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

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

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

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!

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?!

Pirates in Hakone

Asia ~ Japan ~ Hakone, Yunesan, Kawaguchiko, Kamikochi, Matsumoto

Nope, I haven’t been taking mind altering drugs – there really are pirates in Japan…

I left the pleasant tiny island of Hachijo Jima last week, and flew into the crazy city of Tokyo. At the airport, I discovered that although the monorail-train-train-bus route to my next destination would be cheaper, there was a direct bus that was a little more expensive. The bus meant I didn’t have to go into the heart of Tokyo – whoopee!

For 3 days I became one of the millions of tourists that travel to Hakone every year. Due to the season (first weekend of summer school hols), getting accommodation proved to be difficult, so I ended up at a different hostel/hotel each night. Hakone has an interesting “free pass” that allows you to catch the local transport for three days. Local transport in Hakone means bus, [toy] train, cable car, ropeway and pirate ship! The whole route is a little touristy, but fun none-the-less. One of the must stops is a sulfur volcano. At the top of the mountain (which you reach by ropeway), you can have a “black egg” – an egg that has been boiled over the sulfur spots. Although a little off putting to look at, they were quite delicious (and are said to improve your life span…)

Eating Black Eggs

My final day in Hakone was spent at at a very traditional… Water theme park. Silly me, first weekend of the summer school holidays (and a long weekend to boot), but hey, if you’re there, you’re there. Yunesan is a water theme park literally minutes from where I was staying (with a free shuttle!), so it made sense to go. Lines were crazy to get in, but once in there was plenty to do. The park has a great system, where you’re given an electronic wristband, which serves as your locker key, and your virtual ‘purse’ – you can use it all day to pay for drinks from vending machines, food from restaurants, even for photos from your favourite amusements. Highlights of the day included the red wine bath, the green tea bath, the coffee bath and the fish bath. “The what?!”, I hear you say… One of the attractions of Yunesan was the foot pool, where you put your feet into a pool of small ‘sucker fish’, the fish nibble on your feet, supposedly eating all the dead skin and making your feet healthier. Felt kinda funny, a little harder than ‘tickle-ish’, but not painful by any means (not that you’d think that, based on the amount of screaming from the Japanese girls). Sorry, no photos of the fish bath – I have one that was ‘professionally taken’, but will have to wait till I have access to a scanner to see it!

Red Wine Bath

Next stop was Kawaguchiko, the base of Mount Fuji. I ummed and ahhed for several months whether or not I would climb Mount Fuji on this trip, and decided… no – I would not climb Japan’s famous mountain. Being in Kawaguchiko, surrounded by professional climbers and hobbyists alike has made my decision waver a little, but the state of my feet (they’ve blistered up really bad from the new shoes, am having trouble walking from the kitchen to my bedroom, let alone up a mountain) has pretty much made it impossible to contemplate the climb. It is on the list however, I will do it one day! I have been listening keenly to everyone’s opinions though, so I know what to do next time… The temperature at the top is about 20 degrees below the low here – so today was a low of 20 degrees here, meaning it was a chilly 0 degrees up on the mountain – in the middle of summer. So preparation is a must! Other than sitting around the hostel listening to climbers stories, in Kawaguchiko I went out in search of pictures of Mount Fuji, and didn’t do too bad…

Mt Fuji

Another day, another place. On Thursday I spent the day on trains and buses, to get to my intended destination, Kamikochi. Coined “the entrance to the Japanese Alps”, Kamikochi is an absolutely gorgeous area, surrounded by snow covered mountains, a true mountain climbers destination. Alas, as many of you know, I am not a mountain climber. I am, however, a lover of onsens. And Kamikochi has one of the best onsens I’ve ever been to, bokuden no yu. Just before the bus reaches Kamikochi, there is a fork in the road, with a small corner store. Inside that corner store, if you ask nicely, (and pay the right amount!), the owner will give you a key. Take that key over the bridge and to the little door that sits beside the flowing river. Inside, you’ll find onsen heaven – a small private onsen built into a cave overlooking the river. Amazing.

