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Day 7
While Kagoshima city is the capital city of the prefecture, it still gave me a small-town, peaceful, quiet sort of feel. There's a fish market by the port which is very close to the city center; just about a 10 minute drive by car. It's nothing like Tsukiji Fish Market of Tokyo of course, but it has its small town charms.
We decided to check out a sashimi restaurant located at the fish market called Shinko Shokudo which opens really early at 5am (!) till 3pm. Of course, we had to have the sashimi platter.
The fish was so lean subtly rich in taste; you knew it had to have been fish off the boat.
The restaurant was really crowded and teemed with locals, including elderly people who ordered non-fish dishes such as tempura and deep fried mackerel. I know we shouldn't be staring at everyone else's food but when I saw those huge fried mackerel go by.... I knew I wanted to try it out the next day. Especially since even the Japanese grandpas and grandmas were eating them! But that's a story for the next post heh.
By the Kagoshima Port. It was really quiet but there were some people sitting on the breakwaters fishing. The weather was mild and perfect for lounging. I could imagine just bringing a book, hot thermos flask, blanket to sit on and wrap myself in and that would be the ingredients for a perfect afternoon by the sea. :D
(Taken with iPhone)
Best part about climbing onto the breakwater? The incredible unfettered view of Sakurajima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes! You could literally see the plumes emerging from the peak. There's the option of taking a ferry to Sakurajima to explore the island but then you wouldn't get to enjoy the view. So here's a less expensive alternative.
After our breakfast, we headed off to Ibusuki, about a 2 hour drive from Kagoshima to try out its famed hot black sand baths (known as Sunamushi Onsen).
I'd seen this video/report by Bee Rowlatt and thought it looked incredibly fun. Definitely check it out to get an overview of what to expect. But I think years of living in 100% humidity Singapore has warped my sweat glands into being ultra efficient at only pouring out sweat when the temperature is really high. I actually found it pretty tolerable. There is a definite feeling resembling that of a baby elephant resting on your belly but after awhile you start to enjoy the soft pressure exerted by the mounds of black sand heaped on top of you. And there's the clock right in front so that you don't overbake yourself. Because then the attendants run off somewhere else leaving you to your own devices. But it's no sweat. ;) After 15 minutes or so you just have to muster up as much strength as you can, give a little roar, and break free from the black sand cocoon.
We actually managed to get pretty good photos of ourselves (though of course, they are a little too embarrassing so they ain't going up here) taken by our nice Japanese shovel attendant using my film camera. I was really impressed! After all, most random passersby have difficulties focusing even with a regular digital point and shoot. But this guy really got down into a photographer's pose and focused his shots well. Either he does this way too many times for tourists or he really is some part time freelance photographer.
Then after that you get to go for a dip in the indoor onsen facilities. They have a number of small pools to choose from.
Beware the smallest pool of water. I saw an old Japanese lady steeped in the water up to her chest, sitting very calmly on the seated area in the pool. I thought, oh, must be a nice lukewarm pool, so I promptly stepped in without a second thought. IT WAS THE COLDEST THING EVERRRRR. And there she was UP TO HER CHEST, almost in a meditative state. After about 1 min, she proceeded to sit in the sauna room for another few minutes. I decided to follow her lead. Basically what she did was soak for about a minute in the cold pool, pop into the sauna for another few minutes then hop back into the cold pool....about 10 times. Not easy at all. I tried but would always give up and move on to the cold pool from the sauna a lot faster than she did. But it definitely helps because you can endure the heat from the sauna a lot better after freezing your ass off. I think this cycle of hot and cold is supposed to help to increase the elasticity of your skin and maintain its youthfulness. At least, that's what a Korean tour guide told me years ago because that's what the Korean women do as well. Give it a go!
Ibusuki is a reaaaally tiny city and it's main business is probably catering to the tourists who use the hot sand baths. I would recommend taking a day trip there because the drive from Kagoshima takes you along the coast and is really beautiful and relaxing.
xoxo
Day 5
This was the day of fantastic chance encounters. :D
It started off with us making our way toward Mount Aso, one of the largest active volcanoes in Japan, in Kumamoto Prefecture. FYI, there are 5 peaks to the volcano's central cone and one of its craters has been active for the past 70 years. You can totally see these immense volcanic plumes misting upwards into the clear blue skies even from a distance.
