Farflungistan

The Sweet Volcanic Breezes of Mount Aso

11:38 #JRtrain to #Aso #japan #Kyushu

JR Station in Kumamoto City

Enough with castles for now and the cramped living style of the business hotel. Many parts of Kumamoto City are attractive enough for a short visit. The beauty and the history of the city can be seen in a few hours. Most of the major attractions are located in the center of the city and within the boundaries of the castle complex.

The mall near the #kumamoto #castle
The Kumamoto castle depicted in lights

Rice fields and Distant Mountain Windmills on the way #aso #kyushu #japan
Views of rice fields and windmills along the way to Aso

It’s time to move on. We are both ready to get out of the crowded city and ready for some open air. The next stop is Mount Aso where we plan to hike up an active volcano and I will have my first visit to an outdoor public onsen. I have spent some time studying the property rules of conduct while bathing. I just hope I don’t unknowingly offend anyone.

THe Aso-Boy train leaving the mountain village Aso Kyushu - Japan
The Aso Boy Train we passed along the way

We will grab a local train to Aso from the JR station in Kumamoto instead of riding the slightly cheaper and faster highway bus. As I mentioned before, we have had enough with the business hotel, so I booked a room at a hostel called Aso Backpacker Base Hostel. The hostel was built in 2009 by a gentleman named Yoshi and his wife Miyong. Yoshi’s hostel continuously receives positive reviews on the major travel sites and is located a few hundred meters from the train station…sold.

Room with a view at the Aso Base Hostel
Room with a great view of Mount Aso and surrounding area

The ride on the fire engine red local limited express to Aso takes a little over an hour. From the views of young rice seedlings growing in stacked rice fields separated only by a few homes, some prized beef cattle and the grassy hills they feed on, it’s pretty obvious that this part of Kyushu is the agricultural heartland of Japan. I already knew that it’s going to be a place I will be sad to leave but happy to have visited.

The treasured cow of Aso Kyushu - Japan
The local treasure of Aso in front of the train station

I’m hoping that the weather holds so we are able to get at least one hike up to see the crater. It is the beginning of monsoon season and the viewing area of the crater does close literally ever time the wind shifts due to the dangerous sulfuric acid the volcano continuously pushes out. If it the authorities roped off the entrance due to the high levels of sulphuric acid then there’s always the alternative day in the Onsen.

The Last Samurai Castle of Kumamoto…Tom Cruise wasn’t here

At first, Kumamoto was just a place on map where the bus from Kagoshima stopped and we could transfer to the near by train station and move on to Mount Aso. It didn’t take long to find out that it is home to one of the finest castles in Japan next to Himeji outside of Osaka and the Nagoya Castle just north of Nara. The feudal lord and highly trained warrior Kiyomasa designed and constructed the Kumamoto Castle over 400 years ago. And yes, Kato Kiyomasa is the same samurai warrior featured in Koei’s PS2 Way of the Warrior video game.

The castle is the site were the final battle between the samurai and the Meiji empire. The Satsuma Battle ended with the defeat of the samurai and a partially destroyed castle. The battle has been romanticized and even inspired the film The Last Samurai starring Ken Watanabe and Tom Cruise. The restoration of the castle to was completed in 1970. Its well worth a visit. I’m sure its amazing in the spring when there are 800 Sakura trees are in bloom.

#KatoKiyomasa Statue next to the #Kumamoto Castle

Statue of Kato Kiyamasa

Tom and Ken figures in front of the castle

None the less, Kumamoto is a great place to stop by and spend a little time visiting. Especially if you want to check out an area of Japan that has a significant place in Japan’s recent history. For us, the next stop is Mount Aso where we will spend some time hiking in the area, viewing my first active volcano and bath in many of the hot springs in onsen town Kumagawa.

