Category: 旅 / Travel

In my carrier as an office worker, I have always worked at the end and the beginning of the month, especially from the end of December to the beginning of January due to the accounting closure. However, the situation has changed since last year, and I finally had a completely normal holidays with Japanese calendar.

After returning from last year’s summer vacation, I looked at calendar and noticed that I would have a long holiday, from the end of December to January 5. Even though it was a long vacation time, it was also the time of the year when airline tickets were expensive. Yet, if I laze around home for more than a week, I will get moldy. End of the day, there was no choice but to go somewhere.

I looked around airline tickets and noticed that Taipei was relatively inexpensive. It was about half the price of to Bangkok and Singapore, and about 30% lower than Hong Kong. Naturally, they may be due to differences of flight distances, but it could also be a difference in warmth, as Hawaii and Australia routes were very expensive.

I often use a website named Weather Spark to check weather trends of travel destinations, and it shows Taipei has maximum temperature of about 20 degrees Celsius in beginning of January. Not bad compared to Tokyo in winter, but perhaps a little warmer would be better. If I go to the southern part of Taiwan, maximum temperature in Kaohsiung is around 25 degrees Celsius and its weather is sunny. This is probably one of the best places in terms of climate.

I was not much interested in Kaohsiung, the main city in southern Taiwan, but I have found a nearby seaside town called Fangliao, where I decided to use as a base for my stay in southern Taiwan. Also, there was an old town called Lukang in central Taiwan, so I chose there as our second destination.

Since Taiwan has main long holiday during the Lunar New Year, if I avoid New Year’s Day, I should be able to enjoy Taiwan as usual manner. I planned a four-night schedule, departing on January 1 and returning in the evening of January 5.

I gave up the flight from Taipei Songshan Airport to Tokyo Haneda Airport for the return flight, which coincided with very peak season, and compromised on the flight from Taipei Taoyuan Airport to Tokyo Narita Airport instead. Even after taking the airfare and 4-night hotel stay into account, somehow the cost was almost the same as the airfare alone when I visited Taiwan last spring.

It could be a bit of a hassle to get back to Yokohama from Narita Airport. On the other hand, I can get off Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) at Taoyuan Station, airport access is relatively easy in Taiwan. Considering the price difference, it was not a bad compromise. Without much to think, I booked the airline ticket.

Although the weather was statistically good, as usual, actual weather during the stay was the biggest problem. I had planned to see a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean at Fangliao, but the forecast was rain. The weather on January 2, the day after my arrival, was forecasted to be the worst, but it was supposed to gradually improve. I cancelled hotel in Lukang at the last minute and decided to extend the stay in Fangliao until the last day.

I arrived at Songshan Airport in Taipei before noon on New Year’s Day. I then took the subway to Taipei Station for THSR, then connected to Taiwan Railways to Fangliao. Fangliao is a medium-sized fishing town about an hour from Kaohsiung by express, famous for its mango. I was not confident that I could make it through a rainy day in this town.

When I looked at the Taiwan weather forecast for the next day, it looked like the weather would not be too bad if I went north to Taichung area. The positive forecast called for clear skies, and the negative forecast said cloudy. On the other hand, in the south, including Kaohsiung, all forecasts showed rain.

It seemed foolish going back to near Taichung after having just come south from Taipei. However, I decided to go to Lukang, where was in my original plan, and secured tickets late at night. Since I had never ridden Taiwan Railway express trains before, I decided to take the express trains from Fangliao and back.

To get to Lukang, I needed to take a bus from Changhua, a city located south of Taichung. There is a fan-shaped locomotive depot in Changhua, where is open to the public. Although I arrived 10 minutes early, I was allowed to enter with Taiwanese generosity. Even though it was a weekday, there were a good number of people there, so it was good for me to get there early to take pictures. There happened to be a locomotive changeover using the turntable, so I was there for only about 30 minutes, but enjoyed immensely.

I went back to Changhua Station and tried to take a bus from the bus terminal in front of the station. The bus was too generous. When a bus arrived at departure time, the crew started to take a break. Then the bus finally started moving, it went back to the bus terminal to pick up a regular passenger. From there, the bus drove like a go-kart. When I finally got off the bus at Lukang, I saw a taxi with the Uber logo on it and I decided to take Uber on the way back.

I enjoyed old temples and alleys at Lukang. The weather was not exactly sunny, but there were slight blue skies from time to time. Since I was taking a taxi on my return, I was able to stay a little longer. The Lukang Longshan Temple was amazing, and I decided to revisit in the evening when there were fewer people. From that time on, I had been checking on Uber app, and both private vehicles and taxis seemed to be available within 5-10 minutes or so.

