Blogs from Shizuoka, Japan, Asia - page 2

An early morning wake up to catch the train to Mt Fuji. After two trains to arrive at Gotemba station, I had already received two random acts of kindness from the generosity of Japanese locals. From Gotemba, I caught a bus to Subashiri 5th station (red trail). I arrived to start climbing at 8:30a.m. I pledged my donation and away I went, from a starting elevation of 2000m. The first point of interest, Komitake Shrine, the up through the tree lined forest, it was moist and mossy. The lush foliage was beautiful and cool, unlike the predicted 28 degree forecast at the fifth station. It was pleasant and not too challenging up until the new 6th station. Alas, the ease with which I started the trail was soon over, with every additional step and every station, ... read more

Well what a difference 12 hours makes! From freezing winds and overcast skies, we were greeted by the most beautiful clear blue sky and crisp air in which to depart Kyoto. Not taking any chances, Mal and I had pulled out all the thermal underwear and covered them with as many other pieces of clothing we could find. Needless to say, we spent the next 12 hours stripping off layers off and putting layers back on, with not even half the amount of time walking out in the elements we had done the day before. Our first stop was to the Heian Jingu Shrine in another part of Kyoto and a walk around the most magnificent gardens. There was also a people's market across the road so we wandered around there until it was time to ... read more

Hello my fellow travellers! I think that today was the most leisure day of my entire trip as I spent the whole day together with Junko and Bárbara in Fujieda and Shizuoka. The only plans that we had was to go and eat and a lovely dinner at a nice restaurant, shop for kimonos and attend a tea ceremony (chanoyu). It was essentially the repetition of a day that I had last year except that Junko and me was joined by Bárbara. It felt good though to not have any grand plans for the day, sometimes it's quite nice to just slow down the pace and relax. We all slept in, getting some much needed rest to regain our strength after two days of celebration in the autumn festivals of Kakegawa and Fukuroi, not to mention ... read more

Hello my fellow travellers! Today we started out very calmly, we slept in and then ate a relaxed breakfast together before we left for Kakegawa to celebrate the annual Kakegawa Festival (Kakegawa Matsuri). It's a festival that dates all the way back to the Edo period (1603–1868). Before we left Shizuoka we stopped by an electronics shop where I picked up a new memory card for my camera so that I could resume taking pictures properly. The cell phone takes at a similar quality as my compact camera, but it lacks the zoom capabilities which I use quite frequently. As we arrived in Kakegawa we took the scenic route up to Shôkichi's home which is located beautifully atop of a mountain with a gorgeous view of the valley below. It's in a very picturesque location, nestled ... read more

Die letzten zwei Tage waren unerwartet schön, auch wenn es bei der Abfahrt in Kofi erst mal geregnet hat. Ich fuhr ihnter Hiro her, war etwas faul und wollte nicht selbst navigieren. War dann auch ganz froh, denn er bog in Straßen ein, die ich nie in Erwägung gezogen hätte. Und dann wurde diese eine Straße plötzlich ganz schmal, kein Teer mehr, an den besonders steilen Stellen Beton, ansonsten Schotter, nasse Blätter. Genug der Begründungen: es schmiss mich. Leider fiel der Seitenkoffer ab und so habe ich mir zum ersten Mal den Fuß eingequetscht. Ich verschwendTee erst etwas Zeit mit laut brüllen, weil's so weh tat. Aber dann wurde ich wieder vernünftig und begann meinen Fuß herauszuziehen. Ohne meine panzerartigen Stiefel hätte ich mir den Knöchel gebrochen. So tut er nur weh. Wieder einmal hat es ... read more