Hanami...

*sings* Sakura....sakura....*hums the rest of the sakura song cause he dont know the words*.....

Hanami, not to be confused with Hanabi are the beautiful blossoms of the Sakura (Cherry Blossom tree).

The first or second week of April sees the blooming of these trees. It lasts for about a week but there is a specific time when the viewing is best. When the trees bloom fully they are a brilliant and beautiful white. They slowly fade to a pink colour as they lose their brilliance amidst the rapidly climbing temperature and constant barrage of rain.

The Hanami lines the train tracks for kilometers- from Himeji to Kyoto the sakura dots the lines and the mountains. Its really amazing to see mountains of green and brown with new sprinkles of white.

This beauty is naturally appreciated every year by literally millions of Japanese who take to every park and open area with a large concentration of Sakura trees. You bring your blue plastic sheet for the ground, your portable braai (i almost wrote bbq! O_o been here too long) and of course a large supply of Sake. (Its totally acceptable to get sloshed in the afternoon if its in the name of a Hanami party!)

Ive included a few of my fav pics ! Cut and paste (i suck at HTML)

http://img63.echo.cx/my.php?image=p10100515av.jpg
http://img63.echo.cx/my.php?image=p10100507vb.jpg
http://img25.echo.cx/my.php?image=050410132400015jp.jpg
http://img25.echo.cx/my.php?image=050410132500027lq.jpg
http://img25.echo.cx/my.php?image=p10100609fy.jpg
http://img25.echo.cx/my.php?image=sany04788cs.jpg

The Sakura in the background of the last pic are what they begin to look like after the peak viewing time has passed. When we held this Hanami party (last year) we were about a week too late. Still fun though !!