Bokuden no yu

How many stories start with “I walked into a pub”, and finish with “and then we were standing on the tables, singing in German…”?! Well, this one does! My last couple of days in the area have been spent in Matsumoto, a small city a fair distance away from Tokyo. It is much hotter here compared to the mountainous areas that I’ve recently been. With that in mind, yesterday, needing a respite from the heat, I headed into one of the many bars in town, and old Irish style bar. After my pint, I sat at the bar talking to the staff, who told me that Oktoberfest was on, just by the castle! So out I stumbled, to find a full tent city, complete with German flags and kegs. Grabbed a spot at a table – ended up sitting next an English guy who’s been here for 4 odd years (a good amount of that time has been spent at Oktoberfest, I dare say!) and his two Japanese friends. The night was spent singing along, downing our beers and chomping on bagels and edamame (Japanese beans).

Matsumoto Oktoberfest!

Now time to head off, I’m going North, to Hokkaido, where the weather should be a little cooler (was 33 degrees at 10am this morning!). Take care xoxo

Heaven on Earth – or at least in Japan

Asia ~ Japan ~ Hachijo Jima

Flying in low over Hachijo Jima, it is immediently apparent why the few snippets of information about this remote yet close island found on the internet are so glowing. Only an hour south of Tokyo by plane (and not all that expensive, about $110 AUD one way), the island gives off a strong tropical, hippy, carefree vibe. Just the way to relaxing after spending time (even if it was only 2 nights!) in Tokyo.

The owner of the guesthouse I was staying in, Keiko, picked me up from the airport with the news that “Qantas rang, they’ve found your luggage”. And that was it, I fell in love with the island. A quick tour showed a tiny island – the main drag was easily walkable (ok, only easy if it wasnt so damn hot!), and there was greenery everywhere. Birds singing, water visible from every standing point, and hey, it has an Aussie pub!

Keiko’s place, the Galaxy Guesthouse, was gorgeous. Perched on the side of one of the mountains, it overlooks the ocean, with fantastic night views. Run by two gorgeous cats (one of whom spent each and every night on my bed!), it was the perfect place to unwind to of a night. Keiko is the perfect host, and speaks impeccable English, making it all that much easier for a non Japanese speaker! She also knows the best onsens!

Tomo, asleep on my backpack

My first day was spent on a bike – as my luggage had not yet turned up, I didn’t have my international drivers licence, which meant I couldnt hire a car. In any case, I headed down to the waterside, found some shade and read my book for a while. Eventually I headed back to Keiko’s office, only to find myself completly lost. I approached a guy, and asked him where I was, and how to get back to downtown. He threw my bike in the back of his car, and drove me in, everyone is so incredibly friendly. No-one locks anything, including cars – a little hard to get used to!

The following days were spent at onsens (the island has a heap of them, some free, some not, one at the bottom of a waterfall, amazing), the ‘Anchor Pub’ (owned and run by Steve, an Aussie who has found ‘the better life’), and swimming (the water was so fresh, great way to cool off). My bags eventually turned up about halfway through my stay, so I was able to hire a car to see the island – a must for anyone who is considering going, whilst it’s small, it’s also extremely hilly, combine that with the heat (its mid-summer at the moment, so about 30-35 celcius each day, plus extreme humidity) and you have more than enough reasons to warrant hiring a car. And it’s only 3000 yen (about $30 AUD) per day.

Sunset over Ko Hachijo

Eventually I had to leave, but I will be back for sure. I’ll be writing up a ‘how-to’ about Hachijo Jima (as I found so little information on it before I went), so watch out for it. Am now in Hakone, the area below the bottom of Mt Fuji. Hopefully it will clear tomorrow and I’ll get some good pictures.

