Otaru - Mt. Shengu chipmunk.

I've tried again but this cute little chipmunk was the only one to come through. Sooo cute.XX

Otaru - Hokkaido

25^th June 2014

So here we were in Otaru, still part of Hokkaido.

This little city of 131.000 was founded on the herring fishing industry – not for food but for fertiliser to supply to Honshu, the main island of Japan. The locals wouldn’t have dreamed of eating herring, neither could they tempt their cats to eat any they say. It is the entrance way for Sapporo, Japan’s 4^th largest city. As with most of Japan – easily reached by train.

The herring supply isn’t as plentiful today and locals do now eat the fish. In the early 19oos the daughter of the wealthy “fish baron” had visited a lovely villa and on her return asked “Daddy” if he would build her one. We visited the traditional Japanese Villa which she used as a summer house and got an idea of how their houses were constructed and had a taste of how they lived. The grounds were beautiful – the large “dry garden” what our front yard is supposed to be!!!! The flower garden was filled with peonies and roses. The whole village(now a suburb) had been founded on the fishing industry. Some of the modern houses around have sloping roves but since the snow slides off into the neighbours’ yards, most have flat rooves. These are heated and the melting snow turns to water and disappears harmlessly into the sewerage drains, all in the name of good neighbourly relations.

There can be up to 7 metres of snow in this area. Needless to say skiing is one of the main attractions in winter – November – February, with tourism being their main industry. We went up the ropeway (cable car) to the top of Mt. Tengu to admire the fabulous view. We could even see China. It has been interesting to get some perspective on the geographic layout of the various countries. I thought China was well north of Japan but it lies to the west with Russia between and the peninsula of the Koreas also to the west. This mountain has a particular goblin/monster with a huge nose and a very red face. Depending on your wishes/prayers, you rub his face to have them granted. Had to make sure Hoppy didn’t tap the nose on the end – wishing for a better match, but stoke each side of the nose so our family would have good fortune in every way. At the top of the ropeway there is also an enclosure with chipmunks there to be petted and fed, if you can attract one. I think they are too well fed to co-operate but you know Dr. Doolittle Hopkins!

An old part of the town has canals, no longer used for their original purposes and mostly filled in but preserved after a petition by the locals, with shops and restaurants in the old warehouses and very charming. We had some time in the town and after a much needed snow cone  wandered on and found a lovely little music box museum. The area is apparently well known for these. Some of them and the furniture were very old. We missed a recital on one that I thought was a small organ, by 40 minutes! Also hard to imagine the same shops with 5 metres of snow around but the guide had a picture to prove it. They say you can swim in the sea and ski on the mountains on the same day in summer – hey, not for this girl!!!

Once again my photos wont transfer so will try again when close to land.

I'm so far behind...

despite my multi tasking i.e. washing my face while sitting on the toilet!! Must check out the toilets upstairs when I have a chance. Warm seats and all kinds of buttons to push for "cleaning and drying" Need my glasses on to read the instructions or I might do some damage.
 Will catch up on our latest ports tomorrow - the last day of our first cruise. Just been so busy. Bye the way Lynda - your choice of a misty landscape is so apt. When the fog does lift it's still very misty. Weather-wise - calm seas and little wind; 12C isn't bad when you have 95% humidity! Haven't felt cold at all really.
Been thinking of your excitement and anticipation of your hols in Thailand Lynda and fam. Where are you blogging? Better send me your site.
Love to everyone.
Here are the two photos that wouldn't come through last time.
One some ladies in traditional dress at Yushno-Shakhalinsk; and two very large and very tired bears (well they're stuffed!)from the local museum there. Maybe I'll add a local reindeer as well. Hey look what happened. A rare pretty square - Lenin Square - source of great pride, and the seat of local government. See - just like home.....

Korsakov, Sakhalin Island, Russia.

 

24^th June 2014.

Korsakov is in the Russian Far East on Sakhalin Island in the Aniva gulf and the farthest north point of our cruises at 46.37N and 142.01E. Russia and Japan have disputed ownership of the island many times over the centuries. It’s currently a boom area with natural resources of oil and gas in contrast to the extreme pristine natural environment. There have been many cultures here. The original inhabitants were semi-nomadic Nivkh. The Russians claimed the island in 1853, handed it over to Japan with their defeat in 1904/5, and reclaimed it after the 2^nd WW.

The population of Korsakov is around the 33.000 while Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk  - where todays tour took us – is approx. 182.000. It was 12C for us – just as well it’s high summer! The people in the streets could be from home, dresses in bright colours, high heels or platforms with short skirts for the young ladies – even some in shorts, and us oldies – well who cares! We saw a class of school girls going – somewhere – all wearing the brightest tights you could imagine! The men we saw were dressed in suits or jeans – just like home.

