Blogs from Kumamoto, Japan, Asia

Nach dem üblichen Frühstück bin ich heute zur zweiten Sehenswürdigkeit von Kumamoto gefahren: der Burg. Diese wurde 2016 durch ein Erdbeben beschädigt, ist aber mittlerweile fast vollständig wieder aufgebaut worden. Ich sah heute aber immer noch zwei Kräne. Man kann im Gebäude bis zur Aussichtsplattform auf der 6. Etage hochlaufen und es befindet sich auch eine Ausstellung darin. Nach meinem Besuch kehrte ich ins Hotel und genehmigte mir mal wieder ein japanisches Premiumbier aus dem Hotel-Laden. Den Nachmittag über machte ich so dies und das und abends hatte ich eine Reservierung im japanischen Restaurant meiner Unterkunft. Hier waren die Englischkenntnisse der Bedienung sogar für japanische Verhältnisse nicht besonders und ich weiß nur, dass ich "expensive meat" gegessen habe. Aber was interessant war, war dass es auf einer Art Tischgrill mit einem heißen Stein erst von mir ... read more

Driving around in Japan is reasonably easy as they do at least drive on the same side as us!! Trying to get the sat Nav to work was more of a problem especially when we couldn't get Google maps to work. ... eventually driver and navigator worked in harmony.... Anyway it's given us a few days of doing our own thing and taking a few days to get to Kumamoto our next match with Wales v Uruguay. There was a lot of talk while we were in Oita about the typhoon that they thought was going to hit the island of Kyushu and that Wednesday's game might be cancelled, but luckily for us it missed us all together but it did cause some horrendous damage further North. We arrived in Kumamoto and gave the car back ... read more

Day 6 Amakusa to Kushikino Distance 68 miles. Ave 14.2 Ascent. 1104 m Temp 13-24 deg. Today was a ride south following the coast and involved a ferry ride to the mainland and culminating in a train ride to Kushikono. Due to the distance and the ferry and train timetables we set off at 7am on a cool morning after a 6am breakfast. This was a set menu of Japanese food again, fish, fish and then fish soup to finish. It was really good food and stoked us up for the day ahead. The scenery was stunning all day passing through fishing villages and through farmland with small fields growing a large variety of crops. Rice, onions, soy beans and a varity of vegetables. Once on the mainland after the ferry the soy changed to potatoes. ... read more

Day 4. Aso to Kumamoto 39 miles. Ave 13.0 mph. Ascent 560m. As we left the hotel there were just a few drops of rain but within 2 miles it became heavier until we were forced into our wet weather gear, complete with yellow helmet cover. Once in Aso we went to the store and bought lunch, which comprised sandwiches of the mon fish variety, thankfully. We are are almost fished up already. The route from here took us up onto Mount Aso through trees until it was open moorland reminiscent of the North York Moors. Unfortunately due to poor visibility, wind and rain we did not reach the volcano basin but turned back down the other side towards the west. Stopping for a snack at the non-lookout gave the rain time to subside and giving ... read more

Back home, the ubiquitous ramen food product conjures up images of either ultra extreme food budgeting or camping fare. Not so in Japan where ramen has been taken to an art form. The last time I willingly ate anything remotely resembling ramen noodles was when I was on Aconcagua in December of 2011. I'm pretty sure that back then 10 packs of noodles did not cost much more than $1 in the USA so imagine my shock and chagrin when my first meal in Japan last week was ramen noodles for ¥800; side dishes of a bowl of rice and 5 fried gyoza (Japanese dumplings) went for a much more reasonable ¥200. The ramen was good, but $8 good? Not so sure... US$ ≈ 101 Japanese yen (¥) Kumamoto Spent 2 nights here to recover from ... read more