Busan - South Korea

 

5^th July 014

So I had thought of this as shopping day. We caught the shuttle into town – town? – the population is 3.6 million!!!! The buildings were not quite as tidy as most of the Japanese cities , a lot of which seemed to have been bombed almost to extinction, therefore rebuilt, or fairly modern anyway. Busan is the republics second largest city after Seoul but the largest port; the fifth busiest seaport by cargo tonnage.

The streets were fairly full but not packed as per Hong Kong standards. With a turn to the right we were at the escalator which took us to the underground shopping mall. About a kilometre of small shops of every description – well electronics, clothing, shoes, bags, and cosmetic  and the occasional “cafes” and little booths ladies very proficient in altering clothing -  under the main street of the city, linking with underground trains which rumbled overhead from time to time. The rule of thumb is “if it has a door and aircon. they probably take credit cards but you cannot barter; otherwise cash is king” We also learned that if you do not have local currency your yen will be undervalued considerably!

Any how our usual shopping – walking, looking – was pursued. I bought a nice top for $10 and another for $3. Sometimes you can try things on and sometimes “NO”. Hop bought a couple of pairs of trousers and included in the price was the  shortening, done immediately in another little booth.

Out of the shopping mall we went in search of lunch. Why didn’t we go to the “English menu”  place? We saw the meal picture and the beer and thought OK. After being seated and given a bib we were given a pan of sauce, noodles, cabbage, onion, boiled eggs and slices of ???? which was set on the gas ring in the middle of the table. We sat and waited to it all boiled and the waitress came and stirred a few times before we tried. Noodles – no harm. They were ok but the sauce I had liberally ladled over them was very spicy. I ended up feeling like Mick Jagger with my lips protruding an inch or so beyond my face!!! MORE BEER! The best part of the meal was some delicious fried chicken balls which we had chosen instead of the chips. Chips and chicken would have been perfect………….

Off to the famous Ja-Gal-Ch’i fish market next also known as the Aunts Market for all the women peddlers when it was established during the Korean War. Fish of every size and shape; not just some but tanks and tanks of them, some in nets and some kept in by a box floating on top of them. Snapper about 4 inches long; eels – some only 6 inches long; abalone (our paua) not much bigger than a 50c piece; octopus and squid; others that looked like flounder; cod of all kinds; cone shell fish, scallops zooming ‘round; huge horse mussels, clams and sea cucumbers. Unbelievable that there are any fish left in the sea. There was little or no smell as all the tanks had water running through them; the fish must have been stressed though. I don’t know how long they live there! Of course there was packets of seaweed and dried fish everywhere. In fact souvenir shops are mostly full of fish products, vacuumed packed or dried, for sale. There is a certain oily fish smell that does wonders for my dieting – I’m over that!! Outside the market on the back of a little truck we saw fish just gutted and sliced – drying in the city smog!!!

Our favourite shop – one with puppies in the window for sale. So gorgeous and soooo tiny.

So that was our day on Korea. Back on the shuttle and back “home”

Sakaiminato

 

4^th July 2014

This small city of 36.000 people has been an important port since ancient times and the site of a medieval silver mine. You would never guess it’s ancient origins, as with other Japanese cities it has found a modern identity, this time with stories about little monsters known as “yokai”, bronze representations of which line the streets. The minions featuring in recent movies for kids are somewhat similar, and others Mum used to call "moppets" big headed, big eyed dolls – plagiarism? Down town you are likely to come across people bressed in big heads, depicting these characters so you can have photos taken with them. Both hands in the obligatory peace sign of course. Seems to be standard practice with Asians much like our “say cheese”.

We took a tour to the Adachi Museum and gardens. This is a huge dry garden surrounding a museum of modern Japanese artworks including ceramics by famous potters, wood carvings and paintings, collected by Adachi Senko. The art was interesting and based hugely on fantasy as with a lot of things Japanese. The child inspired artworks were somewhat reminiscent of Beatriz Potter.

The garden was amazing with 900 pine trees among the maples and redwoods, all perfectly pruned and sheared of course; a moss garden which they transfer mosses in to when creating; carefully selected rocks which vary in colour according to sun or rain (and it rained for us); waterfalls and pools full of carp, all with the sand/gravel raked to represent water. This was not a strolling garden but one to be viewed only – in this case from inside the house and purposes built rooms. Great for us as it was raining most of the time. The surrounding countryside has also been purchased to ensure the gardens merge with the surrounding hillsides and a local high waterfall. Very serene. Some of the windows of the house were perfectly placed to form a living picture and served also to represent the hanging scroll that Buddhists have in their homes. This garden has been acclaimed among the Top Gardens of the World for nine years in a row.