The buildings were a huge contrast. Old derelict apartment buildings, obviously occupied, beside new buildings of the same style; a “subdivision” of angular two or three storied homes which looked far too big for one family but who would know. So many questions and really no-one to answer them. Tourism is very new to the area and the guides sticking to their scripts only. Those are the times when you wish you could spend more time there and get answers. The bus was well used and the roads not 100%. It looked like petrol was about NZ$1 pr litre – if that’s how they sell it and there was not a huge volume of traffic.

The trip from the port took about an hour. We first stopped at a Russian Orthodox church built from roundwood logs – rather beautiful. The interior was beautifully decorated with tiles and lots of gold. We had to visit the statue of Lenin of course, visited a cultural centre (mainly for souvenir shopping), a regional museum, then had a toilet stop at a fabulous “Ice Palace” which seemed to be a skating rink (we had to keep with the herd!) I was starving after fog had caused a delay with tendering – one of the tenders got lost – and this toilet stop was 7 hours after breakfast. I managed to get some very nice biscuits out of a vending machine for NZ$1.20. The food where ever we’ve been has reasonably priced at about the same or less than home.

So we’ve been to Russia albeit “off the beaten track”.

I was hoping to be up to date with these little epistles but that orange light which blocks the key pad came on again and while I knew it was ridiculously simple to correct I couldn’t remember what to do and its wasn’t til we came back from touring tonight that we could get the IT guy to fix the prob. Even tried to ring you William!! So here we are at 10pm, Wed 25^th and still one port behind!!

Hope you are all well. Hoppy’s lip is healing but still feels a bit strange. I would love more steri strips if you could loan me some!!! Can’t find any in the shops, nor any massage liniment for his neck – reckon he’s given himself whip lash, but he doesn’t complain. Bless him.

All three of these photos are of the church we visited. The other photos didn't work! It's actually now too late at night to get them back - they take a while to transfer - so I'm off to bed.

Scenic Cruising at Shiretoko Hanto (Penninsula)

Bye the way Paul - our life is epic!! Can't reply to emails until Hoppy "does something" that he usually has to do to make them work. Nonetheless..........

23^rd June2014

What was it like? So scenic? Didn’t see a thing except fog!! The captain decided that, given the dense fog and the number of fishing boats in the area, it would be too dangerous to go close enough to see anything so off we went………

The ladies at out dining table did catch a glimpse of snow covered mountains so it would have BEEN SCENIC...........

 THE TOP PHOTO IS SOME OF THE NEAT LOOKING BOATS AT LAKE AKAN.

THE SECOND IS THE MARIMO - HOLLOW SPHERES OF ALGAE SPECIFIC TO THIS AREA.

Almost YEAH. I'll keep working on it but here are 2 PHOTOS!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Kushiro - the North Island

22nd June 2014 

Yes, the North Island. I couldn’t believe the souvenirs with North Island on them. Kushiro is actually a small city of 181.000 on the northernmost of the four largest islands of Japan – Hokkaido. Now they tell us it’s known as the city of the mist! Oh yes? The last several days have been accompanied by the blast of the fog horn – distant inside but a real ear ripper outside. This ship is different in many ways, one of them being the scarcity of open decks. One pool is partially roofed and the pool next door, in the “conservatory” is completely enclosed but the roof apparently does slide back. Yet to see this but Tokyo reputedly had 26C today so we live in hope of a thaw soon with temps at 9.1C. A third pool out the back we haven’t explored yet. Anyway swimming is off the menu for a certain person.

There is a rare crane native to this area. The population has increased from 20 to 1000 after special efforts and designated wetlands with feeding stations were established for their preservation.

We took a chance and booked on a tour that had a Japanese guide. We figured natural beauty is natural beauty. Although we couldn’t understand a thing the guide said it was fun to watch her. I think she must have told funny stories all day as our fellow travellers laughed and clapped all the time.  We found it fascinating as her voice was full of expression and what sounded to us like strange noises. Her face was a study in animation and her white gloved hands were always on the move demonstrating her point.

We stopped at the crane lookout – too much mist to see anything except a sign warning that this was a bear habitat. We bussed on through farmland and fields of rice, wheat, vegetable crops and a few houses. The houses were very plain; usually two storied and quite square looking but some of the gardens were gorgeous; the trees shaped and the vegetable gardens in perfect rows. In one little town the entire population seemed to be out weeding and planting about a mile of garden along the roadside.  The climate here also makes dairying a major industry. The poor cows were mostly in barns and not always very clean looking. There were  deer, goats, horses and a surprising number of miniature horses. I don’t know what they would be used for. There are also wild bears, foxes, squirrels and deer in the forest areas.

