Weekend in Kunimi!

This weekend, Shannon came to pick me up (along with her friends Courtney and Cliff) and we drove down to visit Erin in Kunimi! It was an early start to the day – but we made it there in good time. Erin has a really nice house where she is – I’m slightly jealous in comparison to my small box that is my apartment. We went grocery shopping for the weekend and picked up Dan (also another Ottawa-jin) from the ferry port (he lives in Kumamoto across the bay from Shimabara). After lunch, we headed to Unzen – a volcano that erupted about 15 years ago. We had all intentions to climb up – we had our Nalgenes of water, a “mountain bag” with mountain snacks…but by the time we found what we assumed to be the volcano – the ladies at the information centre said we did not have enough time to climb it before dark. So we decided to take the cable car ride up, and climb back down. The view from the top was really pretty – although a little hazy. We could see the smoke coming from the next peak – so that was kind of cool for my first “volcano”. There was also a temple at the top of the peak – as there are always temples everywhere here!

The others all started the trek down (which I had to sit out for because of my last mountain trekking injury, so rode down in style in the cable car). But they almost beat me down! It only took them 10 minutes to walk down! So clearly we would have been able to climb up in less than 3 hours! I guess the ladies thought that we were really out of shape! Or they thought that we were going to do the Japanese-style of mountain climbing (which I’m assuming is climbing up, but taking many, many breaks for tea and bentos and onigiris). Although the fact that we didn’t really climb up was a little disappointing, it was really pretty and a nice experience.

We then headed down to the resort town at the bottom of Unzen, which has a whole bunch of hotels and onsens (hot springs). We first bought a boiled egg, which was boiled in the “hells” of the volcano (which apparently from my tour guide used to be the fate reserved only for Christians many years ago). They were quite yummy though. We then set out to find a nice onsen to relax in. It was my first experience at an onsen – so I was a little skeptical. It was difficult at first to get used to the nakedness and the itty-bitty towels they give you – but once you get in the water, you just melt and it is really relaxing. Our onsen had a “mermaid” theme with a large shell and pearl water fountain, as well as what we called the “engagement pool” with fresh roses sprinkled in the water. Pretty fancy! The outdoor bath was also really nice and refreshing with the cool night air and the pretty view.

After the onsen, we went the gift shop (clearly), and then headed back to Erin’s for our feast of a dinner (which we clearly deserved after all the “climbing”). We all made pasta with veggies and chicken for dinner…and lots of alcohol for dessert. We had a bottle of sangria, some Malibu, and many, many chu-his while playing “Drinking Uno” (we had to be resourceful – it was all we had!). But lots of fun!

On Sunday we slept in a bit and then made another feast for breakfast of bacon (definitely not the same as Canadian bacon!), scrambled eggs, homefries, and Swedish pancakes (there was some debate about the name, but it was basically just crepes…without eggs). Everything was really good. We packed up and began to head back to Sasebo. Shannon drove back once again, and they made a stop in Sasebo to tour the arcade (they live on an island…so Sasebo is the “big city”) and then we went for Indian food for dinner. Very yummy!

And on a side note….how hilarious and cute is Daisy in the kimono I bought her in Tokyo?!?!