Got back LATE last night from Yakushima from a 5 day vacation. Woke up today, took care of 100 different chores like washing clothes, cleaning, unpacking, re-packing for the next trip, and buying tickets for the trip and researching various things about it (also updated the lineups in all my fantasy baseball teams which is a 2 hour job since I haven't checked in for 5 days and will be away for another 2 days). Did all that in about 7 hours and then made my way to the station for the next 2-day trip to Aichi to see the Aichi Expo. As I type this, Marie and I are on the fastest train in Japan on our way from Tokyo to Nagoya where we will arrive around 10:30pm, make our way to the hotel and then wake up early to start lining up for the entrance line and various events around 6:30am. I will write about this Aichi Expo after I have experienced it. This entry will concern Yakushima which I just returned from (and which I have alluded to in the past). Please try to keep up with me.
We left early Friday morning, and as I am prone to do, arrrived late and were the last ones on the plane. They had to specially check our luggage and we had to run to keep up with a women who was guiding us (since we were late) from the metal detector to the gate. But, we got on and everyhting was fine. This time it turned out in my mind I had thought the flight was at 8:30am but it was really at 8am. Lucikly, since the flight is from a local Tokyo and Japan-only airport toanother Japan-only airport, they don't have strict terror-checking procedures and don't need to check your passport (or any ID at that!!) so it's quite quick once you arrive (especially if you have your own tour guide who has a walkie-talkie whcih which she can speak to the gate as you are running). All you need is a ticket and you can get on a plane. Crazy, huh? Japan is that safe.
The flight was about 2 hours, then we took a bus for an hour from the airport to a bus terminal in Kagoshima. Kagoshima is the largest town on the southern-most tip of Japan (in Kyushuu). Sort of like in Florida. We would stay there overnight before leaving on a boat for Yakushima (which is the first large island of of the southern tip of Japan (between Okinawa and Japan).
After checking into the hotel, we boarded a slow train from there along the coast about an hour to the another small town on the coast. There we would take a (hot) sand bath. This town was very small but had the luck to have a huge amount of hot springs and rivers running underneath the surface of the land. This causes the sand and even the ocean water on the beach to be very hot. We put on light, cloth robes and then go under these small tents (to sheild the SO VERY HOT sun) and lay down in the sand and then one of the old ladies working there cover you in the hot sand by raking it over you. Just your head is exposed. It was HOT. It basically felt like being in a sauna but with a very heavy board pressing down on you (which is the weight of the sand on your body). If we weren't wearing those robes, I think I would have burn marks on my back and arms and legs. My hands and feet were OK though. We stayed covered for about 15 minutes. After that we walked along the beach a little and waded into the ocean. While the water was warm and felt nice, it would start to burn your feet as you feet begin to sink into the sand. The sand under the water was too hot. Also, just walking on the beach you would come across spots of sand that were burning hot and would have to start jumping and running to find a cooler spot. After that we showered and bathed in the natural hot springs and then dressed and took the train an hour back to Kagoshima. That night we walked around, met some stray cats and toured a little of the statues and history of Kagoshima (not much to show) and shopped and then had dessert and then found a restaurant and ate an actual dinner and then returned home.
The next morning we woke up early (which would become a ritual of this "vacation") and made our way to the bus stop where we would take a bus from the middle of Kagoshima to the harbor where we could board the boat that would take us to Kagoshima. The boat ride was about 3.5 hours and quite exciting. It was a medium-sized boat, 4 or 5 stories in all, 3 of which were available to passengers. We started in big room where you could lie and mats and sleep and sit on the ground and talk, but after exloring found better places to sit. We found a movie theater/ normal theater and played on the stage for a little. Finally, we ended up in a cafe with big, confortable seats. There I could put my feet up, order pancakes, and read my book. While 80% of the people were huddled into the commons on the floor, we felt like one of the rich people on the titanic (minus the snootiness). So, maybe more of combination of Jack and Kate Winslett's husband (played by that Zorn guy - without the internet and 3 years of Entertainment Tonight / Hollywood Access and any other pop culture news services I seemed to have forgetton things like that). The only thing that ruined it was an old lady at the table next to us, who after reading for 2 straight hours, fell asleep, and then within 10 minutes woke up and vomited violently onto the floor very close to Marie's leg. I guess she didn't know that reading causes seasickness. Luckily, that was during the last 30 minutes of the trip so we soon demarked and didn't have to deal with the smell. The last 10 minutes, as we pulled into Yakushima's harbor, we stood on the top deck and looked at the island. Yakushima is famous for flying fish so everywhere we looked in the water we could actually see flying fish moving quite quickly from under the boat to about 300 feet to the side of it as if they were celaring the way for the boat. They would skim across the top of the water flying out every once in a while. That was pretty neat. We would eat flying fish often during the trip. It was sunny the whole trip and started getting dark and cloudy. As we pulled in, the island looked like Jurassic Park (or King Kong island) and the weather and mood had the same feeling. Next, it started raining and thundering and we actually saw lightning strike a building nearby. It really did feel like a movie where everything was great up until then and the director was foreshadowing events with the weather.
