Blogs from Kumamoto, Japan, Asia - page 2

The Baths in Kurokawaso, Kurakawa After dinner in the Ryokan I went to the baths in the late evening hours. The pool of steamy water was surrounded by rocks on all sides and to one side in the cliffs soared up into the night sky. Maples and Ginkgos grew from between the rocks and branched out overhead. Blood crimson and golden yellow leaves fell from the branches through the steam and floated on the water. The surrounding air was crisp and cold. The steam rose up from the water slowly and was carried off in a dance of random directions by light breezes. I was alone in the pool and the only light was from the windows of the bathhouse behind me and a few lanterns around the water. To one side water from the hot ... read more

10 June – Kumamoto-Kagoshima Although shamefully in Hakata I really only saw the station building and my hotel, had decided to thrash the rail pass on Monday 10th and go down to the S of Kyushu as had previously seen Beppu, the hot springs capital on the East coast. So just went to the station and got the next shinkansen to Kumamoto (confusing my Japanese syllables, as you do, first asked for Matsumoto, in Central Honshu and wondered why the routing was via Shin Osaka!). Anyway the Kyushu shinkansen, a 700 series, was just as efficient as all the others and took only 45 mins. Once there some ood English help form the info centre and got myself an all day tram ticket for 500Y as I knew I would take 3 @ 150 – better ... read more

It has been my dream to look into the crater of an active volcano and now it has come true. A tip how to get to Aso volcano from Kumamoto: We took a bus from Kumamoto bus station, it takes about 2 hours to get to the cable car at the foot of the volcano. I've seen information on the internet that you can go there by train - that's not convenient. The train doesn't go directly to that place, you'll have to take a bus after that anyway. The cable way may be closed because of volcanic activity, but you can still go up using a walking path. When we came closer to the crater there was a smell of sulphur and the viewpoint was closed because volcanic gas was going just in its direction. ... read more

8th Feb: Onto the bus at 11 (at night) in Seoul and we were off on the long drivedown to Busan. Hoping that the traffic wouldn't be too bad, even though it'sSeolnal (Lunar New Year) and they had extended the bus only lanes for a few more hours. 9th Feb: Well we made it to Busan around four, half four ish. The traffic wasn't that bad, a lot better than it had been at Chuseok. The bus was freezing though, which made it difficult to sleep. We dropped off the people, who were staying in Busan for the holiday at their hotel and then drove to the port. We parked up in the carpark and slept until about 6 or 7. When I woke up the bus was like a sauna. It's was bloody lovely, after ... read more

Hello During Golden week we went with our friend Chihiro to Amakusa and went dolphin watching. For some reason lots of dolphins hang out in this area, we saw about 40 dolphins which was awesome. Before we went dolphin watching we did some fishing, I caught two fish but could only eat one because the other was a puffer fish. Enjoy the photos. Vikki... read more