Tatami rooms and sashimi

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As you can see from the website, I've added the second batch of photos (H.)

Our last day in Kyoto was spent in more temples and gardens, again rather blighted by large groups, particularly school children - have we come during school trip week? However, it was possible to find quieter spots and, particularly in the north of the city, the leaves were looking beautiful.

The next morning we were back on the train, or a series of trains, to take us to Beppu, on the coast of Kyushu in the south west of the country. The trains here are a real treat with more than enough leg room even for Hugh, largely it seems due to the fact that they are designed to be swivelled round to face in whichever direction the trains is going - how clever is that? So far they have all run perfectly on time, are spotless and have plenty of luggage room. And when the trolley girl or the ticket checker come round, they bow when they enter and leave each carriage - I'm going to suggest this for GNER!

Beppu is a spa town due to it's surrounding hot springs and bubbling mud so there are numerous public baths and most accommodation has it's own hot spring or bath. We stayed in a small minshuku or Japanese guesthouse which did have it's own bath but instead we decided to try out the sand bath just nearby - one of only two places in Japan that you can do this. You wear a yakata or Japanese cotton dressing gown, lie down in the sand and are covered by more sand at around 42 degrees until you can barely move. I wasn't sure if I would find this a bit claustrophobic but in fact it is rather relaxing as the heat warms you right through. Afterwards you wash off all the sand and then spend a little while in the hot baths - all very soothing after long days travelling. Beppu itself is a little like a mini Blackpool and seemed a little seedy around some of the back streets near where we were staying but it all seemed very good natured.

From Beppu we travelled into the centre of Kyushu to a small place called Aso which is in the middle of a huge volcano caldera. The train journey was rather lovely with mountains and terraced paddy fields. We were staying just out of the main town (more like a village really) in a Japanese style hotel or ryokan where we were waited on hand and foot by small, elegant Japanese people making us seem huge and awkward. Slippers were provided at the front door but unfortunately Hugh could barely get his feet in the largest ones. The room had an entrance hall, toilet and small enclosed balcony but was mainly just a collection of tatami mats laid on the floor with a low table in the middle and two very low chairs with cushions where dinner was served to us. This was after using the hot bath which had windows opening onto the garden - how luxurious?!

Dinner was a work of art with 10 beautifully presented dishes served to us over the course of an hour or so. This included various types of sashimi, some cooked fish, tofu (sadly something I have never managed to get used to although it was their speciality) and individual stoves to cook a kind of noodle stew. After dinner plates were whisked away and two ladies came in to lay out our bedding onto the mats. We decided we couldn't sit on the floor for much longer so retired to the bar for a while to try out the local hooch, shochu which is a kind of sake but made with either wheat or sweet potato. This went down rather well and helped a good night's sleep on the floor.

Breakfast was served in the dining room and was yet more beautiful food. Unfortunately I am not yet really into miso soup and tofu for breakfast but did manage some fish and the 'cook your own' bacon and eggs. I think that green tea is also an acquired taste.

After breakfast we set off for Mount Aso which is a live volcano in the middle of the caldera. It was already rather cloudy and the weather seemed to deteriorate as the bus climbed higher. There was a 10 minute 'view stop' at which we could see nothing and we were wondering if we had made a mistake when we got out at the volcano museum with the intention of walking the rest of the way just as the rain started. The volcano museum was quite interesting and there was a very dramatic film of the way that the caldera had been formed and the current state of volcano.

Undeterred by appalling visibility we set off up a small hill behind the museum and made it to the top without much trouble but with no view. From there we headed towards the volcano and were lucky to have a break in the clouds where we caught a glimpse of the smouldering mountain ahead. However, the cloud had come down again by the time we got to the bottom and we were soaking so we decided to take the cable car to the crater rim. Despite a crowded cable car, within a few minutes of arriving most of the others had disappeared and we virtually had the place to ourselves. The crater contains water which is a milky turquoise colour with odd oily yellow streaks. From the water and the surrounding rocks sulphur gas bellows out and swirls around and the surrounding rocks are an amazing range of black, pink and orange stripes. It turns out that we were incredibly lucky to see this as by the time we got back down into the town the cable car was closed and nobody was allowed closer than 1km due to excessive volcanic activity.