We got a rental car and drove to our inn we would stay at for the next 3 nights. We got a very nice and clean room that had obviously been redone quite recently. It stopped raining and I was warned that it rained quite often and hard there but only for 30 minutes at a time (maybe just like some other unnamed Floridan town). What's with me and Florida? We had 4 hours before dinner and planned to have look at an incredibly huge and old Cedar tree. Yakushima is famous for Cedar Trees and has many old and huge ones. There is one that is noted to be about 7000 years old. This one was about 3000 years old. We stopped at a supermarket/Kmart-like department store and bought raincoats (or really, just cheap plastic that had arm and leg holes and could cover all your clothes). We stopped for lunch. Due to the flying fish thing, everywhere we ate served it, so as you look at the pictures of food, you will often see fish with long wings. It started raining again and we drove about 30 minutes along the coast of the island while eating carrots. Yakushima is about a 3 hour drive around the entire island. As you go in to the center, the land just keep going up and the roads are really steep and winding. It's like one big mountain in the middle of the water. Next, we went about a quarter of the way up the mountain and saw many deer and even some monkees on the side of the small paved road. We parked at one outpost and decided to walk the rest to the really old cedar tree. We slipped on our raingear and started walking along the road. I ate an apple. After walking about 30 minutes (all uphill!) and still not seeing any signs for the tree, we stopped a taxi and asked him how much farther it was. He said it was still another 20 minutes and said he would drive us there since he was going by it at no charge. That was great. We saw the tree and then walked back 30 minutes (much quicker since it was downhill). Got back, showered and cleaned up for dinner. It was raining and thundering and lightning really hard now. We were told there was a possibility of a typhoon, too. Next, right before dinner, the power went out. We ate a great homecooked meal by the staff by candlelight. We were thinking of going out that night, but were informed the power was out in the entire town, so we just stayed in our room and being tired, being in the dark and haveing nothing to do, fell alseep quite early. The power came back on about 4 in the morning.
The next day were told this was the first time the entire island lost power for that long in the last 3 years. The second day would be hiking for 6-8 hours up and around the mountains with a guide. The guide told us it could take up to 8 hours for older unfit, but for us maybe about 6.5 hours. Either way it was going to be a long day. We started at a base station about halfway up the mountain getting a ride there in a van from the tour guide. We had packed out lunches (received from the staff at the inn) and had water and change of clothes and of course the rainwear. The first 20 minutes hiking were uphill along the side of a running stream with some waterfals (which was going the opposite way down the mountain obviously). Those first 20 minutes were on manmade concrete sidwalks and stairs that were really steep and took a lot of energy. Upon reaching the point where the concrete ended, the guide stated, "that was warming up, from now it gets more difficult". That was tough to comprehend. After that we entered the forest and it got real steep and tiring. There were a lot of stones we used as a path to walk on but often just used tree roots for footing. Saw millions of interesting formations and old cedar trees and rocks and streams and waterfalls and deer and bugs and green moss all over and a bunch of other things I have forgotten. It was really neat. After about 2 hours it got really steep and it started pouring rain really hard. We slipped on our raingear and had to use trees to pull ourselves up to the peak for the last 20 minutes. We got to the top to this huge rock and had about 10 minutes to relax. There we could see clouds below us (we were so high we were above them) and they were moving really quick. That was the peak of the mountain we had hiked and the guide said this was actually the highest point on the whole island. It started raining there as well so we started making our way back down the same really steep and now really slippery (due to the rain) path we had just come up. We had to grasp small thin trees to keep oursleves from falling and slippy into sharp pointy rocks below us. I didn't remember signing a waiver for injuries sustained so maybe it would have been alright had I injured myself. We desecended about halfway down from what we had come up from the beginning. We stopped at a small old covered, walled building for a break and had our lunches on these big wooden tables. It must have started and stopped raining 3 times during that meal.
After lunch, the guide gave us the choice of an easy 45 minute hike to the next point OR we could take the long, interesting way which would be about 2 hours. "Interesting" seems to translate to "really difficult and tiring" when I translate Japanese fr some reason. Everyone choose the harder way so I kept my mouth shut and let them assume that was what I wanted. It really was quite intresting (and tiring), though. I can't remember all the things we saw so check the pictures. We finally made it back and hiked the rest of the way down (maybe another 30 minutes) and finally called it a day. We got back to the inn, showered and actually had an hour to relax before the next scheduled thing. We did so much every day, probably packing in 3 times as much as would be considered normal. Next, went to dinner had flying fish in yet another form each day (suchi, sashimi [suchi with no rice under it], fried, broiled, grilled, etc.). Other than the vast amounts of annoying, small bones, the flying fish was really good and had an amazing taste. That night after dinner we planned to go to an adjacent town about 20 minutes away and see fireworks and attend a summer festival they were having. We got beer, had chocalate banana crepes and stood and watched the fireworks. We returned home and promptly passed out as soon as possible.