One of the many Ginkgo Tree planted by General Kato when the Castle was built in 1600

Honmaru Goten Palace where the Emperor presided inside the Kumamoto Castle

Secure walls surrounding the buildings inside the Kumamoto Castle

Circling the Flame

The one thing to not miss while staying in Kagoshima is making a day trip to the volcanic island of Sakurajima. The last major devastating blast was almost 50 years ago and hopefully it won’t go off again anytime soon. One of the three peaks still gives the surrounding area a daily coat of grey ash which makes a sun umbrella really handy here. It’s an amazing site to see in person and biking is one of the best ways to see it from all angles. We bring along protective masks while we ride and hope we don’t inhale too much debris.

A trip to Sakurajima and a bike ride around the island pretty much takes up an entire day. The ferry takes 10 minutes, leaves often and costs just 150 Yen each way. What a deal. We rented bikes for 1500 Yen for the day and only knew that it was hilly and could take anywhere from 3-5 hours. The route is hilly and sidewalks and bike paths come and go. The hills did end up seeming longer and harder to conquer since the steel street bike frame is too small and it only has 3 gears. I’m used to my light bike back at home minus any gear.

Kurakami Buried Shrine Gate which led us to the Soba Restaurant across the street

The soba shop was a welcoming site at around the half way mark across from the buried Torii Gate on the eastern side of the island. This is where we got the best and closest view of the active crater. The road continued to be hilly but it ended up being a good workout and the scenery was gorgeous.

Shoreline of Sakurajima — View to the east from the road above on Sakurajima

Shrine on the west side of the island of Sakurajima

We ended our ride back at the ferry terminal, returned the dusty bikes and checked out the port area on foot. We were not on a schedule so we just watched the boats go by on one side and viewed the volcano let off steam in the other direction while relaxing and soaking our feet at the Sakurajima Nagisa Foot Bath Park. The days events reaffirmed my continuous love of Japan.

Ended it all at the Sakurajima Nagisa Foot Bath Park

Quick stop in Kyoto and on to Kagoshima in Kyushu

On our way to #KyotoStation #japan

Our stay in Kyoto was only a few days but we’re without regrets and are looking forward to what’s ahead. Our plans on where we are going in the weeks ahead are still pretty undefined. They mostly will be dependent on the weather, if we can find an apartment in Tokyo for the month of June, and if we get totally killed by the weak dollar. For now, we are just careful and try to just enjoy our time whether it ends up being 4 weeks or 7.

We want to make sure we do something new at the beginning just in case we need to go back to China sooner for whatever reason. We are already in Kyoto for a wedding so we decided to head down south and see more of the Kyushu Prefecture. We have been to Nagasaki and Beppu but the rest of the island is new to us and a prices for hotel and transport are more inline with the budget.

Flew #PeachAirline today from #Kansei to #Kagoshima wonderful :)

We decided to try Japan’s first budget airline called Peach. Peach is an affiliate of with ANA, much faster and cheaper than the Shinkansen, and offers great rates to the few cities it currently services. I’m looking forward to it.

We land in Kagoshima and take a bus to the center town where we booked a room. Our list of things to see and do includes biking 37 km around Sakurajima’s volcanic Mount Ontake (working off the wedding food), touring a Shochu Factory, and relaxing an Onsen. Beyond that, I hopefully will get rid of this cold and have some time to figure out what’s next.

So goodbye to Kyoto for now…

While we were in Kyoto we did manage to get some touristy things in like:

#Sagano Scenic #Railway Along the #HozuRiver in #kyoto

Take a boat trip back up the Hozu River
Front row seats on the Boat Ride down the #Hozugawa River #kyoto #japan

and check out some of the temples of southern Kyoto

#Tenryū-ji Temple in #Kyoto #Japan

Return to the Land of the Rising Sun

Early morning in the former French Concession

We said good-bye to Shanghai on Friday as we boarded our taxi in the surprisingly sleepy Jing’an District. The ride to Pudong seemed like more a demonstration on how our taxi driver could get us to the airport faster than his nemesis the speedy Maglev. Of course, there are no working seat belts in this shaky compact and we are left to overlook the lack of safety and the speedometer and just watch the Shanghai skyline disappear behind us. We reached the Pudong Airports in 45 minutes and the Maglev never managed to pass our vehicle.

