We both slept very well again. In fact I bordered on 10 hours sleep! Heavy rain during the night had cleared to a sunny day, with a predicted high of 22 degrees. We've had great weather so far, coolish in the morning warming to pleasant later on.
Kicking off with a delicious multi-course breakfast, we had a bit of spare time before catching a 10:17am bus up into the hills to a cave and karst country. This was to be the first of the various walks we had planned on our trip.
I've discovered I can source a perfectly satisfactory hot latte coffee from a coffee machine in a 7-Eleven or Lawson store for under $3.
The bus rolled up right on time and the cheerful bus driver confirmed we were on the right one when we asked. It is such a pleasure that everyone is so helpful and pleasant if we're unsure of what we're doing. Today, when we left our accommodation, four staff were on standby to pass us our outdoor shoes, inquire about our plans and then bow as we left. Bowing happens all the time, even by people driving by in their car.
It was lovely to head out into the hills, past rice paddies, rural homes and forested hillslopes. The 50min ride took us to Akiyoshido. From here we intended to explore a large cave and then walk up into karst country.
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| This far south the hills are more tropical |
The cave alone made the trip worthwhile. It's the largest in Japan. A raging torrent signalled the entrance to the limestone cavern. Right from the start we were captivated by the impressive cavern, carved by water over the eons. The torrent ran all through the cave.
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| Having a soft-freeze when you visit the caves is clearly compulsory |
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| "Rice paddies" in the cave |
Exiting the cave we walked up into the karst country, again finding out that it's the largest karst tableland in Japan. Essentially it was very like Takaka Hill but perhaps a bit more overgrown with grass because no grazing animals are there.
We think this is the first open grassland we have seen in our three visits to Japan. Typically all hillsides are in native trees, planted cypress (sugi), bamboo or the like. It extends right down to the valleys where intensive rice fields, wheat or other plants are cropped. Being so like New Zealand, it wasn't all that special to us.
We enjoyed a picnic lunch amongst the karst outcrops and had plenty of time to walk back down to the bus. We'd done enough walking and didn't feel the need to do an extra 5km or so for little reason. Yesterday was a non-walk day and we did 15km!
A surprise bonus on this trip has been the wonderful display of azaleas in bloom. I thought they might have finished flowering but many bushes are still in flower. The blooms are typically much larger than those we have at home, and they are a sensory delight. It's the deciduous azaleas that are out now - the small-leaved evergreens ones have finished blooming.
A couple of incidents today that are very revealing of the Japanese mindset. As we were waiting to cross a road early today, a man at the bus stop noticed that we'd been there a while, and he ran a good 70m each way to press the button on the crossing for us, presumably thinking we hadn't. So nice.
Then waiting for the bus back to Yuda Onsen, a pair of glasses was left on a seat when people lined up for the bus. I knew it had to be one of the first two people in the queue, so went over and pointed them out. They belonged to the first man in the queue. The funny thing was that the person second in the queue clearly knew they were his, but didn't say anything. Also another person had sat beside them and equally said nothing. Why? Perhaps they thought the owner would lose face, or maybe they were too embarrassed to say anything.
A third example is when we were checking out the next day. The maid asked "Have you left anything in the fridge?", when she clearly knew we had, but presumably didn't want to embarrass us if we'd forgotten.
