3rd May 2011
We woke up early to left for Kagoshima from Kumamoto. It's a very long drive, had to pass through highways and tunnels and mountains. The highway was quite jammed, after that, then only we realised that the opposite road was closed for something we didn't know. We joked that even the Japanese are like Malaysian too, busybody, slowed down the car when something happen and caused jam. After that, we found out that the opposite road was crawling bumper by bumper due to the road closure, and we calculated the distance, almost 30km jam, we were so lucky because we were not in that direction.
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| The ferry that brought us to Sakurajima |
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| rocks near the beach of Sakurajima are black (due to Volcano ash) |
First stop was Sakurajima, a Sakura shaped island with volcano. We went by ferry, brought the car along with the ferry. The route was basically a circle. There are three choices, whether with car, bicycle or just walk. For us, of course with car, we stopped at every available tourist spots. First, to the park trail, then Akamizu View Park (a monument for Sakurajima all night concert), Yunohira Observatory, Arimura Lava observatory, and Kurokami Buried Shrine Gate. There's a monument for an author, Hayashi Fumiko who spent some times in Sakurajima when she was small, we didn't stopped by there. The most magnificent view is from the Yunoshira observatory. It provides a camera stand where the best view of the volcano peak can be photographed. There's a small dinosaur park too. It was more like a children's park with a few replicas of dinosaurs. By the time we finished the tour, it was almost 3 pm, and none of the restaurants were open. So, had to buy bread and onigiri from a supermarket to fill our stomachs.
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| Monument of all night concert |
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| one of the peak of the Volcano |
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| the buried shrine gate during the eruption in 1914 (a reminder to the future generation) |
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| a dinosaur from the dinosaur park |
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| the view from the Ferry scope |
After that, back to mainland Kagoshima by ferry again and checked into the hostel, Green house. Charges per night was 1500 yen per person, quite cheap. However, the bed was not sleeping friendly. It was a double-decker bed, every time someone moves, even a little, it shacked violently! My quality of sleep was very bad here.
We planned to eat black pork in Kagoshima. One of the famous food in Kagoshima. Since the day was still young, we decided to walk around, Kagoshima people love the history, there were lots of statues and monuments. We snapped lots of photo here. On one of the information boards, the is even Braille. So thoughtful! First time I came across something like this. After that, we went to the restaurant recommended by the brochure. There were people queuing up already, and the waitress told us we could get a seat 30 minutes more. However, at the end, we waited for 1.5 hours for a place. Since we didn't have proper lunch and were so hungry, I went to a Takoyaki shop to buy some Takoyaki to fill up first.
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| Braille from the information board, so thoughtful! |
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| view of the canal in Kagoshima city |
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| the shop that sells black pork |
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| chicken Shasimi (raw) |
The black pork dish was shabu-shabu style, a kind of steamboat. Just dipped the pork in the boiling water for few seconds and directly dipped into another bowl of light sauce (with some pamelo extract, to cool down the pork), it can be eaten already. It was so delicious. This was the first time I ate chicken shasimi too, raw chicken. Don't know how to describe, the only feeling was awful. We ate for 1 and a half hour, same time we have waited. After that, went back to hostel.
Day 2: Nagasaki One day trip & another half
Day 3: Sasebo & Yanagawa
Day 4: Kumamoto
Day 5: Half day in Sakurajima
Day 6: Kagoshima
Day 7: Miyazaki
Day 8: Kagoshima half day trip
Day 8 & 9 & 10: Yakushima Hiking
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