17-05-08 / 18-05-08

17-05-08
Simple as it is, the yesterday's minshuku had at least an onsen, originally a mineral hot-spring area, usually with accommodation. This was a very simple version, but highly appreciated!
With the sun on our head we left Kochi for another transfer day with quite some interesting stops. Lunch at a terrace at Oki-hama beach, at special request ;-) of the girls in our group, because there are some nice looking Japanese surf boys (and a rare surf girl...). Very particular was that at the very same place a group of pilgrims came down on the beach doing their rituals. Unfortunately they were too far to photograph them, but the view of surfers at your left eye and pilgrims at your right eye is very unusual. We met the same (or another? we saw so many of them!!) group later on the road and there we could make a stop to watch them walking (these were the sportive ones; they were walking, not travelling from one to another temple by air-conditioned bus).

A stop at Ashizuri Misaki (= cape), a wild and picturesque promontory ending at a lighthouse. It has a long history but today it is famous for suicides, with stories such as that of a young geisha who danced off the edge onto the beckoning rocks below.

The Kongofuki-ji is Temple 38 of the 88. We had plenty of time to look around, very pleasant with all those pilgrims around.

A last short stop at some beautiful formed rocks in the sea before our arrival at Sukumo in a very, very, simple ryokan (traditional Japanese inn).

For the 2nd night in a row we slept on tatami (tightly woven floor matting on which shoes are never worn), not that comfortable for non-Japanese people, but being rather tired, it did not bother us too much. What is pleasant of this kind of accommodation is that dinner is shared all together (also because often there is nothing else nearby), prepared by mama-san and we enjoyed some BBQ (and I finally drunk my first sake).

18-05-08
Early wake up to catch the 7 a.m. ferry to leave the island (with its 88 temples) Shikoku via the harbour at Sukumo to the island Kyushu (harbour Saiki). Arrival at 10 a.m. and again a lunch stop at a place with a view on the sea. Still good weather, 27 C.

We arrived at 3.30 p.m. at Phoenix Seagaia Resort at Miyazaki, a very, very splash place, 180 degrees in contradiction with the previous accommodation: what do you think of a stay at 5 stars Sheraton!!?? Well, not so bad of course, but what I consider of being inconvenient is that these type of hotels can be everywhere in the world ... We rented some bikes to make a 2 hours tour and to astonish ourselves again because of the concrete beaches. Not so nice, but certainly necessary because of dangers called typhoons and tsunami.

But we could not resist enjoying the pleasures of such a luxury, so we reserved a private onsen for 1 hour: wow, how nice, to have such an - this time - outdoor place just for the 2 of us; it much reminded me of the place Toshiharu-san showed me some time ago.

After that we felt the need to leave this place for a while and not having dinner inside the hotel. Our tour guide recommended us a rotating sushi-restaurant in the city, labelled by Floortje Dessing (Dutch travel program, accompanied by our present tour guide during her shootings in Japan) as the best in Japan. We managed 15 dishes for approx. Eur 30 and such is not even half the price of and a better quality than the rotating sushi restaurant Matsuri near to my office.
Right now I am sitting at the free internet access at Sheraton, it is raining (the remainings - or the start ? - of a recent typhoon) and we soon have to leave for Kagoshima.