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Nov
21
Green Island

I had organised for a 2 day “package” of Green Island, which included the taxi and ferry rides, accommodation, scooter hire and a snorkeling trip. Jack picked me up from the ferry terminal and set off towards his hotel, giving me a quick tour on the way. Green Island only has one main road that circles the island, and takes about an hour and a half on a slow scooter ride. We passed the main attractions – the airport (they make a killing, as most people come by boat, and can’t stomach the thought of the return and buy last minute flights), the old prison (very interesting history), the new prison (it’s still a prison, so don’t go in and try to take photos) and “downtown” ( a strip of about 10 shops or so).

Jack set me up with a room (absolutely magnificent room with beautiful dark teak floors and furniture) and showed me my scooter. He was more than a little worried when he found out I had only ridden a few times, and made me practice a few times in front of him, but I must of passed for he let me take the scooter anyway.

Jack's Inn, the boutique hotel that I stayed at whilst on Green Island.

Jack's Inn, the boutique hotel that I stayed at whilst on Green Island.

I ended up at the BBQ joint opposite the hotel for dinner. Furtively looking around, I copied everyone else as we chose our meats and veggies from the fridges and barbecued them ourselves. Just as I was finishing up, two girls from one of the other tables came over and asked me to join them. I joined their party and we had a great time eating, drinking, singing karaoke and playing UNO (which they were delighted to find out works the same in Australia, including Laura’s crazy rules!) The group turned out to be Taiwanese and Hong King students from Tainan – students of what I still have no idea!

Our group at the BBQ joint

Our group at the BBQ join

They invited me to head to the hot springs with them, so we jumped on our scooters (me still trying to get used to mine – this lot has been on scooters since they were tiny) and headed off. A couple of kilometers up the road, we stopped (in the middle of the road, on a dark and windy area) and one of the guys pulled a torch out of his pocket. Jumping off his scooter, he headed to the side of the road and started looking in the trees. Looking closer, I noticed this dude was much older than the rest of the group, who followed him over. Turns out we were on a nightime wildlife tour (I missed that somehow) and he was pointing out some crazy big insects. He continued with us for a while, pointing out deer and water buffaloed and whatnot before disappearing and us heading onto the hot springs.

Look, it's a deer

Look, it's a deer

The hot springs were fun – one of only three in the world, they use salt water instead of spring water. Various temperatures, from almost freezing to about 42degrees. Unlike Japanese onsens, it is mixed bathing, and swimwear is worn. We had a great night, and my Taiwanese friends returned me to my hotel before continuing onto their dorm.

Chilling at the hot springs at midnight

Chilling at the hot springs at midnight

The following day I was up early for my snorkeling tour. The weather had changed and was no longer still and sunny, it was now windy and rainy. Still, off to the snorkeling shop I went. My guide fitted me up with a wetsuit (I was the only one on this trip), wetsuit boots and a lifejacket. I’ve been snorkeling a fair few times before, but I’ve never worn a lifejacket and I’ve always used flippers. I attempted to say I didn’t need the lifejacket, but he wouldn’t have any of that. We jumped on our scooters and headed around the corner to the beach, where he handed me a rubber ring and a mask and snorkel?? After walking a few meters out, he instructed me to lie on the rubber ring – and out my face in the water. He then proceeded to put his flippers, and tow me around to see everything! I’ve since seen groups of 3,4 and even up to 8 people being towed around by a single guide – the lazy way to snorkel indeed! Certainly not what I’m used to, but a fun experience nonetheless. Bonus that the sites under the water were deceptively beautiful, huge coral reefs and a crazy neon colored fish, and I didn’t even remotely have a fear of being sunburnt.

Snorkelling group heading out

Snorkelling group heading out

Getting their safety rings

Getting their safety rings

Getting ready to "jump in"

Getting ready to "jump in"

And the leader leads the way!

And the leader leads the way!

The rest of my time on the island was spent riding the scooter around – once again I’ve fallen in love with scooters and am trying to figure out how practical they would be back home. This morning I spent an hour or so by the beach, patting a friendly lone golden retriever and contemplating the trip back.

Street lights coming on, first night on Green Island

Street lights coming on, first night on Green Island

Waiting for Jack to take me down to the ferry terminal, I met the two Europeans staying at the same hotel, who were due to head back on the boat with me. They didn’t have as good a trip as I on the way over, and begged me to share my stash of “miracle drugs”. A little apprehensive, one of them took a photo of the Chinese-only bottle, declaring that at least this way he had “something to show the emergency department”!