Seiffener Tippel, is a gorgeous German cafe that we stumbled upon while making our way up the long winding road to Mount Aso. It was incredibly surreal. There we were in our little trusty Daihatsu (who we affectionately named Daikon) slowly inching our way up the slopes when all of a sudden we see these beautiful European 'cottages' along the side of the road, in a completely anachronistic fashion. It felt like we had driven into a quaint German village in the middle of nowhere. So of course, we had to stop and take a look.
Everything about this place was just surreal. After chatting a bit with the owner, turns out that they had lived in a part of Germany for about 10 years (couldn't quite catch whereabouts though). The owner said that he still couldn't speak much German despite having lived there because all he really needed for his business were catalogs that he could point at to indicate the products he wanted.
Nothing like a delicious hot mug of cocoa with a generous dollop of whipped cream to start off a cold Autumn day! :D
One of the best parts of the cafe? HOME-MADE BAUMKUCHEN. They literally had their own Baumkuchen machine that's usually seen in those department stores where they bake it on the spot. This one was in a home! OHH the never ending wafts of deliciously fragrant butter and sugar and milk coming together… a veritable slice of heaven.
Check out their website here or their facebook page here and do go to have a sip of warm coffee and munch on some yummy home-made Baumkuchen. I guarantee you will not be sorry! X) It was one of the most memorable parts of the entire trip.
After that, we carried along driving up towards the Mountain. Along the way, Donald decided it would be cool to just get off the road to explore the surrounding meadow...cow-style. So we parked Daikon (our little Daihatsu car) by the side of the road and trudged through some really tall reeds into what literally was the middle of nowhere. It wasn't the first thing that came to mind when I thought of 'fun' but weeell... YOLO? And actually, I must admit that the weather could not have been better. Occasionally, a beautiful breeze would blow by through the reeds, making it all the more picturesque. I couldn't help but feel we were in the process of making some outdoor clothing catalog for an artsy magazine. ;)
I love those endless cloudless Japanese skies…
After awhile we reached the peak observatory point where it was pretty crowded with the occasional tour bus unloading its passengers. If you walk down a somewhat steep, stepped path, you'll end up at the tourist center which also happens to have a horse ranch where you can go horseback riding along the plains!
Incredibly randomly, on the way down the mountain, we spotted a bunch of cows grazing in a field by the road and decided to stop to say hello. The cows were cute but… HUGE.
Managed to get some shots of them but then when they started advancing… I wasn't too sure they would take to a friendly pat by a stranger.
This is about when I started to run…
Somewhere up in the mountains. :D
Next, we headed on to our ryokan in the heart of Kurokawa Onsen, a really gorgeous hot spring town with some beautiful autumn foliage. It's good that we drove because it's one of those places that would've taken quite a long bus ride from the station to get to.
Travel tip: If you're staying at a ryokan, try to arrive just in time for check in! Which is usually around 3pm. Because usually all the ryokans with in-house onsens will have some sort of deal going on where you can by a pass to obtain entry into a number of different onsens in the various ryokans in the vicinity. We arrived a little late at about 5pm since we'd spent quite a while at Mt Aso, only to be greeted by the sight of a huge group of middle aged Japanese ladies heading OUT of the ryokan in their yukata and wooden clogs, presumably off onsen-hopping. It's also something you might want to do in the autumn/winter time since the sun sets earlier and there ain't much to do in a ryokan after hours.
Dinner was such a feast! This one was really superb. We had our own private room with a dedicated server who would introduce the courses to us as they came.
Isn't the presentation just incredible? There's so much artistry that goes into the cooking and presentation of each dish.
Psst. Right: Doesn't that look like a piece of steak? It's actually a piece of Daikon (radish) covered in a sweet sauce. UHHMAZZZING.
The famous Basashi (or horse sashimi) that Kyushu's famous for. I didn't try any but Donald did and said it was nice but… gamey. As expected.
It's funny how some bits of our dinner were rather awkward because of the language barrier (my Japanese reaaaally needs a lot more work) but our server was a lovely, sincere lady (aren't they all??), Suzuki-san, who noticed that our Yukatas needed a bit of work and proceeded to give us a hands on session on how to adjust/wear our Yukatas the right way… in the middle of the meal. But I do love it when they go the extra mile to make things special for you.
