The last days in the village Wind is blowing
Doors bang Windows vibrate Cold infiltrates Rain drops fall Times has stopped No one is around Atmosphere gloomy A Spring Winter Day in Kamikawa
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HIMEJI CASTLE or the White Egret Castle A world Cultural Heritage Site a National treasure The two main particularities - The main keep covered with white plaster that looks like a white egret. - The main keep was for the warriors and the west Bailey for the princesses. It is located in Himeyama Hill and a fort was built in 1333. It is only in 1609 that the 5 storied, 7-floored keep was completed. Himeji castles mirasculously was not destroyed during the air raids in 1945 but the town of Himeji was reduced to ashes. FOOD - always a good experience!
FAUNA AND FLORA FROGS Right there in the garden! In Sommer, 1000 of them will hop in the garden! SAKURA IN KAMIKAWA! Sakura ended in Kyoto on 7thApril ...but in Kamikawa the blossom reached its best time a week after! FLOWERS and CO5am Kyoto waked up! The best time of the day to take pictures HONRYUJI TEMPLE - MYORENJI TEMPLE- DAIHO-ON-JI TEMPLE |
HONRYUJI TEMPLE |
BYE BYE KYOTO and Thanks to Phyllis!
WELCOME TO KYOTO! SAKURA !
| Traditional outfits |
KURODANI - ÖNDER SAKURA
Away from the crowd :)))
The downsize: pollen allergy!!!!
Okazaki Jinja Shinto shrine
KONKAYKOMYOJI TEMPLE (KURODANI)
SHINNYODO TEMPLE
CHION IN AND MARUYAMA PARK
MUNETADA SHRINE
It was on a sunny day when we decided to go to Tomomine!
It is a mountain about 1000 m high, 17km away from Kamikawa.
We were highly motivated! Our equipment was city bikes without breaks.
The 9 km were flat enough after it was too steep. We pushed the bikes! It was a challenge as our fitness conditions became poor! No regular training session any more. We made it in 2:30 hours :)))
On our way to the top of mountain, we had one motivation: we will have home made mocchi from the neighbours! It was a bliss!
To go down, it took us only 40 minutes!
What makes this place so particular ?
It is promoted as nice suzuki fields (silvergrass fields). We wanted to see them too!
Once there, what we only could see, was a burned field!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No silvergrass!
What we should have known or read the touristic leaflets we got from the tourist office.
Suzuki fields are burned end of March to generate better fields for the next season... in October!!!
No comment on that :))) LOL
Pictures from Önder
THE HOUSE
Working at "the house".
Gardening - Building - Painting - Weeding - Hosting guests and meeting our neighbours too!
OUR NEIGHBOURGS: TWO GHOSTHOUSES
ZEN GARDEN AND TEMPLE - ÖNDER
ZEN GARDEN AND TEMPLE - INGRID
Cherry trees blossoming
Birds singing
Eagles gliding
Frogs croaking
Rivers flowing
Sound of Bamboo forest
Life goes at its own rythm
Welcome to Kamikawa - in he heart of Japan
BLOSSOM INGRID
BLOSSOM ÖNDER
We were about to give up the trip. We had to face the reality. It was not going anywhere.
What can we do more? We applied on Helpx and Wwoofing for volunteering jobs, sent messages to couchsurfers, reorganise ourselves every now and then. We could not rely on people. This has been going on since December 2015!
It meant that it would be it. End of the trip. We were not really ready.
At the end of the tunel, there is always a light. A friend wrote us : "of any tunel, there is light".
Difficult to believe...
What occurred to reach that point?
The story is very simple. We had a volunteering job in Kyoto. We planned everything accordingly to our hosts. We fulfilled her requirements. We even sent our CV, we had as she requested, an international driving license. Few days before coming, she vanished! No message anymore!
We were in the dark. We planned to stay three weeks in Kyoto and volunteered at her place. We could say goodbye to Sakura!
What was next?
We arrived two days ahead of our schedule. We first booked a room in a hostel, it was very difficult because it was the beginning of cherry blossom. Kyoto was fully booked. We had to book a second night. In those hopeless moments, we were lucky. We found a good deal, the last room in town for half price. It was a bit far from the city centre 8km. At that time, it did not matter. It was out of question to pitch our tent somewhere, the temperatures were still too low, below 0 night time.
We walked the 8km and arrived in another town, next to Kyoto.
We have to mention that we booked a room in a hotel reserved for “adults only”. Rooms can be booked per hour! We missed that information when booking. Oops! We could not cancel, so we did not have any other choice than stay! Can you picture that? Two backpackers with 17 kg arriving in such a place. It was funny! People working there were also amused and they usually do not see the guests but they welcomed us! It was also a late check-in. We could not believe it. It was impossible to negotiate it. We were there at 4pm, our check-in was at 8pm! We went around, nothing much to do but to go to a kombini (convenience store) and checked internet. We had very nice dinner: buffet style, eat as much as you can.
Finally 4 hours were up and we could check-in. It felt weird at the first place but the room was spacey and great! The reception is minimal, just a small window to pay and a phone in case of emergency. To go to the rooms, there are arrows to show you the way. The walls are soundproof, music kept on playing in the corridors.
Meanwhile an angel waited for us at the end of the tunnel.
It was when we received an email from Mark, a Helpx host, who offered us to work on his project in the countryside in Kamigawa.
We checked the mission and we were up for that. In less than few hours, we were on our way to Kobe where Mark lives.
