Thursday, July 20, 2006
From two hitch-hikers
Last Saturday after Sierra's swim meet, we took the ferry to Nagasaki to begin our 4-day travel adventure. We hitch-hiked the whole way, except for the ferries, and we had a lot of fun. Nagasaki is a lovely city, but it was strange seeing so many foreigners all of a sudden. There aren't many on the Goto islands. We ate yummy Indian food and enjoyed our tiny hotel room, complete with pajamas for your comfort and convenience.
On Sunday we rode the trolley out to the edge of the city and held up our sign saying where we were headed. 30 seconds later we were in the car with the sweetest, cutest couple. They were out for a drive and were just wondering where they should go when they saw us. They became our Japanese mom and dad for the day. They took us all the way to the ferry (2 hours!) and even stopped to buy us lunch and refused to let us pay. Here are some pictures of them.
We rode the ferry and enjoyed finding that the vending machines sell hot foods as well as cold beverages. French fries anyone??
We were picked up on the ferry by another couple on their way to visit their grandchildren. Although they were going in the complete opposite direction, they refused to let us out on the highway and wanted to take us all the way to Aso themselves. But, first we went to a rollercoaster park with them, met their kids and grandkids and they took us out for cold drinks. These people could not be any kinder.
We stayed at a youth hostel in Aso where we met fellow travelers and amused the staff with our tales of hitch hiking. The next morning, despite the clouds we headed for the bus stop to go up to the top of Mt. Aso, an active volcano.
First, we hiked a smaller volcano and met up with a group of guides in training lead by a mountain rescue man. Like all the people we had met so far, they were so kind and invited us to hike with them to the top. We joined their group and their pictures. They hiked up a steep, grassy ridge and none of us seemed to mind the windy, wet conditions and the lack of a view due to the low clouds. The line of us trudging along up the green mountain reminded me of the VonTrap family and their escape over the hills. I refrained from singing "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music!"
After our hike we took the cable car up to the top of Mt. Aso, which is still active and was indeed spouting smoky, smelly stuff. We didn't have much of a view, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.
Sierra had a few issues with her umbrella.
Then we went out for lunch. This part of Japan is well known for its raw horse meat. We did not partake.
We hitched a few more times with a variety of fun people and visited Kurokawa to enjoy the steamy onsens (public bathing and spa). It was lovely to sit in the natural hot water with the rain falling on our faces. Kurokawa is a cute town with narrow, steep streets and lots of green and flowers. Alas, we were having so much fun, we didn't stop to take pictures. But, you really can't capture the atmosphere with a camera. Suffice to say that this part of Japan (Kumomoto Prefecture) is covered with mountains and hills of green wavy grasses and is beautiful.
Here's another one of our drivers. We didn't get pictures of all of them, but were picked up by quite a variety of people, from a soba noodle chef who slept in the back of his van, to the mayor of Shimabara city, to two cameramen working for NHK, a Japanese television station.
In Shimabara we stayed with a fellow JET and went to see the Shimabara castle in the pouring rain on some bikes we borrowed. We were wet.
We headed back to Nagasaki and viewed the epicenter of the atomic bomb. It's amazing to see the recovery this city has made after so much pain and destruction only 60 years ago.
We also enjoyed the art museum in Nagasaki and really liked this particular large chair.
We made it back to Sierra's island last night on a particularly bumpy ferry ride. The swells were bigger than I've ever experienced in the ocean and we were rocking and rolling for 2.5 hours (it is normally just an hour and a half). Sierra threw up and I just laid still trying to think of other things. What a ride!
Tonight we had dinner with the Shinji family. They were so kind and the food was delicious.
Their granddaughter is adorable.
That's all for now. I just took a Nyquil (I'm battling a Japanese cold and sore throat) and it's time to hit the futon.