The G train to #shanghai from #nanjing #china — The G High Speed Rail train similar to the Maglev but a little slower. Looks very similar to the Shinkansen in Japan doesn’t it.

Early start at the #PudongAirport #shanghai #china — Early morning in Pudong International Airport Terminal 2

The Pudong Airport is new and of course super-sized like most structures like it in the new China. We boarded our Air China plane an hour and after a 2 hour bumpy flight landed in Osaka. The short flight consisted of a watching Globetrekker episode where we learned how Ian Wright traveled around Las Vegas, and a Wonder Bread cucumber tea sandwich with juice.

View of #lakebiwako #shiga #japan — View of Lake Biwa from the room

The journey today ended in town of Zeze otherwise known as Lake Biwa just outside of Kyoto. It’s been over two years since our last visit to Japan and the sticker shock hit us just little after getting off the JR train in Kyoto. For example, in China a pastry costs 4 Yuan or about 75 cents at the corner bakery opposed to the 240 Yen or $4 dollar bagel without cream cheese from a kiosk in the Kyoto JR Rail Station. This just means that we’ll have to be selective in how we spend in Japan. This means still treating ourselves to things we love most. This includes at least one trip to an Onsen, a few nice meals and many glasses of smooth sake and souchu. We have an idea of what we want to see but the plans are loose so we have the option of cutting out if we end up going past our comfort zone.

The Candy Box Girls Bar in #biwago #japan #shiga — The Candy Box Girls Bar in downtown Biwako

Our plan so far is to stay here in Kyoto and visit a friend whose wedding brought us here in the first place. We will then fly south to Kagoshima using new Japanese budget airline called Peach and travel around the Kyushu region. The details are still being worked out but so far we will be going to see volcanoes of southern Kagoshima and central Mt. Aso , see castles in Kumamoto and temples of Fukuoka and Nagasaki.

View of the Pearl Tower from the Bund in Shanghai

#Japan. :) #LakeBiwako #Shiga #Kyoto — Quiet morning on shore of Lake Biwa

The Ancient and Modern Suzhou

Tour boat along the Ping Jiang Road canal
Suzhou in Brief

There are many reasons to visit the suburban water town of Suzhou. It’s where In 1272, Marco Polo stopped by and added it to his top 5 list of the most beautiful cities in China. This merchant city still holds its place as one of China’s trade and manufacturing centers. This began back before Marco Polo hit its streets. Suzhou hasn’t changed much. It is a bustling merchant city that produces some of the finest silk cloth and is also become China’s largest producers of high-tech products. The factory stacks of the nearby industrial parks push out laptops, pharmaceuticals, and mobile phone parts daily in areas which was built on some of the most fertile farm lands of the Yangtze delta. At least there’s still some places being well taken care of that allow visitors to see what others like Marco Polo have witnessed through the centuries.

I decided that Suzhou was a perfect place to get a break from the busy city of Shanghai since its only a short ride on the High speed rail and is on the UNESCO list. It is a popular tourist destination so going on the train at off-peak times and during the week seemed to be the best thing to do. The city has countless things to see but I chose to make a realistic itinerary and decided on quality over quantity. The three attractions that seemed perfect to see well in a day were the Suzhou Museum, the Humble Administrator’s Garden and Ping Jiang Street area.

Old Suzhou and what is left

The Suzhou Museum
Koi Pond in the Suzhou Museum by Cori B (farflungistan) on 500px.com

The Suzhou Museum is the modern addition to the cities landscape. This modern structure combines the styles of traditional Suzhou with stylistic elements characteristic of Award-winning Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei. He was born in Guangzhou and spent summers in Suzhou as a child. He accepted the invitation to design this museum since this enabled him to give back to a city where he had spent some of his youth.