After all that food, we settled in to a night restful night of slumber.
xoxo
(To continue on with the account of my trip to Japan last year after a little hiatus. Gosh, the year end just came and went didn't it?! Can't believe it's nearing the end of January already!)
Day 4
I must say that we were so blessed with such INCREDIBLY good weather in Kyushu! Just, wherever we went, there was a fantastic cool temperature of about 15 deg C and clear, glorious blue skies. It was the perfect day for our drive down to Kumamoto. Along the way, we stopped by a town called Akizuki (literally, Autumn Moon) which was really soooo lovely! :) It's quite a touristy place, known for its beautiful Autumn colors but it was also not exceedingly crowded which has become quite an important factor in allowing one to really enjoy a place.
We stopped by only for an hour or so but I would definitely dedicate maybe an afternoon for a proper exploration of the town and its scenic spots. Some of the photos were taken with iPhone and I decided to include them in to let you guys see a little more of the town.
To start this off…some beautiful Autumn foliage! :D
Left: Yakimochi. Pretty much the BEST Autumn/cold-weather/I-need-a-hot-chocolate-now snack but beware of the immense heat that's wrapped up in that innocuous looking little thing because I stuffed in a big portion into my mouth and in about 2s I realised if I didn't take it out the roof of my mouth was gonna get burnt. Sure adds to that awesome kick though.
Right: Ok it's not just me right? This guy was totally modelling for the shot. ;)
Beautiful round mochi!! Sigh.
I still have no idea what these fruits are! Are they seasonal or something? They certainly were present in quite a lot of the places we went to.
Tri-coloured cooking pastes! Well, the yellow one was definitely yuzu but I'm not too sure what the other two were…
Cutie obasan at her vegetable stall. :D
Left: I just love how quaint her stall was!
Right: We sat down to the perfect afternoon refresher of a bowl of hot matcha accompanied by the lightest almond cookies. It was a little stall outside the shrine run by a group of very enterprising ladies who would make the matcha inside a makeshift kitchen area and deliver it to waiting customers outside.
Hi there cutie. ;)
We also happened to meet this really cute Obasan called Baba Yoshiko who
happens to be a veritable Jack of All Trades! I happened to strike up a halting
conversation with her when I was snapping a photo of her beautiful fruits and
veggies when she asked, "What are you taking a photo of?" I tried
telling her that everything was so beautiful when she gestured to a basket of
baby chilies, saying 'THESE are beautiful!". I couldn't help but agree. XD
THE baby chillies.
She was totally a born saleswoman! After introducing us to some hand made pastes (yuzu paste seemed to be something that Kyushu was famous for as well) which we fell for and bought, she showed us the ceramic bowls and plates at the back of the stall which she apparently made herself as well. What a talent. I love how they are usually so multi-talented in so many things in the rural area because they pretty much have to do everything themselves there eh?
This beautiful beautiful tiny little brook. :) Bathed in that really gorgeous Japanese golden light (i swear it has to do with their immense clear blue cloudless skies).
So after that we headed on to Kumamoto, which really is quite a small city. At least the major city center area was extremely walkable. We went to one of the famous ramen restaurants called Daikoku Ramen which is known for its garlic tonkotsu broth but while it definitely had a strong garlicky taste which I liked… it lacked the punch of a really good broth. (I definitely prefer Nantsutei which we have in SG) It's easy to get around Kumamoto using their tram system because it's so small and the names of the stops flash by on an electronic board in the tram. But then again if you miss a stop they're probably so close to each other you could just walk. Didn't seem to have particularly a lot going on at night so one night was more than enough in my opinion.
One great thing though? A mega Tsutaya (huge bookstore with outlets in pretty much every major city) which opened late! If you ask me, every city should have a 24 hour bookstore/library. What better place for sleepless souls to wander? Sure beats a 24 hour arcade/internet cafe/casino though there are so many more of those around.
More real soon! Only halfway through.
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On a side note, Happy New Year everyone! Did the new year just sort of roll on by or what? I think I did give some thought to my new year's resolutions but then again, I always comfort myself with the thought that there's Chinese New Year coming up eventually as well so maybe I can have a little more time to reflect on the past year while moving forward. All the CNY decorations are already being sold in grocery stores and soon there will be the incessant blasting of those familiar CNY tunes every dang where. Ahh so comforting (then it turns annoying). ;p
Hope you're having a great weekend!
xoxo