 

We were actually on our way to Akan – a spa town, surrounded by three volcanoes, with hot springs and baths, a ski resort in the winter, and home to the marimo algae which grow to the size of small hollow soccer balls in the caldera lake here. We went by ferry to the exhibition centre to see them and some of the local quite large fresh water fish. There were some very modern small boats at the wharf too; also lots of fishermen in waders, fly fishing for the likes of the fish we had seen.

 We had a tasty lunch, the food seems very healthy. You ignore the waffle makers of course. We had a wander around town afterwards. The thought of showering and washing hair before you could go for a bath didn’t appeal. The men were on one floor and women one the other. You go in naked of course but have a towel to drape around you if you wish, and drop before getting in. One bath was 41C and another 36. We were already hot surprisingly enough although it was cold outside in the wind.

The shops were open despite it being Sunday, and were full of all kinds of wooden carved items that looked very handmade – all made in Japan though! Heaps of deer antlers were for sale along with little jars of marimo spheres. Very unusual.  As we wondered we came across some concrete tanks so walked through the gates to check them out. We realised there were fish and fresh water crayfish in being grown in them.

A long day topped off with a local snow freeze – a big deal to the locals.

From the Narita Hilton to the Ship...............

 

20^th June 2014

 I had checked out with the Bell Captain how best to get to the ship by bus and/ or train. It was a bit scary but I determined to try it. Take the free shuttle back to the airport, then the orange Air Limousine Bus to Yokohama, a train to one station then another train to the pier, hopefully near enough to see and get aboard, but after Hoppy’s walk about I didn’t think lugging cases on the “adventure” would be a good idea and there was always the potential to start the cuts bleeding again. So a taxi it was. It took two hours and cost just under NZ$330.  We were also given the toll slips which were included in the price. Not bad we thought; we were willing to pay whatever it took and I was imagining up to $1000. in my paranoia. But wow, here we were, we made it in good time at a fraction of the price. Everything was extremely well organised.  We were on board before 1pm. and, surprise, surprise, having another large plate of food!

We didn’t make the Welcome aboard Show or honour our invite to Skywalkers nightclub for freshly made guacamole and tortilla chips with an El Mejor cocktail for only US$5. But this invitation is extended for every night of the cruise to us as Elite Members so I guess we’ll make it when we catch up on things. But wait, there’s more, we also get a free mini bar each section of the cruise, a gift of Spa goodies in a lovely shell, free 250 minutes of internet  each, a free wine tasting,  10 % off boutique purchases and priority for tender trips. (When we have to anchor off and go ashore in the lifeboats/tenders) Hey, I nearly forgot – we even get our laundry done for nothing/zilch/nada!!!!

First day was a sea day and you think we could recover that didn’t happen. We slept in til about 10 so we were all behind for a kick off. The boat gently porpoised north but visibility was not good, in fact we woke to the fog horn. That situation continued most of the day. The only variation was the swell coming side on so - on with the sea bands. Not that it was rough – the sea was oily calm but there’s usually a surge, especially on such a big ship. It’s half as big again as Sea princess and has been especially renovated to suit the Japanese market with Izumi baths and Sushi Restaurant. In fact this is the inaugural trip of the Japanese season.

 I happened to check on the Bridge TV Channel that night and we were passing Fukashima – about 330 miles north of Yokohama.

 Sea day meant formal night and Captain’s champagne waterfall. Gosh the Japanese love an occasion and lined up forever for photos pouring the champers into the glasses – well they thought they were! The Ship will love them too!! $$$$$$$$ Some were dressed in kimonos with white socks and platform jandals, and others in long organza dresses – all so coy.

There aren’t many passengers from USA. Mostly from  Japan (70% maybe), a  few Kiwis and plenty from OZ. with a few from the UK. as far as we can work out at this stage. The Japanese are delightful. Sure they’re not really aware of who or what’s around them and will stop mid-walkway, but are so polite and kind of naively happy.

The dinner was an "Audrey Hepburn" menu. Quite tasty but tiny portions. Hoppy says he feels fine. I think he looks like elephant man with a huge plaster over half his cheek and nose but I'm desperate to keeps those strips on as long as possible. One dear old Japanese lady asked him what happened? Did I hit him? What a character. I should have kicked her tripod walking stick out from under her!!