The Suzhou Museum interior has a distinct flow. The elements such as the triangular rock mountain peaks in the traditional garden and the large Chinese window in the Wisteria Tea Room both show his intentions of connecting the ancient and the modern Suzhou and China for that matter. His signature use of light and glass is at it’s best here. The museum alone is a work of art and amazing to see in person.15,000 items are on display almost take second stage to the building itself. The objects inside include ancient paintings, calligraphy filled scrolls, colorful snuff bottles, ceramics and other Song, Ming and Qing Dynasty relics unearthed in China.

Admission: FREE
Hours: 9am-5pm (no admission after 4pm)

The Humble Administrator’s Garden

The Humble Administrator's Garden In Suzhou

Next to the Suzhou Museum lies the Humble Administrator’s Garden. It’s difficult to choose which one of the dozens of pleasant rock and water filled gardens in the area but this one is the largest and is close to Ping Jiang Street.

This large garden is also a World Heritage site. It’s known to the locals as Zhuōzhèng Yuán. The viewing of this garden is best later in the afternoon when the sun sets over the western water gardens and the picturesque octagonal Beisi Pagoda can be viewed clearly through the trees. The tour groups are now on the bus and have hit the road which gives photographers a better chance of getting non-obstructed shots in the warm evening light.

Admission: 50 RMB (Off season) and 70 RMB (Peak season)
Hours: 7am – 5:30pm (put aside a couple of hours to view. Best at dusk)

These two destinations plus a walk or boat ride along the pedestrian street Ping Jiang Lu can fill an entire day.

The Ping Jiang Road District

Along Ping Jiang Road In Suzhou

Ping Jiang District, with its restored white walls and monocle bridges that crisis-cross the canals, gives visitors an idea of what Marco Polo was referring to in his memoirs.

It was just as I imagined it to be. It’s a place where people come to get professional engagement pictures taken. Many couples can be seen wearing traditional and not so traditional costumes and posing for the camera on near by bridges and scenic walkways.

For visitors, the numerous alleyways and streets are perfect for getting lost in and escaping the masses for a bit. Come here to wonder the alleyways and view the Venice of the East from inside a gondola boat if there is time. This is also a lovely spot to grab over-priced drink, people watch and be observed by the locals and their pets. I almost wish we missed our train and had to spend the night.

Rock garden inside the Suzhou Museum

Wisteria Tea room inside the Suzhou Museum

The Humble Administrator's Garden In Suzhou

Music shop on Ping Jiang Road

Canals Along Ping Jiang Road In Suzhou

Four Years and Seven Days Ago and I’m back in Shanghai

In the span of two long days we packed and stored our NYC life, grabbed a direct 14 hour flight from EWR to PVG, and checked into our new temporary home in the former French Concession (FFC) in downtown Shanghai. We chose Shanghai because we are familiar with the city and will be able to have a longer visit.

In 2008, the Chinese Consulate in Seoul granted my husband and I both 30 day Single Entry Visas. It was pretty much just enough time to hit up the major tourist draws – Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai. Back then, China was frantically getting ready for their world stage premier and the Olympics was just the first act. There were other events unfolding behind the red curtain which were causing headaches for everyone for travels, locals, and officials alike. Securing travel visas was difficult. We made due with what we were granted in Seoul and just saw what we could. This allowed us to budget only 5 nights. This time it will be a 3 week visit.

This time, the Chinese consulate in New York granted both of us 90 day multi entry visas which are good for a year. This will allow my husband and I plenty of time to visit what was missed back in 2008 including a proper visit to many cities like Shanghai. We will also witness what has become of China after four years of rapid expansion and construction. So far, it’s obvious that much has changed and this country is still rolling along at full Maglev speed.