Love to all xoxo

Bitten by a block of chocolate

Asia ~ Japan ~ Fukuoka ~ Kurume, Saga, Yame & Yufuin

Well, life back in Kurume is both fun and natsukashii – reminiscent of the past. I’ve spent the past 1 and a half weeks living with my first Japanese host family, and it’s been great, meeting friends from the past and catching up with everyone. Arrival in Kurume was great – I caught the train down to Kurume, and a taxi to Naoko’s house. In the taxi, I was actually able to communicate with the driver and give him directions – something I’m not yet able to do in China – a very satisfying experience. First night at Naoko’s was spent at the local Chinese restaurant, catching up with everyone and having a delicious dinner of Japanese Chinese food (much better than Australian Chinese food!).

Since then, I’ve been taken around to see the many sights of the area by a good many friends. We went to Yanagawa to do a boat cruise on the canals and had an amazing 60 year old man as our navigator/driver/entertainer. He sung songs (often with my name in them) and continually made jokes, of which I understood about half (his accent/use of slang was extremely strong). He even had me up on deck steering the boat… The boat itself was unique – it was steered and propelled by the driver at the back with a long stick (no motor here) and had a table in the middle which we sat around. The table had a blanket over the top, under which we stuck our legs. Under the table were big pots of hot coals, which kept the boat (and our legs) nice and warm. After our cruise we sat down for a lunch of eel and rice – yum! I also went to Saga with the Yoshida’s, to go to the local onsen – Japanese hot spring bath – a fantastic treat on a cold winters day.

Directing the boat where to go...

Exploring Kurume has been fun and kind of sad – everything is changing dramatically. All the shops around where I used to hang out every day after school are closed – they have moved to the new shopping center that is out of town… Back at my old high school was interesting – I met up with my old homeroom teacher and English teacher, and met the two current ALTs (American English teachers). My old homeroom teacher had me go to his class and introduce myself in English (they are 3rd year students – grade 12 – studying English)… I gave a quick introduction – my name, age, what I’m studying etc and asked if they had any questions. Only one, from a loud boy in the front – ‘are you married?!’ (in Japanese). To which I replied, also in Japanese, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand Japanese, if you ask in English I might be able to answer’… No response!

My old highschool, Kurume Koutou Gakkou

I visited with the Hashizume family and went up to Kiyomizu to see the temple (imagine all the steps you’ve ever seen in your life, then double it)… and afterwards we went to a sushi ‘train’ restaurant to grab lunch – YUM. Dinner was again raw fish – this time at a favourite restaurant of Naoko & Hirosuke, with friends of theirs. The difference being that the raw fish I tried that night was fugu – the deadly pufferfish. And it was delicious (we also had it served as fried fish). Yesterday and this morning was spent at the Onsen resort in Yufuin – a fantastic place that we had all to ourselves – my belief is because it was so damn cold. But the hot baths were fantastic, and the dinner incredible. After dinner Naoko and I relaxed in my room and polished off a bottle of Australian chardonnay, a perfect end to my Japanese part of the trip.

Well, now I’m getting ready to head back to China – tomorrow I’ll be on a ferry to Qingdao – from there I’ll head up to Beijing to spend a bit of time shopping (and freezing my butt off!).

Naoko, Hirosuke & I, standing by Yufu Mountain in Yufuin

Take care all

xo bobbi

p.s. watch out for the deadly swiss chocolate – it nearly snapped my finger in half when i tried to break a piece off – now i have an awesome bruise under my nail – why does this type of thing only happen to me?!

Eating gyoza in Japan

Asia ~ Japan ~ Tokyo, Kobe & Kurume

Well, it’s official, my most favourite-ist place outside of my home country is Japan. I don’t know why I haven’t been back here since I first came in 2000, I’ll definetly be visiting more in the future. My Japanese is pretty rusty, I haven’t really practiced or studied it for about a year, but it’s coming back to me in droves. The customs guy at the airport pulled me up, saying ‘Hello, could you please open your bag’, to which I replied ‘Konnichi wa’. We then chatted in Japanese about the weather, where I learnt Japanese and where he thought I should go in Tokyo. He then let me pass, bag unchecked!