We went to bed after the first show, probably about 9.15pm. Hoppy found a movie in the Action category – Jack the Giant Killer!!! The TV programs are fantastic- a line up of movies that you can see at any time and stop at any point and come back to later. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Early start tomorrow. The alarm is set for 6 am.

The Flight to Japan - and the AFTERMATH

19 – 20 June 2014

The Ibis Budget at the Auckland airport is well named. Or maybe shoe box would be even more apt. Not even a glass or plastic mug in the bathroom, and we could just squeeze the bags past the bed in to the room. Fortunately the bed was on wheels so I could move it to get into bed more easily. If you wanted a cuppa there was a lounge area downstairs and $3. would do the trick. The Hotel is situated in that new shopping area on the left as you head towards the airport and I was told the pub close by did do great meals. We crashed til the alarm at 4.30 am., bought tickets for the Yellow Bus at 5 and on our way.

The flight from Auckland to Narita took four movies, two meals, a tub of ice-cream and a couple of walks = 10hrs 30. which was ½ an hour less than expected. The airport was easy – fairly much like Auck. but quite a long walk from get off to bag collection. Customs etc. was not a problem, no hold ups at all except my digits didn’t want to leave the required prints and I had to “press harder” – painful. The shuttle to the Narita Hilton was easy to find. Shuttle? No, a huge bus, but free and no probs. The landscape was trimmed gardens and further from the airport, wild grass. The areas we passed with trees seemed to be covered with some creeper and looked very lush and tropical. We had a cuppa and decided we didn’t need another meal so off to bed about 8;  your 11pm at home – they’re 3 hours behind here.

We went off to sleep fairly well instantly – we needed it. About 10.30 Hoppy leapt to his feet, standing on the bed, went running down the length of it, with short steps as you do on a trampoline!! He stood on my leg as he went by and told me off for using an expletive as you would when woken from a deep sleep. Unfortunately beds aren’t very long when used as a sprinting track. He raced off the end, falling forward onto a desk with rounded edges but sharp corners. I turned on the light to see Hoppy looking very startled, blood streaming between his fingers as he held his face. I yelled “get a cold flannel” which he did. Then I could see he had split open his lip well over an inch across under his nose, up one side of his nostril and into his nose with a flap of lip hanging out!! After a mishap at St. V de P we had bought some steri strips, as luck (?) would have it. We debated calling a doctor but I managed to pull the flap back up into position and tape it down. Hop had purchased the smallest pack of strips; they felt totally inadequate as there are only three and I had already used half of one. Get some Lynda – we could not have managed without them!!I let him fall asleep after two hours but made him sleep on his back, and I spent the next six hours mopping the blood from his face til it subsided. At 4am I dozed off beside him, jumping at his every movement.

I ordered breakfast in our room for 8 am. the next morning realising there was no way we could go to the restaurant despite the discount vouchers. You know Hoppy – nothing gets between him and his food! He downed a sizeable breakfast before I was into the first aid box again to hide the bloody face from all and sundry. Fortunately I had some sizeable plasters and it all seemed to be “hanging in”; his lip was still in a straight line! But have you ever tried to attach a plaster to whiskers?

We're at it again....This time we're off to Japan.

It was quite out of the blue really. We had some 241 cruise certificates to use or loose and there were some cruises in Japan!! We duly booked THEN I realised the first one was only four weeks away!! Panic over now - we picked up out flight tickets etc. on Friday. Interesting I'm sure - Japan - a totally different culture but not third world. I'm expecting a very sake and colourful trip. So - up to Auckland on the 18th June to see Hoppy's sister who is not at all well. She has been diagnosed with Parkinsons. Then over to Milford to see the fam. up there and leave them our car. Becci will drop us off at the airport hotel - no not the Novatel but Ibis - very basic I believe but anywho.....For a brief sleep (?) before  catching the Air NZ flight direct to Japan. We are on the Diamond Princess - so used to thinking it is a Oz/Kiwi shipping line so will be interesting to see the "culture" when we are expecting mostly passengers from the USA and Japan. Our itinerary will eventually appear on the side of this blog but I still haven't mastered the art of putting photos on so , if you're on Facebook you may see some there - they're easy to put on there I must say. Must be...I can do it! Keep cosy. I've been finding it hard to get warm lately. OK Lynda I wont complain again - I didn't do what you told me to and have a bath!!! But you'd think 2 pairs of socks, long johns and three layers of merinos would be enough!!!
Perhaps we should be more active but then wet afternoons are perfect for Rumikub!! Well off to
let everyone know the latest. See you again soon. Love to you all.