Fuji Hotel Yamaga

... s not my style, but I'm glad I got to see it.

The train trip between Saga and Karatsu was about a hour. There were a lot of students, in school uniforms, on the train, as well as an unusually high number of very elderly passengers. My guess is that this is a sign that this is a declining rural area--with an aging population and not enough school children to justify a school in every town.

A number of passengers were wearing ...

... can even be enjoyed by visitors who are staying by themselves or as a couple. To ride on a boat with an open space is 3150yen a person (about $35USD)
A "JUMBO" boat for 45 people with a full course meal is 65,000 which seems quite expensive but comes out to about 1,500 yen a person (plus the costs of drinks). All-you-can-drink is an additional 3150yen. W "medium" boat for 17people w/ meal is 26,000yen.
The pictures speak for themselves...

... un rato hablando se nos junto una chica de unos 19-20 anos, que resulto ser de Valencia. Para mas coincidencia, estaba estudiando en la Universidad de Leeds. Le habian mandado a Beijing a hacer su ano de intercambio. y ahora estaba en Japon de vacaciones con su hermano mayor, que acababa de terminar la carrera en Leeds tambien. Era una chica super-maja. Muy jovencita, pero muy espabilada tambien. Hablaba espanol, ingles (con muy buen acento), chino, frances y ...

... Eso si, teniamos el hostal para nosotras solas, siendo las unicas huespedes.
Nos sentamos un ratillo en la terracita a disfrutar de la brisa -necesario despues de haber estado cargando con las peazo mochilas. Las tiendas cerraban pronto, asi que nos dirigimos a Lawson a comprar la cena. Por el camino nos fijamos mejor en el paisaje. Uno de los volcanes estaba humeando y las montanas, que ahora se veian claramente con el sol del atardecer, tenian un ...

... dingen die we hier willen zien (we zijn hier mede voor een uitstapje naar mount Aso morgen, maar het kasteel en een Japanse tuin stonden op de planning voor vandaag). Vanmiddag hebben we dus (ondanks het weer) Kumamoto kasteel bezocht. Erg mooi. Daarna hebben we de Suizenji Jojuen Garden bezocht. Deze tuin werd aangelegd door Tadatoshi Hosokawa. Hij koos deze locatie vanwege het heldere water dat zeer ...

... one active volcano in the area - with the idea that we'll walk around its crater before heading back down. Unfortunately - due to volcanic activity - the crater is not the safest place to be that day so we just decide to walk down from the top - about a 3 hour jaunt. Again the views are great and despite the snow storm the previous night, the day is warm and clear. We decided to try and take a short cut through the woods, lost our bearings ...

... feeling a bit dizzy. I think you are supposed to soak for an hour or so but I had to get out. On the way home I thought an ice cream would help cool me down. Haagen Daz do a nice Green Tea flavoured ice cream here. Back at the hostel it was another Curry Noodle (perhaps I should get shares in the company?) and a banana in front of the TV with the ladies. The news was on and very kindly the ladies switched the audio to ...

... marker on the guest houses' business card seemed a few roads up. A cut-through to the green neon hotel and I was back on track. It was dark though, for a brief moment I was a little worried I wouldn't make it back! But as they say, do something each day that scares you - that box was ticked. Back at the ranch I drank green tea with the master and watched more bizarre Saturday night TV. Even he couldn't explain what was going on. Maybe he doesn't watch much telly...

... Very tiring but fun day. It also took us about and 1 and a half hours to get there as we had to go by bus, train and then car.. so quite busy but it was all worth it especiallly since it proved to be a good way to see kumamoto and further parts of kyushu. i think im going to kagoshima/izumi this weekend to see the cranes.. sounds quite intersting.

... trade, versus Catholic Portugese & Spanish), were confined to a small island in Nagasaki harbor where only a few local merchants & prostitutes were allowed. In mid 1800s, the Meiji Restoration removed power from military shoguns, restored the emperor, and opened the doors again to a hunger for western ideas, from cannons to baseball. Visiting Hiroshima & Nagasaki, it's of course their nuclear histories (sorry George, nook-yoo-luhr) that come to mind ...