Once I was quite satisfied, I tried calling a car by Uber but it did not match at all. I went out to the street to look for a taxi while waited for Uber to match, but no taxi came either. In despair, I headed for the bus stop. At this point, I was sure I would miss the Taiwan Railways express train on return trip.

When I arrived at the bus stop, the timetable showed the bus would be arriving in 10 minutes. This would allow me to catch the next express train. However, same as before, the bus did not come. It was the third stop on the bus route, but the bus was arrived about 20 minutes late. In the end, I could not catch the 2nd express either. I had to take an ordinary train to THSR Taichung and then take the bullet train. It was expensive but unavoidable.

I was able to get a “missed train proof” at Xin Zuoying Station, where I transferred from THSR to Taiwan Railway, and was able to have a seat on the rapid train back to Fangliao. THSR was very effective, overtaking the missed 2nd express train on its way, and I ended up arriving at Fangliao only 30 minutes late from the original plan.

All’s well that ends well.

This winter, I fully enjoyed the ice trees in Zao, Yamagata and the drift ice along the Sea of Okhotsk in Hokkaido, but what left a little unsatisfied was Northern Tohoku area. During the New Year’s holidays, I visited Sukayu Onsen in Aomori just for one night, but I wished to enjoy the winter of Tohoku a little more. In a remnant of winter, I decided to visit Namari Onsen in Hanamaki, Iwate where had been in my mind for some time.

It was a time when COVID-19 was beginning to settle down. Before tourists were back, I also wished to visit Koganezaki Furofushi Onsen again as I did not like crowded onsen.

I took one day off in early April and traveled around the northeastern part of Tohoku to wrap up the winter season.

By the way, as I become a middle-aged man, I have had difficulties to cope with changes in atmospheric pressure and have suffered from headaches whenever a cyclone comes. I am not good at seasonal changes either. Due to aging, it seems that I have lost my adaptability, or I have difficulty in harmonizing my autonomic nervous system.

This year in Tokyo area, there were drastic changes in temperature between warm and cold days in March.

As typical to a middle-aged man, I am not a stylish person. I only wear one down jacket per season. Moreover, despite I check the weekly weather forecast of my travel destinations many times, basically I do not look at the weather forecast for my hometown. I had kept wearing the same down jacket even on warm days, and when I finally took out spring jacket some days later, it was too cold again. Even worse, I had hay fever for the first time in several years.

By the end of March, I was suffering from various physical ailments which seemed to be caused by autonomic nervous system problems caused my wrongdoings.

After suffering from such physical ailments for two weeks, I began to feel slightly better in early April. I guessed I was finally able to adapt to everything occurred in Tokyo.

Bad news was that Tohoku Shinkansen train service was suspended on March 16 due to a major earthquake. However, I did not give up the trip because of that. It was why I was who I was. I secured alternative transportations and headed for the northern Tohoku.

When I arrived at Aomori Airport in the morning of the first day, the temperature was 3 degrees Celsius. There were still snows around the airport. Just after I got used to spring in Tokyo, things were back to winter. It was true that I came to Aomori in search of the last remnants of winter. Although it was my desire at the time of planning, the ideal and the reality were often different.

I took JR Gono Line to Koganezaki Furofushi Onsen. I wore my one and only down jacket, but it was still cold. I was just used to the warm weather in Tokyo area, so the cold weather felt even harsher.

The next day was clear and sunny. Early in the morning, I went to the open-air onsen on the beach, but it was extremely cold. The wind was strong, which caused effective temperature even lower. The down jacket was surely useless in the open-air onsen. I left early and headed for the indoor onsen, but there was a high possibility that I caught a cold.

After the breakfast, I took JR Gono Line again and headed for Hanamaki via Akita. The temperature rose dramatically before noon time on that day. It was 23 degrees Celsius when I arrived Hanamaki. It was even a bit sweaty.

I felt tired and had a sore throat. At night, I started sneezing. I wondered if I must have caught a cold. Since it was in the COVID-19 era, my temperature was checked here and there, but fortunately there was no sign of fever. I sneezed, but it was not a cough. I had senses of taste and smell. Despite I was not feeling well, it was likely not infected with the COVID-19. I might have caught a common cold.

I stayed one night at Namari Onsen and returned home. At home, I took Chinese medicine Kakkonto, propolis from New Zealand, throat medicine, and hay fever medicine, then went to bed early. I was sure that I took medicines of all kinds and regions, I would be fine.

The next day, the sore throat was a little better. The pain was pinpointed and clearly different from a common cold. I looked in the mirror and sure enough, my throat was not swollen. I made a closer look, found a huge mouth ulcer in the center of the sublingual.

The sneezing also stopped. It must have been by hay fever. In Aomori, where the temperature was low, there was little or no pollen in the air. I was asymptomatic without medication. However, in Iwate, there were many pollens in the air due to the high temperature.

