Blogs from Matsue, Shimane, Japan, Asia

jak pech to juz na calego! przyjechalam do Matsue, bo mialo to byc male, urokliwe miasteczko (140tys. ludzi- to jest male miasteczko, jak na japonskie warunki ;) ). Glowna atrakcja, to przepiekny zachod slonca za jeziorem i za gorami (w pierwszej trojce najpiekniejszych widokow w Japonii - oni tu chyba maja ranking na wszystko: najladniejsze widoki, sciezki, trasy pociagiem) Mialam zostac jeden dzien, bo ilez to mozna upajac sie widokiem zachodzacego slonca, jak sie jest samemu, a nie jest sie romantycznym poeta? jednak pierwszego dnia spoznilam sie na zachod ok 10 min! zawsze mnie zaskakuje, jak to slonce szybko zachodzi (rege, pamietasz poscig za sloncem na Krymie?). zatem decyzja: zostaje na 2 noce. Ale nie tylko na zachod slonca sie spoznilam, bo na ostatni autobus do hostelu tez, wiec "nocleg" w Internet cafe (jeszcze nigdy mnie ... read more

One overcast Saturday and one out-of-prefecture friend on an 18-odd hour visit. Did I mention the friend doesn't like snowboarding/skiing? (no offense my friend who shall remain nameless for safety reasons - my safety) Yes, I do actually have some non-snowaholic friends, quite a few actually. Whether that's still the case after next winter and my first full season owning a snowboard.......... Anyway, I picked my friend up from one of the train stations in Matsue and we headed off to Izumo to show her around Izumo Taisha, one of the more famous shrines in Japan. It started snowing just before we left Taisha, which excited my friend enough to want her photo taken among the flurry of white flakes. Maybe there's hope for her yet I thought........ On and back to Matsue we went looking ... read more

Day 14... Waking to a cold shower, that's what you get for true budget accomodation, we left to see the castle in daylight.　Stepping out of the front door we were confronted by about 10 (maybe more) huge birds (never been very good with birds (C - I'll vouch for that!) but they may have been kestrels or kites) diving and skimming the estuary to the river for fish. Pretty exciting to see - but not from the point of view of the fish i'm sure). On to the castle which was much more relaxed than Himeji and well worth making the trip to see. We're not ones for museums normally but this was realy good inside with lots of armour and helmets - apparently the warriors' helmets were designed to reflect their characters. I want ... read more

To celebrate Denise's 23rd birthday, we headed up north to Izumo and Matsue for the weekend. Matsue is the prefectural capital and largest city of Shimane. Izumo is home to two noteworthy sights, the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan and a giant onion that acts as the local sporting center. Always the budget travelers, we had a brilliant cost-saving idea - sleep in the car and bathe at onsens, instead of shelling out precious yen for costly inns and ryokans. Luckily, there is no story about waking up at 3:00am to some pervert staring at us through the window with wide eyes and licking his lips all while rubbing his hands together vigorously (or, for that matter, rubbing something else vigorously!). Luckily, Denise never saw me do that or I'm sure I'd have scared the shit ... read more

Today was excellent, I really, really enjoyed it. I made my way from Hiroshima to this little town called Matsue on the northern coast of Japan. I caught the 7am bus, which was a bit of a stuggle to get up so early but I slept some on the bus so I made up for it. I sort of wish I hadn't slept on the bus becasue the scenery was beautiful, we had to make our way across the mountain ranges that go through the middle of this part of Japan and we drove along small winding roads with thick forest on either side, it was really nice. But like I said I didn't see much of it becasue I slept some of the way. It took 3 and a half hours to get to Matsue ... read more