We climbed that peak!
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Wow
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Down at the rim.
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Turret of a castle in Kumamoto
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To get a true idea of this, many many photos are required. Note the bomb shelter.
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Ironically its pointing away from the pavement. I guess I can no longer make fun our Japanese tourists in Canada for taking pictures of inanimate objects.
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Fields of ash
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A continuation of the rim we climbed.
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Well now, I may have mentioned this before but just to catch up we were last in Kobe and met up with some of moms friends who took us to a local and renowned pottery village. We saw lots of pottery. I did a sudoku. As eating is such a social thing, we did a lot of that as well.
Next we got the overnight ferry to Kyushu Island where we then took the bus to Aso and the above featured Mt. Aso and accompanying volcanoes. The authorities sporadically close the mountain due to wind and gas conditions, but as we were waiting for the bus our luck struck and it was re-opened on high alert. Once at the rim, we couldnt get to close so decided to go for a stroll down the boardwalk pictured above, then to the base of the upper mountain. As you may know, my mom has an incredible fascination for whatever may be around the next corner. Using this to my advantage I convinced her halfway up the mountain until we heard an alarm, but since we didn't speak any Japanese we decided to ignore the flow of cars leaving the parking lot and continue to the peak. Although we joked about possible excuses pending our arrest upon returning to base, the volcano has been active twice in the last thirty years killing several people each time.
From the peak we got some of the most stunning views of the crater and came to realize that in fact we were in a larger crater of its own encompassing several mountains and surrounding towns. Once we made it back down and to the rim they had reopened it for viewing so we got some good views of the innerds. One of the coolest things is looking at that water and steam and thinking 'thats from the center of the earth' (or at least close to it). Despite a wish for magma it is most likely better left in the earth.
Then today we took an early (for us) bus into kumamoto to check out a castle, then split up and mom investigated some pottery while I went for a run.
Along our tour de castle, we went into a reconstructued samuri house and had another interesting experience of Japanese hospitality.
Having made our way into the house and realized it was surrounded by raked gravel I thought this would be the prime opportunity to make splash so (very jokingly) pushed mom towards it. From there on the sole security guard followed us around in an impressively creepy fashion, showing up outside each window as we walked by. The second thing was after leaving our shoes at the door, mine with the laces left as they fell, we returned to find both our shoes straightened with the laces tucked in. Who know you could find a whole country filled with obsessive compulsive people? I am truly impressed.
Tonight was another desperate search for a restaurant that had both plastic depictions in the window (necessary for pointing and nodding) and doesn't represent a Japanese Denny's. We ended up with a delish korean meal cooked at the table that was unfortunately topped with a chicken resembling meat turning out to be sheep's stomach. Know how people stick gum on the bottom of desks and chairs? Imagine boiling that.
Tomorrow...more volcanoes!
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p.s. kudos to mom for keeping up on the mountain. Once again proving you dictate how you age.
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