We had an uneventful return to the mainland, whether due to the drugs or a better crossing, I’m not sure. They did tell me a funny story about the island though – this morning they were riding their scooters around, when they came across a lone golden retriever in the middle of no-where (“I know that dog!”, I said). The first guy scootered around it, the second stopped just before it. The dog looked up and him, as if saying, ‘well, where have you been?!’ and proceeded to jump onto the scooter! Apparently the expression on Ari’s face was priceless – and he tried to shoo the dog off the scooter, to no avail. Appears the dog has been riding scooters for a lot longer than Ari, and managed to stay on as he took corners at crazy speeds to push him off. He eventually got off when he was ready to, where I must of met him only half an hour later!

I’m now in Hualien – I’ve booked my tour of Tarako Gorge for tomorrow morning and have got a load of washing on. Thankfully it’s a bit cooler here, as I’m wearing only my leggings and my thick jacket as everything else is in the washing machine – fingers crossed everything dries before I pack up tomorrow (but it can’t be as bad as Alex the Austrian, who is jumping on a 20 hour flight tomorrow morning with a backpack full of wet diving gear, ugh).

Category: Taiwan  Tags: , , , ,  Leave a Comment
Nov
30
Just call me Travel Agent Bobbi!
Asia ~ Japan ~ Fukuoka & Beppu

Once again, blogs have been few and far between, whoops. It’s been a month of accomplishments with my Japanese – I can now do many things in Japanese that I never before had the ability or courage to do: order pizza delivery over the phone, direct a taxi driver to my apartment, make travel arrangements with a travel agent and more. Most of these things are activities I never even had the opportunity to do in English, in Australia – I live in the sticks, so getting a taxi home, or getting pizza delivered has never been an option. I’m finally beginning to really function over here!

Gyoza at the gyoza restaurant in Hakata

Gyoza at the gyoza restaurant in Hakata

My friend Jen from home has been visiting me for the past two weeks, and it’s been a blast. I’ve taken her around to do plenty of things around Kyushu, including clubbing in Fukuoka (stumbling home at 7am after spending all night at “Happy Cock”, all you can drink for 2000 yen, who can go past that?!), horse races in Saga (where you go not to watch the races in Saga, but to bet on the races in Kyoto!), temples in Dazaifu (students are starting to cram, the temple was packed!), a home party drinking cocktails and eating oden in Kurume (and laughing the night away with crazy cousins!), bali style onsens in Chikushi (Jen’s first onsen!), sand onsens, hostels and “hell valley” in Beppu (natural bubbling colourful pits of sulphur water, reminiscent of what hell may look like), souvenir shopping at the many 100-yen shops in Fukuoka (and then finding a post office that will accept the 100-odd kg of souvenirs that Jen bought!) and shopping and watching movies at Canal City in Fukuoka (New Moon has FINALLY come out in Japan!).

Students tying their fortunes up at Dazaifu

Students tying their fortunes up at Dazaifu

Matt’s headed off on his next adventure – he is now in Taiwan looking for a job, leaving me in Japan all on my own… Never fear, with my newfound pizza (and sushi, curry, hotpot, Korean, Indian etc etc) ordering abilities, I think I should survive. Throw in the attention of my host sister and cousin (I have an accessible apartment in the city, a big bonus on a Saturday night when trains stop at 11:30pm! This Saturday night is the first I haven’t been out till 7am, and it was only because Jen was leaving early Sunday that I was excused!) and my other Japanese friends.

At the Moomin cafe in canal city. If you're lucky, Mr Moomin himself will come and sit at your table to help you drink your gingerbread hot chocolate (which is easily the best hot chocolate I've ever had, and so it should be at $8 a cup).

At the Moomin cafe in canal city. If you're lucky, Mr Moomin himself will come and sit at your table to help you drink your gingerbread hot chocolate (which is easily the best hot chocolate I've ever had, and so it should be at $8 a cup).

Now it’s back to work, sorting out my parents itinerary for when they rock up in two weeks time. We’ll be hiring a car (eek!) and traveling a bit of Kyushu before heading to Kyoto & Osaka for a couple a days, and then heading to China on the ferry. Just call me Travel Agent Bobbi!

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Aug
17
Spa Hostel Khaosan Beppu (Beppu, Japan)

I stayed here for 2 nights, and thoroughly enjoyed my stay. The rooms and beds were clean and quiet. The staff went out of their way to help me find local baths and things to do, and organised a “party/fireworks” night, with free food and drinks. Free internet is available from the four computers in the lobby, making it easy to keep in touch with home.

There are quite a few common areas as well, letting you chat with other travelers. The hostel is close enough to the train station (about 10 minutes), and certainly walking distance to the sand baths and other attractions. A special treat is the onsen right at the hostel.

