Last night, I came to a hot spring area further to the south. The place I stayed was, as I have written earlier, a small B&B with private hot spring. The owner, a couple in their 60s, welcomed me at the station, prepared my dinner, then kept company with me while I eat. After dinner, I went out for a walk. It was a quiet, cold night, with fat moon in the sky. The sky was bright, and I could not see any star. I walked out of the property, to the main road outside, and just stood there for 10 minutes, felt so happy. No sound, absolutely nothing, except for the hot spring water running somewhere. No, except for the strange noise that…
knitting and slow life in Kyoto
Posts from the “10. Travel” Category
Animal footprints on fresh snow. Thin ice floating across a lake. Wind blowing up powdery snow in the air. These almost made me cry. I arrived at Hokkaido at 13:35 this afternoon. On vacation on Friday.It was not until yesterday that I found out about the scheduled strike of the airline company, although in Japan, normally companies and the labor unions reconcile the night before the scheduled strikes.When I arrived at the airport on time, indeed I found that the strike never did happen. But my flight was delayed by 45 minutes! My carefully arranged bus/lunch/train connections are already in dismay. I took flight from Tokyo to Memanbetsu airport, which is close to the city of Abashiri, on the coast of Okhotsk Sea. From…
行きの足跡が、もうすっかり雪の中。 My footprints were almost gone when I was coming back.
Day 2, in Kawayu Onsen hot spring area. Yesterday it was sunny, but it started to snow this morning, while I was in a hot spring before breakfast. Kussharo Lake nearby is famous for traveling swans in this season. The owner of my B&B told me that this area is famous among nature photographers, that the swans are really white. Because of the warm lake water, they stay in water all the time, and people feed them there, so they won’t get dirty walking around the fields and dirt. Imagine, swans stay in hot spring and be fed all through winter. Lovely. 川湯温泉に一泊しています。昨晩とは一変して、朝から雪がちらつき、本降りになりました。屈斜路湖の砂湯付近には白鳥が沢山湯治をしています。この辺りの白鳥は餌を探しに畑の方まで行くことがないので、真っ白で、写真家の間では有名だそうです。冬の間中温泉に浸かって餌を貰うなんて、白鳥にとって極楽なかんじですね。
I came to a northern part of the north island of Japan. The island is called Hokkaido, which means Northern Sea County in Japanese.Frozen seashore, so beautiful.オホーツク海にやってきました。
I am in Seoul for a week. People in Korea always tell me that Tokyo is not interesting for them, because Seoul and Tokyo are a lot alike, but for me, somehow Seoul is interesting and fun. But perhaps that’s because I am a city planner at heart, I am always interested in cities, communities and how the cities are structured. On my way from the airport, a limo driver kept talking to me for an hour, even though he cannot speak any English nor Japanese. But somehow he managed to tell me about his favorite baseball team, about his friend in Sendai who got married last year, and his recommendation on sightseeing place in town. He was friendly and made me happy. (Korean…
This may be nothing compared to the New Hampshire foliage, but that does not mean we cannot celebrate the baby-sized color shower of the season.I picked this beautiful red leaf on my way back from lunch. I was excited to know that iTunes just started the movie rental and sales. Then was instantly disappointed that I’ve already watched 95% of the worthy titles that are available right now. As I have written earlier (in Japanese), I am planning a trip to Hokkaido (the northern-most island of Japan), to the remote eastern part of it. My friends started to give me good advices and tips since I wrote about it, never to realize that I am going there in late December.Now, with much research, I…
体調が良いのをいいことに、冬は出来るだけ寒いところに行きたいな、と雪を想っては空を見上げる今宵。フィンランド、とも考えたけれど折角なら北欧は夏に行きたいし、やはりこれは行ってしまおうか、北海道。 以前テレビで見て以来、オホーツク海が見える駅、というのにとても憧れています。わたしは寂しい景色が好きなのです。寒いところの山の景色も、海の景色も、崖の景色も好き。たとえば、こういうところ。 ちなみに最初の２枚はスコットランドで、３枚目はスウェーデン。３枚目の写真は実は私の部屋に飾ってある幅２mの写真と似た感じです。 ただ、最近２週間休んだばかりで流石にまた長期海外に行く訳には行かないし、それで今回は北海道にしようかと。本当は流氷が見たいけれど、そんなことを言っていると一生行けなそうだし、行けるときに行くべきかという気がしてきました。 とりあえず釧路まで飛行機で行って、釧網本線にのって網走まで行くというイメージなのですが、無謀かな？ 函館も小樽も行ってみたいけれど、ちょっと観光地っぽすぎる気もします。 アドバイス、あれば是非教えてください。 それから、温かいダウンのコートを１週間貸してくれる方あれば、感激（笑）。男物でも構いません。 こういうのも好き。写真はすべてCorbisより。 追伸：ちなみに、こんな物好きな旅に興味がある人＆ありそうな人がいたら、是非紹介してください！旅は道連れで。編物好きなら尚良し（笑）。
Sparkles*United 