旅 / Travel - MAGIC HOUR

COLO’s Traveler Guide: Drift Ice (Originally posted on 2022-May-3)

Times listed are the timetable at the time of visit.

Day 1

Tokyo Haneda (ANA375) 1035 >> Monbetsu 1220
Monbetsu Airport (free shuttle bus) 1235 >> Okhotsk Garinko Tower 1243

– 1330 Garinko (daytime cruise)
– 1615 Garinko (sunset cruise)

Okhotsk Garinko Tower 1800 (bus) >> Monbetsu Bus Terminal 1815

Dinner: Seafood Restaurant Rin

Tips for Day 1
– There was a bus service available between Monbetsu City and Okhotsk Garinko Tower, conveniently operated according to the schedule of the Garinko.
– I initially thought it was too much but I took the Garinko three times during this trip. However, I saw a person who boarded the ship four times in 2 days.
– Since it was not crowded, I was able to join the seal feeding. When I gave Okhotsk Atka mackerel to the seals, they swallowed it down right away. I slowly ate Okhotsk Atka mackerel using chopsticks for dinner, I had a beer with me. Good to be a human.

Day 2

Monbetsu Bus Terminal 0515 (bus) >> Okhotsk Garinko Tower 0530

– 0600 Garinko Sunrise

0720 Okhotsk Garinko Tower (bus) >> Monbetsu Bus Terminal 0735

Breakfast: Dezuka Suisan

Okhotsk Palace Hotel 0950 (East Hokkaido Express Bus) >> Abashiri Aurora Terminal 1245

– 1230 Aurora

– Ryuhyo Glass Museum

Dinner: Naka Sushi

Abashiri Bus Terminal (Airport Bus) >> Memanbetsu Airport
Memanbetsu 1905 (ANA 4780/AirDo) >> Haneda 2100

Tips for Day 2

– I ate freshly fried fish paste at Dezuka Suisan at Monbetsu Port for breakfast. I was able to resist the urge to have a beer in the morning. Great.
– The bus arrived at Abashiri early, so I changed the Aurora booking at the port, one voyage earlier than original reservation.
– From the Aurora, I was able to see white-tailed eagles. The sound of the ship made them flew away, but I managed to take photograph.
– I had some extra time, I visited Ryuhyo Glass Museum, where I found while onboard the icebreaker. They sold nice glass crafts and had a nice cafe facing the port.
– Using my All Nippon Airways frequent flyer miles, I boarded an AirDo operated flight for the first time.

Memories of Icebreaker

There were icebreakers in Monbetsu and Abashiri to see drift ice, it was hard to decide which one would be better. This time, I decided to visit Monbetsu mainly.

Geographically, Monbetsu is closer to Amur River as it is located in the northern part of Hokkaido, which seems to have a higher chance of encountering drift ice. On the other hand, Abashiri extends further to the east in Hokkaido. Since there are factors such as wind direction, it is indeed difficult to say which is better. According to data I saw somewhere, Abashiri has more drift ice observations from land (?)

There were not much differences in terms of experience onboard the ships. Two ships offer about one-hour voyage and take 15 to 20 minutes each way between port and drift ice area. Hence, it has a little more than 20 minutes to cruise around the drift ice.

Monbetsu has fewer tourists and has smaller ships. It also has both sunrise and sunset cruses. As the town is located on the ease coast of Hokkaido, sunrise cruse is impressive. On the other hand, Abashiri cruse overlooks Shiretoko mountains on a clear day as 1st photo of this page.

So… very hard to say which one is better.

Memories of Kaohsiung

I had one day to travel from Fangliao to Lugang, but I had decided to stay extra nights in Fangliao in search of clear skies. This made one free day. Fangliao is famous for its mangoes and fishery. As I like visiting fishing ports, I should probably visit Fangliao Fishing Harbor and its Fish Market, but according to the forecast, it would be raining lightly in Fangliao on the third day of the travel. It seemed better going to west, Kaohsiung was said to be cloudy. I had not planned going to Kaohsiung this time but decided to visit Kaohsiung.

I love making travel plans, so I try not to travel haphazardly. I hurriedly started researching about Kaohsiung. I was not interested in museums and skyscrapers that appear in general tourist guides. After searching, I decided to visit a vegetable market, an old sugar factory, and a lighthouse.

Breakfast at the hotel in Fangliao starts at 8:00 a.m., which is probably a good thing in a quiet town. Breakfast is a selling point of the hotel, and they provide very good breakfast. Unfortunately, such a big breakfast did not fit with the schedule of Taiwan Railways. Besides, I am not the type of person who eats breakfast every day. From this day on, I asked the staff to change the breakfast to fruits and bread only. I was well-prepared for the journey to Kaohsiung.

I got off the express train at Kaohsiung Station and took a cab to the vegetable market. I thought it would be a chaotic Asian market, but it was quite orderly. After taking time to go around the market, I called Uber and headed to a restaurant for lunch. Since I had chosen Fangliao as base of place for the trip, travel time took longer and not enough time for dinner. This was the most expensive restaurant of the trip.

After an elegant lunch, I took subway to the old sugar factory site. I thought it would be nearby since it was accessible by subway, but it was far away. The factory, which had been built during the Japanese colonial period then shut down, was quite huge. The machinery from those days is still there and it is very impressive, but it is more like a ruin than a tourist attraction. This was not bad to me though.

The last stop was Kaohsiung Lighthouse (高雄燈塔). I returned to the city by subway and took a ferry to the lighthouse. This lighthouse was built during the Japanese occupation period too, but it has been well maintained and remained in beautiful condition. While the weather was not clear at dusk, it was not a concern from a photographic point of view.

