Thailand has a lot of amazing scenery, and travelling by train is a great way to see it. There always seems to be something interesting to look at.
Sometimes you can open the windows on Thai long-distance trains, but unfortunately the windows on this train couldn`t be opened (except for the dining car, but it was full of noisy foreigners, so I didn`t want to spend time there).
I was a bit disappointed.
When I arrived in Bangkok, I went straight from the airport to Hua Lamphong Train Station & bought a ticket for the overnight train to Chiang-Mai, which is in the far north of Thailand.
I have caught this train many times & I really enjoy using it, though I prefer a lower berth (this time I had to take an upper berth [bed] which you can see is a little cramped [no space]).
It`s a very interesting & relaxing way to travel. It`s also very cheap - about 2,200 yen (=$25) for the 13-hour journey (2nd class sleeper).
I apologize for not posting anything on my blog recently. I went to Thailand for a week, and I have been busy since returning to Japan.
The main reason for my trip to Thailand was to attend a friend`s wedding. I used to work with Paul a long time ago, when I lived & worked in Thailand. Since then, we have kept in touch & I was very glad to be invited to his wedding.
Congratulations to Paul and his lovely wife, Ray.
On Shikoku there are trains which are decorated with characters from the cartoon `Anpanman`. By chance, I caught a couple of these trains while I was in Shikoku last week. When the trains leave the station, the chime played in the train is the Anpanman theme tune - pretty funny. Also, you can see on the train ticket (above) that the train conductor`s blue stamp is a special Anpanman one - cool, isn`t it?
I bought an Anpanman train book for Owen as a souvenir (omiyage). He loves Anpanman, & is crazy about trains, so of course he loves this book. He also loves pressing the buttons in it which make various train sounds.
Actually, that`s become pretty annoying.
I hope the batteries die soon.
![2010 Shikoku Henro Pictures]()
Of course I took a lot of photos during my Henro trip. Here are some of them. I`m sure you have a lot of questions to ask about them. In fact, I can guess what they are - let`s try!
Q: Is that blue bike yours? It looks like a little girl`s bicycle!
A: Hey, the important thing is it`s fast & easy to fold-up & carry on trains, buses etc. and it has 6 gears, which is enough for getting up & down most mountains.
Q: Who is the guy with the oranges?
A: Just a guy we stopped to ask for directions.
Q: Did you buy his oranges?
A: I wanted to, but of course we wanted to keep our luggage light, so no.
Q: Poor guy. You should have bought his oranges.
A: Hey - that`s not a question!
Q: How about that other guy? Who`s he? And what`s that on the ground in front of him?
A: A dog...?
Q: No! The other stuff.
A: Oh, that`s ginger. I stopped to take a photo of the workers harvesting it, & my father-in-law started talking to this guy, so of course then he gave us some.
Q: Ginger? It`s huge. But didn`t you want to keep your luggage light?
A: Yes. I told my F-in-L "Please don`t talk to any more farmers!"
Q: Did you see the statue of Ryouma Sakamoto?
A: Yeh - it was near temple # 33. I wanted to see it.
Q: What`s that thing in the bottom left photo?
A: That`s a small passenger ferry, near temple #33. We couldn`t cross the nearby big bridge on our bicycles.
Q: Can I click on the above picture to make it bigger?
A: You sure can.
My father-in-law & I returned to Ichinomiya from Shikoku on Friday. We managed to (= tried + could) visit temples number 28 to 40 of the Henro tour. We mostly rode our bicycles, but we also used the bus & train.
This is a map showing our 2008 & 2010 courses.
2 years ago my father-in-law & I began the famous `Henro` pilgrimage (religious tour) of 88 temples in Shikoku. We did it by bicycle. We started at number 1 & reached number 27 (the picture above), then we returned to Ichinomiya.
Tomorrow we`ll go back to Shikoku to continue the pilgrimage, starting at temple number 28. I`m looking forward to it. I hope the weather is good, like last time.
![Nagasaki]()
After Kagoshima, I flew to Nagasaki (by propeller plane - my first time!). Of course we visited Glover House/Glover Park. The old, western-style houses there are very unusual for Japan, but actually, you can see many similar houses in my hometown of Brisbane in Australia. They are popular because they look very stylish and have character.
Our hotel was next to Chinatown, and from there it was a short walk to Dejima, where the Portuguese and Dutch traders used to live. The history of this area is very interesting! But I feel sorry for the Portuguese - they got kicked out for being Christian. How rude!
From there, we walked to the harbourside. There are lots of cafe-style restaurants here, with tables outside, so you can enjoy the fresh air and nice views - great! Such a comfortable place to eat & chat, or chat & eat even.
Nearby is the art museum, which was also a nice place. Well, the art was rubbish, but the building was nice. There`s also a big, grassy park beside it, and, while we were there, there was a visiting Navy - sorry; `Self Defence Forces of Japan` - ship. Luckily for us, it was open to the public at that time, so we could go on a free tour of it - cool!
In the evening I went drinking with my Japanese friend and his cousin, who live in Nagasaki.
I was really impressed with Nagasaki - it seems like a really pleasant place. They even have old-fashioned trams (streetcars)!
Have you ever been to Nagasaki? What did you think? Were you tempted to steal coins from the fountain at Glover House?
For Golden Week I went to Kagoshima, in Kyushu, to visit my wife`s mum`s hometown. It was up in the hills and pretty remote. There were lots of green fields, trees and mountains - very nice, scenic and natural. Unfortunately there were also a lot of snakes - I saw six in four days! Even though Australia has lots of dangerous snakes, I hardly ever see any, but I`ve seen quite a lot in Japan. If Australian snakes played hide-and-seek (kakurenbo) with Japanese snakes, I think Australian snakes would win.
After Kagoshima, we went to Nagasaki. I`ll tell you about it in my next blog!
Have you ever been to Kagoshima? If so, why? Do you have a snake fetish or something?
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