot right?

We walked a bit more then made our way back to the hotel for breakfast.

Bunch of little cute crabbies running around.

As we were walking past this swing set, I asked her if we should play for a bit and she said yes. She actually wanted to ask me the same thing too but didn’t think I would be interested haha.

Okay let’s get back for breakfast for real this time. Before it get’s colder than it already is.

It was super funny hearing everyone’s thoughts about the food during this trip.

After breakfast I packed up real quick and was on the bus ready to depart by 8am. The next location was Kotohira.

Once we arrived we attended this cool udon making class.

I gotta figure out why my lightroom photo exports come out much darker than how they look in the edit preview, super annoying…

I cut mine a lil thick, but it was perfect once I cooked it a few days later.

Came out looking like an actual store product lol. I’m sure my camera enjoyed getting covered in flour.

Then we made our own dough from scratch but not many pics since I was doing the dirty work.

Next a small group of us went to go climb some stairs up Kompirasan. I wanted this ice cream but figured it would hit different after climbing to the top.

The first few hundred steps had a bunch of shops, do they climb these stairs everyday or is there a road out back?

Considering I never really do cardio, I was cruising up these steps fairly quick.

To the tippy top was a little over 1300 steps, there was also stepless paths. My theory was that if I skip every other step I will only technically climb 650 steps, I carried that same energy all the way to the top to my surprise. I just kept truckin, unfortunately didn’t take any pics of the view at the top cause I had to get back down to the bottom quick for lunch.

Here’s the shrine at the toppidy top.

Not gon lie I wanted to ride this mf down to the bottom, pause.

I was digging this aesthetic stairset.

Got my celebratory ice cream once I got down to the bottom. Had a 50 yen off coupon too, mom would be proud of the coupon usage.

Literally had like 6 minutes to eat my food before having to get on the bus to head back to Osaka. But I did it!

All in all, was a good trip even though I didn’t have any interest. Its always good to see new places and experience new things. Cheers to next time and more posting!