Tokyo was my first stop, as I had never been there. I stayed in a fantastic little hostel right in the heart of Tokyo. They say Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world, but I don’t agree (Dublin wins the award for that, in my opinion). The hostel I stayed at cost just 2000 yen per night – about half what I was paying in London. I also spent one night in a capsule hotel – something I just had to experience. Because trains finish up early, many Japanese business men (and women) miss that last train, rather than catch a taxi home (can be extremely expensive, particularily in Tokyo), they created the capsule hotel. In the room where I was, there was a long wall full of ‘capsules’ – tiny rooms, about 1 meter high and a bit over 2 meters long. In each capsule, there was a bed, tv, radio, light and tiny holes in the wall for a book and so forth. On another level, there was a [women only] traditional Japanese bath room. It really was suited to a person who misses the last train – they give you a towel, facewasher and pajamas. In the bath there was shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, everything for free. Lots of fun, very Japanese.

Tokyo Capsule hotel

I met up with one of my host sisters, Sawako, whilst in Tokyo, which was great. Sawako is on her last year of studying acupuncture, and she showed me around the city, helping me with the subway (a big blessing – the Tokyo subway consists of a heap of different lines, the map looks like a ‘messy plate of colourful spagetti’). We visited Asakusa Jinja – a huge shrine around the corner from where I’m staying and watched all the school kids running about. October is the official month when school trips take place and so everywhere we went in Tokyo had middle school kids racing about, taking photos. The next day I visited Akiharaba – electrical town. I had so much fun that I spent 3 hours in a single store. Just playing and looking and playing. Electronic dictionaries, digital cameras, mp3 players, rice cookers, even eletronic toilets! During my time in Tokyo, I also visited Ueno Park (and spent a couple of hours playing with a kitten and her ‘mum’ – a 3 year old Japanese kid), Ginza (very happening, busy area, full of ‘modern’ tokyoites – and the occasional kimono clad woman) and Harajuku (home of the Japanese ‘alterative’ lifestyle)

Next stop was Kobe, where I visited another of my host sisters. Asako came out to Australia in 2001 and spent 6 months living with us. It was great to see Asako and meet her family. Asako took me to see Kobe, where we spent most of our time wandering around, shopping and seeing the sights. The highlight of the visit was definetly the time spent around the dinner table – listening and talking with her family, watching her grandfather do magic tricks and listening to the concert they put on for me (Asako’s sister played the keyboard, Aunt played the piano, Cousin played the flute and Asako worked wonders with the xylophone). It was hard leaving, but I’ll be back!

Eating Okonomiyaki with Asako's family

The final stop on my trip around the world – Fukuoka – was fantastic. Kurume, a small-ish (about the population of Melbourne) city on Kyushu is where I lived when I was an exchange student, way back in 2000. Seeing all my host families again was fantastic, as was visiting all the places where I used to hang out. My host families took me all over the place, it really was weird seeing all the places from 5 years ago. So much has changed, but so much is the same. Also went to my old high school and saw my old home room teacher, as well as a few others. Managed to find my way to town and ride around where I used to, all on my own, which I thought was a pretty decent effort. Visiting my host families and catching up with them has been great, I wonder if Japan is where I should be, after all? Only the future will tell…

Me with 3 host families, at the local Chinese Family Restaurant

Of course, I’ve been enjoying the Japanese food too. Gyoza – Japanised Chinese dumplings – is probably my favourite, but sushi, gyuudon, yaskisoba and takoyaki are up there too. The food is reasonably cheap too, about $5 or $6 for a sit down meal, as long as you know where to go. I love being able to order food and know exactly what it is you’re eating. That said, it doesn’t always work out that way – the other day I wandered into a resturant, looked over the menu and realised I only understood one thing – yakisoba. That was fine, I thought, I love yakisoba. But when I ordered it, I was told it wasn’t available. Glancing over the menu again, I decided not to risk it and point, but rather to ask the waiter for his suggestion. He raced away and came back with a delicious dish, but I’m still not sure what I ate!

Well kiddies, I’m now ready to go back to Tokyo for a few more days, then I head for home. What a fantastic year, I’ll miss the traveling, but am quite looking forward to having my own bedroom, a bathroom where I can leave my shampoo and a kitchen where I can store stuff… And of course my family, friends and pets!

xoxo Bobbi!!!