We arranged to meet him at his place in the evening and the very next day were on our way to Kamikawa. We had a nice breakfast, fresh products from the bakery down the road and a delicious lunch - curry with beef! We left distressed but with a smile on our face.
Travelling in Japan in a different way.
It was to save up monney and to meet people during our trip.
The best way was hitch hiking.
Toshi helped writing a board and it worked very well.
Kagoshima-Kyoto - 4 days - 13 lifts- 10 minutes wait- and about 1000km!
1st Day / Kagoshima - Nichinan - Miyazaki - Kunitomi - 192km
Nichinan-Miyazaki
A family stopped, it was a fun trip with the kid, the teenagers, her mother and the grandmother! At the end, the grandmother wrote us the next stop and even cried. The mother bought some drinks before leaving. It was 4pm and we thought of giving another try. After 5, we noticed that it was impossible to have a ride. We decided to find an accomadation when out of the blue Natsumi at the zebra crossing said to us "Hello" and engaged the conversation. Where are we going? Do we have a place to stay? and so on.
We were surprised but this is Japan. We explained her our situation and reacted with a big smile and offered to sleep at her parents place. We were confused but still searched for a hostel. Meanwhile she called her parents up and they gave their approval. Well we did not what to do as it was a three days week ends and everything was fully booked! Eventually we accepted!
Miyazaki-Kunitomi
That evening Natsumi had a modern jazz dance course and we "had to" wait 2 hours before going to her parents place. It was not a problem, we had lunch-evening meal and then we went where she danced. It was a great evening. Once at her place the parents and her brothers and sisters welcomed us and we had a chat in English - Japanese. The grandparents already in bed joined us! Friends wanted to speak to us on the phone. Amazing!
It was our first time in a Japanese house with tatami, futon and a Japanese bathroom, toilets! It was a magic moment, we knew this only from the animes (lol).
The very next morning we had breakfast and the family took us about 60km further! This is incredible.
It made us even more confident and we really wanted to carry on! What we did!
2nd Day / Kunitomi- Tsuno- Minitsu - Nobeoka- Shimanto - 272km
The whole day very nice people took us. The first one was a young lady recently engaged and her way to her fiance! The second lady was much older and very interested in our story.
We had the chance to meet Soarry and her friend, they were on her way to Shimanto. Soarry is cycler and her friend a surfer, they are Japanese travellers. They were in a hurry but when they saw us they had to pick us up! It was perfect as we wanted to go to Shikoku island by ferry. We managed at the last minute to get on board!
What a good day!
Our trip together stopped in Shimanto Where to sleep in Shimanto???? Where is the next JP ATM??? Well the tent was an option even temperatures were around 3 degrees. We stayed next to the river. It was beautiful, quiet and cold! The ATM was about 20 minutes away from we were where. It was Sunday afternoon and we had only 40 minutes times! It closed at 5pm... The clock was ticking! We succeeded:)
3rd Day / Shimanto - Kochi - Nankoku - Naruto - 277km
6am woke up - 7am- packing and 8am. We were ready for a third day. Our strategic point that day Lawson. 15 minutes wait and we got a ride to Kochi! A couple on their way to Kochi airport dropped us off in Kochi. Right after Michiyo, a very enthousiastic lady about our trip and experience drove us to Nankoku. We were in a middle of nowhere until Hideki and Shizuka offered to bring us to the expressway. On our way there, they changed their mind and decided to drive to Naruto!!!! They said they had nothing plan for the day! It was a very funny trip especially when we talked about ghibli and animes! |
Sightseeing in Naruto
4th Day / Naruto - Osaka - Hirataka - KYOTO - 184km
Ikedi and Shizuka left us next to the expressway - Perfect! We walked 15 minutes and waited another 10 minutes until a business men stopped and drove us in his Toyota Crown to Osaka :))) It was like a VIP ride and very serious. He also rang his company to tell that he will come later as he as two guests on board! Once in Osaka the traffic hold us up over one hour! It took a picture of us but we could not take one with him. It was a proof for his company! We found a good place to continue our journey at a Kombini, the main road to Kyoto. It is only 30km away!
This time is was a tougher wait! 30 minutes! People are busy and not commuting maybe as much as we thought! It worked !!! A young musician stopped and dropped us off in Hirataka, it was a bit of nowhere! Out of nowhere came a men and just said: "come with me, I will take you there! On our way, he even invited us for lunch, we visited a temple and took the time to take pictures with the cherry trees!
THANKS EVERYONE FOR THIS FANTASTIC TIME AND GREAT HELP!
on the platform ...
- We said "Kombawa" - good evening to a couple of teenagers, who were at the first place speechless and then astonished! Finally they came to us and began to speak English! It was so much fun! They wrote a letter and drew Totoro and Hello Kitty too. It was a long week end and they had a tennis tournament. When they got off, a men next to us took the chance to speak in Japanese (only) and explained Önder the Japanese writing system!
- The very next morning Toshi, who spent one month cycling around Taiwan and two weeks in Okinawa talked to us. He taught us how to learn to write iragana and katagana. The basics are simple, it is just a question of practice! He was on his way to Myazaki, Beppu and Hokkaido! He is an example to follow! What a fitness!
- We had alos a conversation with a man who chose to work after his retirement in an organic farm. His jobs is about 13 hours away from his home town Kagoshima. He was on his way to visit his wife.
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