Shanghai still appears to be caught up in a construction frenzy. Streets are constantly being swept in the former French Concession and it is not uncommon to see a Bentley speed by while strolling down Huaihai Road. Will the things we see in China’s cultural capital be a stark contrast to what lies ahead? I’m enjoying it all none the less.

The first week was a blur of jet lag and it still hasn’t sunk in that there’s several more weeks – and possibly months – ahead in this journey. At least the jet lag only lasted a few days, Shanghai looks sort of familiar and the transition from living in NYC and now in Shanghai is not very difficult – just warmer.

Transport with a splash of color

Most trips overseas for the intrepid traveler involve overland travel. There’s sometimes unavoidable on small islands in the Philippines and the desert expanses of the Middle East. The road offers adventure, perspective to a new place and experiencing the local color.

Some of us have quickly found that schedules in most places do not go as planned. I think back to my early travel years and the incredibly long ride from Ephesus to Istanbul. The bus ended up including a surprise ferry ride, arrived 4 hours lake, dropped me off way in the suburbs at 23:00 back in 2005.

Local buses usually run on the drivers schedule, make pit stops where they get kick backs and usually end with you saying you are never taking the bus again. I have yet managed followed through with that promise. As one fellow passenger said on a very bumpy road in India, “It feels like we are in God’s hands and he’s shaking our bus in them”. I have taken plenty of bus rides since , survived them all and will continue to ride (if there’s no other option).

Many claim that taking an airplane is much safer than ground transport but where’s the adventure in that. Airplanes don’t look like these colorful options and not nearly as fun.

Taking Flight in Bryant Park

Spring actually started as early as February in this section of the world and some would believe winter was a very kind one to all of us after how much snow was dumped on us last year. We had 70 degree days in January and we had very few that went below freezing. The early spring is a bit confusing but not unwelcome to those of us who are more than ready to lose the winter digs. It just makes one wonder what kind of weather is ahead of us as summer is rapidly pushing up the eastern coast line.

I’m enjoying the perfect weather here on the island. There’s nothing better and more refreshing than spending time in NYC’s numerous parks, dining under the sky and being able to lighten the load by leaving the wool jacket, gloves and scarves behind.

My favorite spot is the little piece of green right in the middle of Midtown Manhattan and it’s Bryant Park. This little park has something for locals, tourists, families and those looking to escape their office/cube for a few.

Lego Lion guarding the main entrance of the Schwarzman Library in Manhattan

So many FREE things to do in this lovely little piece of green in Midtown Manhattan

There’s a number of places to enjoy a good read. This is a place where you can grab a table and chair relax by the fountain with a book from either the Mid Manhattan Library on 5th Ave and 41st Street or the historical Stephen A Schwarzman Library on 5th and 42nd Street. Get to the park in the early afternoon, grab a pint and lounge amongst the financial big wigs inside the Patio sponsored by the Southwest Airlines or the Bryant Park Cafe on the eastern end.

Chess or a pint at the Southwest Airlines Patio seen here in the background?

The park also offers a number of other free activities for both adults and their little ones. There’s someone waiting right now looking for a friendly challenge. For little ones and others who are not quite ready or in the mood to compete there’s a carousel humming along to classic french cafe music, an area next to it dedicated to kids books and plenty of food vendors who provide the perfect picnic lunch to enjoy in the park.

For the sporty crowd looking for some action there’s ping-pong tables, Pétanque along with free lessons as well as plenty of chess and backgammon boards set up at tables lining the park. These activities provide a way to meet locals and see that there’s more to Times Square then bright lights, chain stores and tour bus hustlers. One could just about manage to make a full or half day just within the confides of this wonderful little park in the center of midtown.

Late Winter Bryant Park Ground Hog Day 2012 — Bryant Park Ping Pong is amongst the many outdoor sports offers in the park and it’s FREE

And did I mention how really nice the bathrooms are?

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