Maisuru -

 

3^rd July 2014.

This was one of the ports where we could visit Kyoto but since we will be staying there for 2 nights later we have cancelled the trip we had booked in favour of one to Amano Hashidate and the fishermen houses of Ine. You remember? Another 9 hour day but anywho…..

The guide started by saying we were not just rucky, but rearrly rucly, “It was a sunny day.” We certainly were – It’s quite rare to see the sun. Occasionally the accents take a bit of figuring.

Another picturesque country ride to the Bridge to Heaven. Well it did go to heaven way back, but it then fell into the sea and now, after a cable car ride up a mountain you have to view it backwards, up-side down, through your legs. It’s a sandbar covered in 900 pinetrees, across a harbour, where it landed when it collapsed.  Seems appropriate that after everybody is photographed, bum up and head down, looking between their legs at the view, we were given discs to throw through a circle of wisdom. It wasn’t an easy feat. Only a piece of mine made it through after hitting the ring – I’m not very wise!!! The bag holding the discs was quite heavy so our guide encouraged us to take  handfuls and keep trying to prove our wisdom. There’s only so much you can do, yes?

We went back down the hill in our cable car. I wanted to ride the alternative – a chair lift –but due to the rain it was not now operating. The gardens were very pretty on the hillside. Out of the cable car and back to Chiongi Temple we had entered through – it’s alternative name “Sanninyoreba Monjunochie” meaning out of the Counsel of three comes Wisdom. I’m getting it. We then went to a Buddhist Temple. 90% of the population are Shinto, and 70% Buddhist. Shinto is based on the worship of nature and is for happy occasions like weddings and birth but does not deal with the sad times so well. These fit the Buddhist philosophy better. Since neither religion insists on only one God they can both co-exist happily side by side. On the way back to the bus we found some toasted chestnuts. They tasted divine. Dave and Deb have you got a chestnut tree/trees?

Then off to the fishermen’s’ houses. They are actually boathouses and the fishermen live across the road. They are certainly quaint. We had a boat ride to see them. The boat was followed by heaps of gulls and a couple of eagles. Great to see them so close. Hoppy was feeding them from his hand so I was cameralady - had it on rapid fire and took about 30 photos. This camera is a bit slower than the last one we had. Got the bird just before, and just after taking the biscuit. DARN!!

Back to our Japanese lunch. The usual little burner per person, with bubbling brew of water, veg, tofu; heaps of pickles; prawns, shrimps etc. which I pulled the head off and decided not to eat given the purple cream which dripped out. I can live on rice and miso. Some of the pickles gave me heart palpitations – I was quite scared so decided to leave them for sure – no loss!

Back to the bus and off home (!) Somewhere along the line we did walk across to the Heavenly Bridge too. There is a revolving bridge now built at the beginning of the sandbar to allow small boats through to carry the nickel ore imported from New Caledonia to a smelter in the bay. Somewhat reminiscent of Amsterdam with the houses along the canal. Bye 4 now…………..

Kamanazawa - on the west side of Honshu Island - the main island of Japan

 

2^nd July 2014

This time we take the bus we find we are immediately in the mountains – no pastures and paddy fields this time. The forest is very green with the usual trees as we travel the alpine route to the Tateyama and Kurobe Mountains. The cable car is just that, riding on rails and pulled by cables. It takes a long seven minutes to go up the steep gradient. I’m glad they have a cable car! This is also used by skiers accessing the 2400m high mountains’ ski slopes.  Back on the bus to continue our ascent; cars are banned except for service vehicles, to preserve the environment here.  After more winding roads we immerge in a highland plateau area with stunted trees and apparently some picturesque wildflowers over the brief summer season - not prolific blooms for us yet. We did see some one-day lilies,  a lone rhododendron, and some other flowering shrubs which look familiar but whose names escape me . Eventually we near the end of the road and here we go through walls of snow. They are only 5 metres high now but in the season reach over 25 metres high. With a temperature of minus 30C in the winter the roads and mountain are closed. There are no ski tows for skiers either. It’s a tramp up the hillsides but it seems you could have a long ski down as the slopes are long and wide. There are two more large buildings; one on the summit and one on the saddle between two mountains. While we were there a helicopter was taking food and supplies in nets hanging below, to those buildings. The road usually opens in April when the snow ploughs can clear the road again. The snow will have completely disappeared from the snow walls by the end of July only to start building up again with snow falls in the end of September.

