Microblog

Spent much of the day hiking the Seoul City Wall. Originally built in 1396, two-thirds of it still exists today. The wall snakes up and down mountains around Seoul, so we enjoyed a decent hike.

Rode the Seoul subway to Wolchulsan National Park then started climbing. The trail was gnarly in parts, but it felt good.

Took a short flight from Fukuoka, southern Japan, to Seoul, South Korea. We have hiking plans for each day in Seoul, starting today with a Fall-color walk up Nam Mountain. On Tuesday we fly on a brand new Delta Airbus A350 nonstop from Seoul to Minneapolis.

Posted Only in Japan.

Hiked on a sacred mountain then dropped about 100 low-value coins into the donation box at a shrine. We’ve been accumulating small change (worth a total of about US$4) and didn’t want to bring it all the way to Minneapolis.

Visited the TOTO Museum in Kitakyushu. TOTO, the largest toilet manufacturer in the world, is headquartered here Their washlets are commonplace in Japan: we have them in our home. Learned sumo wrestlers use “extra wide, extreme load-bearing” toilets.

Hiked in the mountains above Yufuin, where we are staying. Aso-Kuju National Park, Kyushu.

Took a train to Yufuin, northeast Kyushu, where we will be staying in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) for the next two nights. Soaked our feet in a hot spring foot bath at the train station while our laundry went through its cycles at a nearby laundromat.

Hiked to 5,600 feet where we could see the smoking landscape on all sides. Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park, southern Japan.

A caldera lake gradually revealed itself as we hiked up a volcano then along the rim in Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park, Kyushu, southern Japan.

Rented modest bicycles from a modest shop for 4 hours. Cycled a loop around the base of a smoking, roaring volcano, Sakurajima, taking care not to slip on volcanic ash. When we returned the bikes 40 minutes earlier than planned, the owner refunded ¥200 each.

Took a train to a tiny country station, the southernmost in the Japan Rail system. Hiked past fields of vegetables that will be harvested in the coming weeks. Walked through many cobwebs “blocking” the trail, reminding us it’s almost Halloween. Caught glimpses of Mount Kaimon.

Posted Nagasaki Origami Peace Cranes.

Stood on the verandah of a former Mitsubishi guest house, opened 1896, where crews stayed while their ships were repaired at the Mitsubishi shipyard across Nagasaki Bay. The shipyard still uses a dry dock opened in 1905. The original British electric motors still drive the pumps.

Origami peace cranes, Peace Park, Nagasaki.

Paused today’s rail journey from Onomichi to Nagasaki at Kurume for a few hours to do a self-guided OLLE hike. The concepts and trail markers for OLLE hikes originated in South Korea. The energetic hike included forests, bamboo stands, shrines, great views, and fields of azaleas.