This was a much more touristic place than the old sugar factory. Even though it was a weekday, it was difficult to find a moment that people were out of the frame. I stayed quite for a while. I even enjoyed the night view and took the ferry back to the city.

I had some time before the return train, I decided to go to a bakery to buy pineapple cakes. The bakery is said to be a famous, award-winning bakery, but the accessibility by public transportation is not so good.

I got off the ferry and found a cab stand, and one car was parked. Cabs at this kind of stands are more or less problematic in terms of fares and communication in English. However, I knew that Taiwanese cabs were generally safe, and nowadays I can talk via an app.

The driver was a Japanese enka loving man. He drove through the streets of Kaohsiung while listening to enka songs, and talked with him via app. Moreover, thankfully he said he would wait for me until shopping finished at the bakery. As a result, I was able to return to Kaohsiung Station with time to spare.

Since I had a little time to kill, I searched for a place to buy a pork rib bento (排骨便當) using Google Map. It was the first time for me to buy the bento outside of Taiwan Railway station. I was not sure how to order, but one of customers told me.

Although the plaza at Kaohsiung Station was marked “No Eating or Drinking,” there were few people eating their bento. As a typical nature of Japanese people, I judged it was ok to eat as long as others were doing it. I was able to finish my dinner before boarding the return train.

It was fortunate that it did not rain in Kaohsiung even though I did not have a chance to see Fangliao Fishing Harbor and Fish Market in return. With the help of the locals of Kaohsiung, all’s well that ends well on this day too.

Memories of Ine (Originally posted on 2022-May-18)

Luck does not last long.

Since I had good weather on my separated trips to Zao and Hokkaido, I looked for a destination where could be enjoyable even if the weather was bad. By that, it would be better to view the cityscape rather than the wilderness. Around that time, one of my friends raved about a fishing village called Ine in northern Kyoto. I decided to go there.

Ine is famous for its rows of houses called “funaya (boathouses)” along the bay, and I was told that I could stay one of these houses. Since funaya is a fishermen’s house, each house is managed independently. It is not easy to find available rooms from one website, but I searched for available rooms using the tourist association’s website as a starting point.

I found a room available at an inn located at a secluded part of the bay. It looked a little far from the center of the town, but I had heard Ine was a small town, so I booked the place without much of concerns.

I planned my trip on the assumption that I could be satisfied even if rained, but I was still concerned about the weather. After all, I checked the weekly forecast every day.

I set out on the Tokaido Shinkansen from Shin-Yokohama. At Kyoto, I changed to the Sanin Line express train and continued on to Miyazu on the Kyoto Tango Railway. From Miyazu, I changed to a bus and headed for Ine. It was a quite a long way.

Still, thanks to the early morning departure from Yokohama, I arrived early and wandered around the town of Ine after the lunch.

When it was time to check in, I walked to the funaya. It was indeed far away. Ine is considered as a small town in terms of population, but the houses are built along long and narrow road on the coastline of Ine Bay. The houses are apparently built where the winds from the Sea of Japan do not directly blow, thus there are parts of the Bay where are no buildings to avoid the winds. This made to feel the funaya even further away. After all, it was about 2 kilometers walk from the center of town.

The most serious problem was dinner. Since the funaya is a rental house, guests have to stay without a meal plan. I had made a reservation at a restaurant, but it was 25-minute or 2-kilometer walk each way. I did not go to Ine for a survival camping, but I had to walk about an hour for my meal. I was terrified to think what would have happened if it had rained on that day.

On the other hand, the funaya was wonderful. Thanks to the curved bay, I could enjoy the view of the boathouse town from the large window. I sat idly and gazed at the bay and houses along. View from the window was probably one of the best in Ine.

Although I was able to fully enjoy the wonderful scenery, the funaya was difficult to reach by public transportation. I initially thought I would not be regretted in Ine even if rained because all I wanted to do was enjoying its townscape. However, if it had rained, I would surely have regretted in a different way. Luck lasts slightly longer than I thought.

It was a good funaya where I have chosen even though I knew nothing about the town, but it was also a funaya that I would not chose if I knew something about the town.

Knowing is a power. In the age when we can research anything we want to, not knowing is also a power.

COLO’s Traveler Guide: Ine

The time shown is the timetable at the time of the visit.

Day 1

Shin-Yokohama 0627 (Shinkansen Nozomi 273) >> Kyoto 0821
Kyoto 0838 (Limited Express Hashidate 1) >> Miyazu 1033
Miyazu 1047 (bus) >> Ine 1157

– Ine Bay tour
– Funaya tour

Overnight stay: Funaya Inn Maruichi

Dinner: Funaya Biyori

Tips for Day 1
– I had heard there were no convenience stores in Ine. The only (?) liquor store was closed, failed to purchase even a can of beer. Need to be prepared…

Day 2

Ine Post Office 1030 (bus) >> Amanohashidate (Motoise Kono Jinja Shrine) 1105

– I walked through Amanohashidate, it was just a walk along the pine forest beach. It did not look like one of the three most scenic spots in Japan from the ground.
– I ate “Chie-no-mochi” (rice cake of wisdom) in front of the gate of Chion-ji Temple. Looking at the temple while eating the rice cake, I felt becoming a little wiser.
– View of Amanohashidate from Amanohashidate Viewland was certainly one of the three most scenic spots in Japan. Amanohashidate should have seen from higher elevation.

Amanohashidate 1347 (Limited Express Hashidate 4) >> Fukuchiyama 1433
Fukuchiyama 1443 (Limited Express Kounotori 18) >> Shin-Osaka 1628
Shin-Osaka 1651 (Shinkansen Nozomi 416) >> Shin-Yokohama 1902

Tips for Day 2
– Due to the decrease of passengers caused by COVID-19, Hashidate 4 was cancelled between Fukuchiyama and Kyoto.