We crunched over snow to the various points of interest. Not too far – it was quite unsteady underfoot not to mention wet and cold, although I managed to get sunburned. It was like walking on sorbet!! My favourite sight was a lake, partially frozen over or thawed to be more precise, in various shades of turquoise and with “icebergs” floating in it – gorgeous.

This mountain is climbed by young boys in the area, as a rite of passage, when they are about 16 years old. There are slim paths paved with what looks like metal plates, with steps and rope fencing here and there on the lowland area but nothing visible higher up – apparently the last ascent takes about two hours for a fit young man as opposed to us unfit oldies – we wont try it!

We had a Japanese “lunch box” in the most gorgeously decorated shiny box; our rice with, various flavourings and various pickles, in their own little compartments, along with raw salmon, other fish (?) and other stuff; chop sticks, a spoon and a little towelette taped inside the lid.

After lunch and our walkabout – back on the bus and back the way we came. Another two hours of torture as you crave sleep, jerk awake, and try to follow the constant information given by the guide. He was very interesting, and he made some headway in trying to teach us to count to ten, some Chinese/Japanese characters that have the same meaning, and some characters that have different and more sinister meanings. So that trip was from 7am – 3pm. I love to get out of the cities and see what life I can but this is getting very tiring. Complain, complain – poor us!! The last of the three cruises WILL BE more cruisy!!!!????

Yokohama

Yokohama

29^th June 2014

So we’re back in Yokohama; the end of cruise number one and the beginning of two.

Three seems to be my number lately. We are doing three cruises; I have had three desserts these last 9 days; three bread rolls at dinner time (always a huge temptation especially if the service is slow but that’s been excellent); three grissini sticks, three soft serves (enjoyed on tours and paid for – none of the free cones on board YET). Of course we now get a free mini bar in our cabins which we haven’t been able to drink completely but we will be due for another lot; we also get free laundry and have had the equivalent of $100. We haven’t used our 10% boutique discount except for a packet of plasters and a lanyard but that wasn’t a goal!!

Yokohama is a pretty place and being there on Sunday meant everybody was in the parks, walking/ cycling the walkways and watching street entertainers. We saw one guy riding his bike with a pet rabbit tucked under his arm. The pier – Osanbashi – is spectacular, with the decking made of timber and flowing to represent waves but also very functional with steps in some areas, wooden wings giving shade in others then merging into various floors to give viewing areas and the embarkation hall . Everything has been perfectly organised and has run unbelievably smoothly . There are about 1800 passengers on board. Four hundred of us stayed for the second cruise.

The tours , usually dreaded for the long waits and sitting in the theatre to be called, have left on time, occasionally early and returned like clockwork. Some have been 8 or 9 hours long and quite tiring, but very interesting – we certainly have seen a lot of the country.

Back to Yokohama. We lounged round and eventually went for a walk along the waterfront pathway, with it’s lovely tree plantings, rose gardens, fountains and statues – particularly popular – the girl with the red shoes based on a child’s story. There was also an old ship built in the 1930s (Hoppy guessed that right), ferries and shops, a cafe; there are lots of vending machines for drinks – including beer – and ice-creams etc. The Japanese culture is very relevant, modern, and full of characters and monsters which could be equally western. At the end of our energy we wandered up some steps with a huge ceramic dragon working his way down in ponds which was a great attraction for the children wanting to cool off. These steps concealed a pumping station and led through an arched walkway which morphed into a bridge over the highway. The traffic hasn’t been too intense anywhere as yet, although we are expecting that to change in Tokyo. Just beyond the bridge was a doll museum, so we spent some time there before walking back to the ship.

We’ve been able to stay in the same cabin with the agreement of the couple who were originally booked for here, so that’s good news. And so, off on our second cruise.

Soz - my photos take too long to come over so words will have to say it all!! XXXXXXXXXXX

Aomori - land of the blue green forest.

 

27^th June 2014

And home to the best apples in the world. Also home to new buildings as the town was  totallydestroyed at the end of WW2. There are no old buildings despite its being 30.000 years old!! We have now crossed to the northern most tip of Honshu Island, the main and biggest island of Japan. It is connected to Hokkaido Island by a 56 km  undersea tunnel! It is surrounded by mountains with rain every month of the year and gets more than 25 ft. of snow. Pop.300.000, although Japan, overall, has a falling population with the birth rate at 1.3. pr couple.

