Ibaraki Trip (2nd day)

On the first night, I was in Calvin's room chatting till 3 in the morning.. so long didn't chat after midnight liaw mar.. haha.. and then woke up at 8 oclock..missed breakfast at 7 and we were supposed to meet up with everyone at 730.. my roommate also couldnt wake up.. haha..Yabai!

Well, let's not talk about that.. haha.. Anyways, we went to Tsukuba Mountain(one of the famous mountains in Japan).. We took a Tour bus to the mountain, and then took a cable car up the mountain.. Before going up, there was this temple and a place to wash ur hands (water from the mountains usually)


but the water here wasn`t that clean.. one of the basins were filled with mossy water.. >.<


And before we went up, we had this performance by this guy.. He was promoting Gama no Abura.. er.. frog ointment.. lol.. he crapped a lot and gave us this performance of him cutting himself and putting the ointment on his wound, only that his sword was fake.. hehe.. I have a video, but i need to rotate it but i dont have a software to do that, so i wont put it up..


Okay, so we went up.. and all we could see was clouds covering the scenery.. but I think if we could see the scenery also nothing much.. not that pretty.. Well, that wasn`t the end of it though.. We had to walk some more to reach the highest point..


The path up was made of dirt and stones.. creative.. but because it rained the night before, it was slippery and a bit muddy.. >.<


On the way there was this stone shaped like a frog..They love frogs don`t they? ^^


Okay we reached the top.. sort of.. Well, the stone marking says that we are on top of one of the 100 popular mountains in Japan..


Suicide! On the edge of the mountain.. heh..


The hiking team camwhoring.. after this we went down the mountain by the cable car again.


And this was our free lunch on that day.. nice ler?? hehe..

After Tsukuba Mountain, we went to a Scientific Research Laboratory (something like that). We actually only entered one of the many exhibitions there. The first thing we got to see was a silicon ball and a box made of metal used as Japan’s basic measurement (1 kg).They have to send it somewhere(America?) every 2 years to make sure that the weight doesn’t change.

I don’t remember the second and third exhibition that clearly. Didn’t take any pictures. Don’t think it was interesting. But there was this cute thing there. A baby seal (plush toy??).



It’s not just a plush toy actually. It is used for some medical treatments and rehabilitations. Why? It’s just a plush toy, right? Well, it happens that this baby seal has sensors on every part of its body, even on its whiskers. And when you pat it, it will respond with a light purr. Cute eh? Sorry, didn’t take a video of it. Just pictures.




Then, there was this robot. Well, I guess there are cooler robots than this, but today, especially for us, the onee-chan (cute sister(lol)) gave us a special preview of one of Japan’s most advanced technologies.(sorry, the video was too big to upload..sigh.my cam resolution too big)

At night, we went for dinner at a restaurant near the beach in Ibaraki (a port actually.. didn’t see any beach). This was our dinner.


Wow! Sashimi! Crab Miso Soup! Tempura Prawns! I know you guys who didn’t go are regretting now.. Wahahahahha.. I’m so evil. *wink*

And near the beach(port), there was this Marine Tower (that’s what they call it).


On the third day, we visited the first atomic energy research centre in Japan. Good thing I didn’t wake up late again. Hehe.


This device is used to test the effects of radioactive waves on blocks. You control the “hands” from outside the glass enclosure. Note: Sorry, Wye Marn, muriyari use you as model. hehe

And this is a model of the Uranium combustion unit used in the reactors. It contains around 1 kg of 20% purified uranium, and 100 grams of uranium-265 (is that right?) which can be used for atom splitting (in short, energy generation).


After that, we went into one of the reactors, which has a maximum capacity of 3500 Megawatts. The reactor is 10 meters underwater.


Our tour guide told us that the rectangular block that turns greenish-blue is the reactor’s centre, but at that time it was only producing 350 Megawatts, so the color wasn’t that clear.


This is the forbidden area. Hehe. Well, actually in this reactor, they use the radiation for a medical process which can destroy cancer cells located near the skeleton effectively. It’s not widely used yet because very few countries have nuclear reactors, so it’s in experimental stage and is totally free. It’s good to know there’s something like that.

That’s all for this trip. Overall, the trip was quite nice. Except that, like every tour you follow on a trip, we have very little time to see what we want to see. Always trying to chase time. But then again, the fact that everything was free makes up for all. Haha.