Category: Accommodation Reviews, Japan  Tags: , ,  Leave a Comment
Aug
15
Are the gods out to get me?
Asia ~ Japan ~ Kyushu ~ Kurume, Beppu & Kagoshima and Asia ~ Japan ~ Koyasan

Everyday over here seems to present new challenging situations, and yet each day also seems to present unbelievable experiences.

After leaving Hokkaido, I traveled down south to Kyushu via Osaka. Due to the entire country being on the move (and despite the fact that I booked my tickets two weeks in advance), I was unable to secure seats on a fast shinkansen. Instead, I went on the “SuperExpress Shinkansen” that stopped at all stations to Kurume. Sheesh. In Kurume I once again met up with previous host families and had a fantastic time. Our days were spent lazying about in the air conditioning (unbelievably hot down here in Kyushu) and going out for dinner. My first night out was at the local Chinese restaurant, where the owner still remembered me! Second night out was at a yakitori (grilled foods) restaurant. Plenty of (ice cold) beer to be had, fun times had by all. As always, leaving was difficult (sob!), but I’ll be back soon…

From Kurume I headed to Beppu. However, due to a problem with buying my rail pass in Kurume, I first had top head to the bigger city of Fukuoka to take care of my rail pass. As I’m flying out of there in 5 days time, I thought I would leave my big backpack in a coin locker there, and just cart around my small bag. So off I went to the coin locker place, and asked the guy how long you can leave a bag there, was 5 days ok? He said it was fine, so I put the bag in a locker (had to struggle to make it fit, I wasn’t going to pay the extra $1 to get a bigger locker!). The way it works is you pay the first day when you deposit the bag, then you pay whats owing when you come and get your luggage. So I paid for the first day. I then went all chatted to the girls at the information desk, and they then told me that its a max of three days for the lockers – after that they make you pay heaps of money to get your bag back. Bah! I had to go back and get my bag, and take it with me to the next place. Put it in a locker at the station when I got here, so I didn’t have to lug it to my accommodation, but still had to get it in and off the trains, very annoying!

Kagoshima

Kagoshima

In Beppu, the capital of hot springs in Japan, I spent my first day wandering around, attempting to keep out of the sun. While strolling down the main street, I noticed an ATM that would accept my card, and thought I may as well get some money out as backup. Big mistake – half an hour later, after many “discussions” with the guys at the bank, my credit card had been frozen, and it appeared they had $500 of my money. The rest of the night was spent on internet chat to Australia trying to sort it out. Appears to be sorted out now, but was not fun! Whilst in Beppu, I also went to a hot sand bath (in an attempt to relax after the credit card dramas). Amazing! You put on a cotton yukata (summer kimono), and then lie down in the hot black sand whilst they shovel hot sand over your body. The feeling is amazing. Afterwards, you wash yourself off and soak in a big onsen bath.  My second night was spent in fear – put a bunch of drunk foreigners together with a big bag of fireworks, and what do you think is going to happen?  We’re just lucky that the rain dealt with most of the blow from the crackers.

Fireworks in Beppu

Fireworks in Beppu

From Beppu it was down to Kagoshima, one of the most south points (other than the islands) that you can go in Japan.  My first day was spent in agony – the trip was 6 hours of changing trains, and as it is the Obon holiday, tickets were sold out in most carriages.  As a result, I ended up in a smoking carriage – couple that with the 3 hours of sleep I had the night before, and the copious amounts of Japanese sake and shochu I drank the night before (FREE, it was free!), I was a sorry sight by the time I made it to Kagoshima.  Luckily I had the foresight to book a hotel rather than a hostel, and spent a good majority of my time asleep in my hotel room…

My last night in Japan was spent at a buddhist temple – an unbelievable experience.  After checkin, I wandered about the neighbouring mossy antique cemetery - with an estimated 500,000 graves.  Dinner was at 5.30pm, with an 8pm lights out!  With a wake-up bell at 5.30am, the early bedtime was just as well.  The next day was spent traveling to get back to the airport (with a few pre-planned stops for souvineer shopping :) ).

Once again, my travels in Japan are over, but have no fear, I’ll be back again!

Sun setting on my holiday

Sun setting on my holiday

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Aug
08
Sunsets and Onsens
Asia ~ Japan ~ Hokkaido ~ Sapporo, Furano, Wakkanai, Cape Soya, Noboribetsu Onsen & Muroran

Arrival in Hokkaido was like a breath of fresh air – whilst the weather in Honshu had been bearable, it was most definitely hot. Being that bit further north, Hokkaido’s climate is lovely, with hardly any humidity. My first couple of days were spent in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, where I spent most of my time shopping (after the small towns in Honshu, shops were a big deal!). Visiting the Sapporo Beer Factory was also a must!