The last full day on the island was to be the beach and relaxation day and seeing various things as we drove the 3 hours around the island. Other than having to wake up just as early as the other days because we had so much planned to do, it was just that. First we started on one beach, tried the water and were told by one of the locals there that the opposite side of this inlet had calmer water and better fish and formations to look at for snorkeling. We rented snorkel gear and drove the 2 minutes over there. Saw all kinds of things in the water there and next drove to another beach for just plain swimming and playing. We had our hourly dessert. That next beach was absolutley great. Not a normal beach, the sand there is much larger rounded rocks, nowhere as fine as the sand in New Jersey. There were lots of rocks (which is really, really old hardened lava from 1000's of years ago when there were live volcanos in this region. The rocks formed all kind of crags and little pockets and pools of warm water and really neat pockets where fished stayed to keep away from the larger waves on the opposite sides of the rocks. Also, since it was becoming low tide, the water that had been on top of some of the large, flatter coastal rock formations ahd receded and left lots of pools of warm water filling holes in the rock. These became like small hot tubs when warmed by the sun. I couple even had fish remaining in them, so we would go in and the fish would swim around our bodies. They nibbled at Marie's skin but not mine. Maybe I should have showered that morning.
After that, we drove to the next point on our way all the way around the island which was an old lighthouse still being used on the north face of the island. We could see so much of the coastline from there. After that drove on the twisty part of the island coastal road whcih went through the forested part of it. Saw many monkees and deer along the side of the road during that. Next we came upon the largest waterfall on the island (in total there are 5 waterfalls on the island). I wanted to go swimming in the base of it, but it was forbidden. Someone had even died doing that a couple years ago we were told. After that, stopped at a roadside restaurant which was also an inn and had lunch (yes, we did all that up to now before lunch). Drove more, stopped at another waterfall where we couldn't get close, but had to climb to the top of this platformed viewing point. The photo of me wearing glasses and a hat with Marie and with the waterfall in the background is quite scary. I look more like my dad in it than ever before. In fact, I think there is a picture of my dad wearing a shirt, glasses and hat like that from when we went rafting down the Colorado river 20 years ago. He was almost my exact age at that point (minus the years added for raising a kid like me).
We made our way back home, showered, had dinner, and made the deadline for our next tour by 7:30pm. We were picked up by a van and taken to a beach in the pitch of night where cameras and lights of any kind were forbidden (therefore no pictures to show you since no flash cameras allowed). Only stars and moonlight. We were there to watch babies turtles hatch from eggs and make their way from the beach to the water. (Is this what running of the grunyen is?). We were there about 30 minutes when one of the 3 guides finally found one. We all hurried over, making sure not to step on any other babies or eggs. It was about the size of small baby turtle. Can you imagine that? Maybe about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. Next, we were instructed to sit still on the beach for about 20 minutes. The guide said the mother turtles (huge - bewteen a foot or 2 long) will come out of the water to lay more eggs (120-150 at a time) around this time also. As we waited we looked at the clear skies and could see so many stars (since no streetlights or other lights). I saw 2 shooting stars in that time. There were about 5 total that people pointed out at different times. Amazing. No mother turtles ended up coming but it was stil OK. Next we went to the same lighthouse that we had already seen on our own that day whcih was a little dissappointing, but we did see it in action rotating it's light for miles around. Lastly, we went to point where we had snorkeled on our own earlier that day. What weird coincidences. We looked into the water and could see green and red and blue and yellow and pink glowing fish and plankton. Got home, packed since tomorrow was our last day, hit the pillow and fell asleep in 2 minutes.
Even though we had reservations to ride the boat back home around 1pm this last day, we had another big expedition planned for the morning. We rented kayaks and canoed up and down a river there for about 2.5 hours total. At the halfway point, we stopped on a small river bank and swam in a calm section of the river. The rest was sort of a blur as we rafted back, cleaned up, got a ride to the big boat to take us back to the mainland for the 3.5 hour trip, slept and read during that from our favorite cafe, got a bus from the harbor to the main station, next got a bus from there to the airport for an hour, had dinner in the airport, waited out the 30 minute delay for the plane, boarded, read more, got the train for an hour back to my apartment.
...Once back there, we had to unpack, do laundry, repack for the next trip, check email, etc. Went to bed and woke up and took care of 100 different chores like washing clothes, cleaning, unpacking, re-packing for the next trip, and buying tickets for the trip and researching various things about it (also updated the lineups in all my fantasy baseball teams which is a 2 hour job since I haven't checked in for 5 days and will be away for another 2 days). That's where Aichi Expo begins. I will write that up in the next entry.
