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Hi all It's been a while since
my last update but I'm on it now. Upon arrival here in Japan
Carmen and I touched base and planned our trip to Yakashima.
Well, she did most of the planning I just agreed on everything she
said. We got up the next day. Me still in culture
shock and a little bedazzled by Japan and headed off to the train
station at about 6 am. We jump on a commuter train to
Kagashima, a coastal town on the tip of Kuyshu. We sit
around and wait for our ferry, which turned out to be an old
luxury liner from the 50`s. After a 4 hour boat trip we
arrive at the harbor on Yakashima and proceed to get off.
Carmen had a arranged for our Mitchiku (bed and breakfast) owners
to pick us up at the ferry.
As we get off the boat we see a bunch of
people with signs and Carmen goes to one of them and says
"I'm Carmen". One of them smiles and beckoned us
to follow her. We did knowing that everything was going like
clock work. We get into a tiny Suzuki truck/van and head off
into the island. Very pleased Carmen and I for being so
organized we chuckle away and enjoy the scenery.
We arrive at what looks to be a car
rental place and after about half an hour of trying to figure out
why they wanted us to rent a vehicle we realized that they had
thought that we wanted to rent a car because Carmen said Car-man.
We then become conscious that our bed and break fast owner was
probably gone by now and we felt very embarrassed. We leave
after trying to explain our mistake and begin to hitch-hike out of
town.
After 20 minutes of thumbing it
we get picked up by a couple that we saw on the boat and are
whisked off down the road. The car they had was tiny and we
had a hard time getting into it with our one back pack but we
managed. They drove us wildly down the windy roads and
dumped us in a town somewhere. I think they didn't want to
get stuck with us because they were glad to see the back of us.
We proceed into town and find a Mitchiku.
After going to the local tree
museum and having a good nights kip we get up early to a
traditional Japanese breakfast that consisted of nato,
fermented soy bean fungi dish, miso soup, rice, some kind of fish
and fish eggs. I was not happy about this because it was my
first breakfast in Japan that was a proper sit down meal and I
wanted to gradually get used to the food but I wolfed it down with
a bitter look on my face. It was rough.
We decided to rent a car and
travel around the island with independence. The best way to
fly if you ask me. We rented a little white thing that had
an engine the size of a scooter but it was our limo for the
island. The island is something out of Fantasy Island.
A classic if I do say so my self. The whole island is about
130 km round and full of trees. There are lots of trails and
old trees to see on Yakashima. There was one tree that
Carmen and I wanted to go called Jogiman Sugi but it was a 5
hour hike in and a 5 hour hike out. We didn't have any
proper hiking gear so we decided to wimp out and just go hiking on
the lower trails that only took about 3 hours.
The island also has lots of
funky animals like monkeys and wild dear , very cool. We spent one
glorious week there and enjoyed every moment of it. We stayed in a
great hotel overlooking the ocean. They had a bathhouse down below
of which I tried. It was a cool experience once everyone left and
I had the courage to jump in before anyone else came.
I'm now back in Kumamoto
Japan. The temperature is about 20 C and falling, tonight it was a
cool ride on my bike from my Japanese class. I'm currently
studying Kumamoto International center. I'm still unemployed and
loving every minute of it. It's great just to kick back and read a
good book. I'm currently reading `Shogun`. I have made friends
here too. I've meet a couple of foreigners and tomorrow we play
football with the local foreigners, should be fun even though I
suck.
The Japanese love baseball, it's
funny watching a game because they have the Chinese drums going
boom, boom, boom, and then when the pitcher throws his ball they
all scream with delight, every time. They also have a different
sense of fashion to what the western folk are used too, high
platform shoes are the norm for the local teenagers and every sign
that is posted is a cartoon. Very different, it's like Disney Land
in a way.
I have a job interview on Monday
so I hope that goes well. Should do, it's really expensive here
and the sooner I start making the Yen the better, 180 yen for an
apple gives you an idea of the cost here. Sayonara for now.
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