From Sapporo I headed to Furano on the “Lavender Express”. Furano, a town in the centre of Hokkaido, is known for it’s beautiful fields of lavender, certainly a sight to see. After arriving in Furano, I wandered about the station trying to figure out if there were buses to the local attractions. Found out there was a bus leaving RIGHT NOW, so I raced off and got a ticket and jumped on… Turned out it was a sight seeing bus for “Kita no kuni kara” (“From Northern Country”), a long running Japanese television drama. Very similar to going to Australia to do the Neighbours tour… Amongst other things, we saw the house that the main character built from recycled products – an old bus, refrigerator doors and so forth. We also visited the ice cream factory (asparagus ice cream any-one?) and the jam factory (huge variety of jams to taste, including pumpkin!). In Nakafurano, I was lucky enough to meet a guy who’s traveling around Hokkaido with his elderly father – they took me around for the day (they have a car to get around), so transport was taken care of! They even took me out for “gengis khan” barbecue for lunch, yum.

Me, at Farm Tomita in Nakafurano

Me, at Farm Tomita in Nakafurano

From Furano area, I headed north, to Wakkanai, a small town at the tip of Japan. Arrival in Wakkanai was fun – the town was in the middle of a summer festival, so there was street performances and food. I wandered off to find my hostel (“only fifteen minutes walk from the station”). Turned out it was fifteen minutes straight uphill – I got there, but only just! Whilst I was struggling up the hill with my backpack, a crew of teenage boys came jogging past me in their club uniforms. Bleh, they might have been jogging, but I had a heavy backpack! The hostel was lovely – I got there and crashed, and was woken up later that night by the owner – there were fireworks in town that could be seen from the hostel. So we sat on the roof, watching the fireworks go off by the waterside. As breakfast was served at 7am, I was up and only slightly awake by 7.05am the next morning. Wandered into the breakfast room, still very much out of it, to be greeted by yesterdays baseball club, who all immediately bowed and shouted “ohayou gozaimasu” (good morning) to me – I was so flummoxed – I mean, it was 7am, I hadn’t even wiped the sleep from my eyes and there’s all these kids shouting at me, eek! Whilst in Wakkanai, my main (only) aim was to see the sun set over the most northern part of Japan, Cape Soya…

Sunset over Cape Soya

Sunset over Cape Soya

Another day, another location – my last stop in my little trip around Hokkaido was Noboribetsu Onsen, south of Sapporo. Noboribetsu Onsen is famous in Japan as one of the best onsens in the country, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Two nights in the area allowed me to visit the baths 5 times – and they were amazing. From the “hot waterfall” (streams of hot water falling from 2 floors up onto your back) to the “walking onsen” (two ankle deep round pools, one containing hot water, the other containing ice cold water – the idea is you walk in the hot one for a lap, then swap to the cold one for a lap, the feeling is incredible), there’s plenty to keep oneself amused. Due to it’s eery sulfur spots (which provide alot of the water for the onsens), the area is also known as “hell valley”.

Noboribetsu Onsen of a night - everyone wears their summer kimono - yukata - around town

Noboribetsu Onsen of a night - everyone wears their summer kimono - yukata - around town

On the way back to Sapporo, I stopped at a little town called Muroran, which has recently re-invented itself as a whale/dolphin watching location. From there I took a sightseeing boat out into Volcano Bay. Although no whales were seen, we saw a heap of dolphins, so it was a fun day. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I had lathered myself in sunscreen twice before going out, I got extremely burnt on my arms. I can’t imagine how bad it would have been if I hadn’t have been wearing sunscreen… I was planning on heading into Otaru (a town known for its sushi), however my sunburn quickly put an end to those plans, so I headed back to Sapporo instead, intending to have a quiet night. Of course, Sapporo is in the middle of it’s summer beer festival, so that plan didn’t work – why do I always end up at a beer tent?!

Dolphins in front of the boat - sorry for the dodgy photo, hard to get one of dolphins, they move so fast!

Dolphins in front of the boat - sorry for the dodgy photo, hard to get one of dolphins, they move so fast!

Tomorrow I head down to Kyushu – whilst I’m excited to be seeing everyone again, I’m not looking forward to the temperature difference – right now (in Sapporo), it is 24 degrees, with 56% humidity. Fukuoka is 32 degrees, with 84% humidity – what am I getting myself into?!

Category: Japan  Tags: , , , , , , ,  Leave a Comment
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