Then I assumed that I felt tired because I was in onsen hot water for a long time. After all, I did not catch a common cold.

There was a temperature difference of about 20 degrees Celsius in one day. My autonomic nervous system, which just had been recovered from various drastic March changes in Tokyo, was probably in a critical state.

For a middle-aged man, the change of season was very harsh.

Last year, I had visited to Oita Prefecture for the first time. As I had heard, Oita Airport was located at an inconvenient location. It was about 50-minute bus ride to Beppu and over an hour to Oita City. The Oita Airport is located on a peninsula called Kunisaki, a rounded peninsula in the northeastern part of Kyushu, facing the Suonada Sea.

The Kunisaki Peninsula is said to be famous for its old stone Buddha and temples. I was intrigued, but it seemed difficult to visit the Kunisaki Peninsula by public transportation. I heard that best season to visit the peninsula was the time of autumn leaves. However, as I do not like driving, I missed the opportunity to visit the peninsula while I was too busy worrying about it.

This year, I checked about the Kunisaki Peninsula again and found that regular sightseeing bus was in operation. If I take first flight leaving Tokyo Haneda, I can join the tour from a bus stop along the way. The fresh green season is also the season for horse mackerel of Bungo Channel where is south of Suonada Sea. I thought it would be a good time to visit Oita.

I was a selfish guy indeed, so once my mind was set, a group trip on the sightseeing bus seemed not attractive. Since main purpose of the trip was to take photographs, I wanted to focus on the time spent at each place rather than the numbers of places to visit. Moreover, if I took Japan Airlines morning flight, which had seats available on frequent flyer award ticket, I would not be able to catch the scheduled sightseeing bus.

In the end, I decided not to take the scheduled sightseeing bus but rent a car for the first time outside of Hokkaido.

Normally I travel by public transportations, which means advance research is essential. This time, however, I was satisfied with my rental car reservation completed. I had no idea about the Kunisaki Peninsula and its surrounding area even a few days before my departure.

Despite my inaction, I had no intent to waste my vacation time, so I hurriedly started researching at last minute. I identified temples to visit and circled them on a map. The rough plan was completed the day before departure.

I rented a car and drove around the Kunisaki Peninsula, simply following the directions of the car navigation system. Besides the Kunisaki Peninsula, I was able to see the Stone Buddha in Usuki and the Yabakei Gorge during the 3-day visit, so a fairly efficient route was made.

Anyway, Bungo Takada City on Kunisaki Peninsula is famous for its soba (buckwheat noodles). Many restaurants in Bungo Takada offer “jyuwari (100%)” soba, or buckwheat noodles without any flour binding.

I had never eaten soba in western Japan including Kyushu Island. I thought I would try soba in Bungo Takada, I might discover something different.

The first place was a soba restaurant run by a Japanese inn in the mountains. I heard that there were long lines on weekends, but I could get a table without any trouble maybe because it was a Friday. It was a rather fancy restaurant. I would love to have a lunchtime beer or sake, but it was not possible. Regrettably, driving is not truly free by its nature. I ordered a plate of soba while mumbling to myself.

As soon as I tried it, I felt something strange. Was it a little thicker than I was used to in Tokyo, or was it because I was not accustomed to the “jyuwari” soba? I would try second plate to solve the mystery, but since I was not able to drink alcohol, I carried the mystery to the second restaurant in the evening.

The second place was at the hotel where I stayed. The soba of this restaurant was thin and firm. It had similar texture of the “nihachi (20% flour – 80% buckwheat)” soba that I got used to eat in Tokyo area. It made easier to understand the mystery.

After all, soba sauce was sweeter. It was more than a mild finish to me. I found out when I ate sashimi before eating soba, the local soy sauce was quite sweet. I felt soba sauce of Bungo Takada was influenced by this.

I knew that soy sauce in Kyushu was sweeter than Tokyo, but I had experienced it only in Fukuoka, northern part of Kyushu Island. As going south to Oita, it became even sweeter. I tasted it as a new discovery, or rather, a bit strange sensation.

When I rented a car in Hokkaido last year, I felt like driving a car was all I did during the travel. I had no time to think while driving, whereas I often came up with blog ideas onboard trains, buses, or airplanes.

That was true that if I had taken a regular sightseeing bus, but I would not have even thought of eating soba in Bungo Takada nor I would not have thought about soy sauce in Oita Prefecture. This soba experience would have been possible thanks to the rental car.

On the other hand, renting a car does not allow me to enjoy a lunchtime drink at all. This is much bigger price to pay than the time to think for blog articles.

I wonder if there is any way to enjoy lunchtime drink even if I rent a car.