Today’s trip took us straight into the woods – birch, beech, maples, plain trees and a native conifer  – with our first stop a brief walk by a lovely stream with waterfalls and rapids – very pretty.  We climbed continuously to a crater lake – Towada. We had a cruise on the lake followed by a traditional lunch – trays set out with burner and bowl of rice, chicken (I piece), mushroom, spinach and broth on top.; another bowl of sticky rice; a bowl of rice and raw salmon slices; a dried sardine – too oily for my taste; and a bowl of miso. Oh yes, and some chop sticks. Actually the meal was tasty apart from the sardine. Hop mixed his in with the rice so found it a bit more palatable although I noticed he didn’t eat much more than I did. I stupidly picked up the whole thing, after removing its head, and took a bite! The souvenir shop was full of apple products – apple glaceed– sweet, medium, sour – apple dried, apple with shortbread and almonds, apples peeled dried and stuffed with glace apples….you name it…imagine it……apple juice.

 Onto the bus again and up Mt. Hakkoda – the name of a range of dormant volcanoes. Another cable car (ropeway – I think I’ve had enough ropeways). This cable car took 100 passengers at a time. It was operating on a skeleton crew – it’s intended and highest volume of traffic is in the ski season. The view was of more mountains, a few interesting plants, and a bird with a distinctive whistle that we couldn’t find. I bet it was a speaker hidden in the undergrowth to drive us crazy, and some pesky little biting insects which ensured we didn’t stay outside too long or be late back for the bus!!  I must say the forest would be spectacular in the autumn – would just be a blaze of orange, yellow and red – gorgeous – and of course, the local spruce (conifers) get covered in hoare frost in winter beautiful.

It was a long day………..9 ½ hours. Sea day tomorrow on our way back to Yokohama. I’ll try for some more photos when the boss has downloaded them. XXXXXX

Hakodate - Hokkaido's 3rd lagest city at 280.000 population.

26^th June, 2014

This town is famous for its squid. We visited the morning market. It was full of fish – huge crabs, clams, sea urchins, squid, giant octopus, flounder, mackerel, sea snails large enough to give up a piece of meat as big as your fist - all alive and in tanks. I felt so sorry for them. I couldn’t bear the thought of catching something, then having it cooked for lunch, as you can! And here too, a packet of vacuum packed Minky whale meat!! There were all kinds of dried seafood as well. I sampled a dried scallop – quite sweet. Imagine giving that to the kids for a treat. Although I didn’t get a taste of dried kina I did sample some fish eggs. I hated the pop and burst of liquid into my mouth – yuk. Just the sensation was quite repulsive. Maybe smaller eggs wouldn’t be so bad. Food is mostly interesting though and it was good to have a guide to tell us what was what and how they used it. There was also our equivalent to a farmers market. One of the men there spotted NZ on Hoppy’s hat – he LOVES NZ. There were daikon the size of your forearm, potatoes, asparagus – green and white, rock melons for $30. each (!) and all kinds of delicious fruit – just like home. Everywhere in the country side are these huge leaves – like giant lily pads – the stalks of these were there too, to be cut up into your meal as a vegetable.

We went on to another ropeway to Mt. Hakodate. We glimpsed bits of the city as the fog came and went. The view is famous at night when the lights of the peninsula contrast to the black night sea on either side. Would look good. But then so would it today if we could see it all! The souvenir shop at the top had a wonderful array of “hello Kitty” stuff and nick knacks – all very reasonably priced too. Shouldn’t be surprised really – this is Japan. One of our group found a four-leafed clover there – very happy chappy.  Down the ropeway and walkabout time through the Motomachi District where foreigners settled after the city was opened to the West in 1854. It’s quite fascinating that Japan kept itself isolated from the rest of the world for about 300 years. Finally a fleet of ships arrived which they knew they couldn’t repel so decided maybe they could absorb and make use of the western technology – guns at the time!! The hillside revealed a huge Buddhist Monastery, a Catholic Church and school, a Russian Orthodox Church, the old British consulate which had the most glorious rose garden, and a Chinese Meeting Hall, not to mention snow freeze shops vying for your yen and numerous artists along the walkway come road. Cars are few and far between in most areas.

The roads on the way out had Tsunami warning such as - this area is 2.2m high. Since the tidal wave they are striving to be nuclear free but they don’t have many natural resources of their own so import coal and oil etc. The Japanese are also proud of their drug free and safe cities although there was recently a drug bust in Tokyo making the headlines. They put the safety aspect down to the fact that they have police boxes scattered through the entire area, not that we noticed any police presence. You do feel very safe here I must say. I can imagine for some reason, you would like it here Rodney – especially the snow aspect. It seems everywhere there is likely to be 5 or 6 metres of snow dumped every winter between November and March , and the ski runs are clearly visible if you get a mountain view.

Once again my photos are taking too long to transfer..........but I got one for you...The Big Daikon!