More beautiful food that evening which, if anything, was better than the previous night but by breakfast I was getting a little tired of the full Japanese meal and was a bit embarassed at the food I had to leave.

What also made our stay on Kyushu lovely was the people who went out of their way to help. There was a man in the hotel in Aso who spoke a little English and tried so hard to make us feel at home explaining everything to us so that we didn't make too big fools of ourselves. But even the bus drivers, shop keepers and station staff offered us help with the bus driver getting off his bus to show us how to work the ticket machine and later writing out the name of our hotel in Japanese so that the next driver would know where to let us off.

So leaving Aso was quite sad, despite the fact that it was still raining and my boots had not yet dried out from the previous day. Another 3 trains into Hiroshima where we arrived yesterday. We seem to have fallen on our feet with a relatively new, reasonably priced hotel which has free washing machine (very important at this stage in our trip!), hairdryer and all sorts of other little things that make life more comfortable. Hiroshima seems like another friendly place with plenty of choice for places to eat.

We had a fantastic day yesterday after taking a ferry out to Miyajima, an island in the Inland Sea famous for its shrine which appears to float on the water at high tide and its sacred mountain, Mount Misen. The sun shone all day and, of course, all reasonable sized mountains must be climbed. Going up was tough but down was even tougher and we're feeling it a little today! The view from the top stretched right across the Inland Sea to lots of islands which appeared to be floating in the haze - definitely worth the climb.

The rest of the day was spent in shrines and temples, watching the jumping fish as the tide came in (did we witness some unusual natural phenomenon - nobody else seemed to notice this) and watching people feeding the very tame deer, despite endless notices telling you not to. All very relaxing.

Today was more mentally taxing as we went to the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. There are lots of monuments and memorials in the park to different groups of people who died or were affected by the bomb and the museum describes in graphic detail the run up to the day and the effects on the city and the people. The personal testimonies are by far the most affecting along with tattered items of clothing which were worn by fatally injured children. However, it is encouraging that the museum also concentrates on the nuclear arms race today and how the city and country are campaigning for peace and bringing together groups around the world. It seems they have done what they can to bring something good out of the horrors.

Time to go and fetch our third lot of washing in 3 days (what a luxury, a backpack full of clean clothes). Hope all well....

Lots of love

Sarah & Hugh

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Comments

[jonathan]

Rest Days?
Do you have them? I'm exhausted just reading about all you're up to. And on top of that you have to do your washing too! The photos are fantastic (well done Hugh) by the way. Not much to report from home apart from the fact that the temperature has plunged by about 20 degrees today. Redoing the helpline training, going to see the terracotta warriors in January and to Venice in October next year - will you be home by then? Looking forward to your next post. J x

[Mike]

Nostalgia
I was so nostalgic reading the latest piece about your travels: the trains, the hot springs, exquisite food (but wanting a sticky pudding afterwards!), the smell of tatami mats. Hope you haven't committed the toilet slipper faux pas yet - ie wearing the slippers outside the toilet!

[Hugh and Sarah]

Slipper nightmares
We had almost every problemyou can imagine except the toilet slippers - or at least that one was not committed in public! I couldn't keep them on my feet and going up and down stairs in them while carrying a heavy pack is very dangerous. Hugh could hardly get his feet in any of them which made it all the more dangerous. Luckily we never actually went to anybody's house!

[Janet]

GNER
I know I'm late adding this but you'll have to persuade National Express to do the bowing on the trains now as they've taken over from GNER. That will be a shock for you Hugh when you get back! Your travels to Japan, though I've never been, remind me very much of Greg's descriptions when he came back.