Travel Day: Miyajima to Aso City, or, How I Ate My Way Across Japan

Not much to report today. Lots of train riding to get from Hiroshima area all the way to central Kyuushu (the southernmost part of mainland Japan). Our destination this time was Aso City, which lies at the base of a number of active volcanoes. We arrived in the afternoon, got to our next hostel, which really looks like a Nordic ski lodge that got delivered here by mistake. Hardwood floors, a wood-burning stove and clean, new fixtures. It amazes me that every hostel we stay in when we're in Japan is nicer than what you would get for twice the price in the US (or Japan, for that matter).

Perfect place to write a Java program...

After 5 hours on four different trains with no food available but the terrible stuff they foist on unsuspecting passengers on the Shinkansen Food Cart, we were ready for a good meal. After a fairly chilly walk down one of the main roads, we arrived at a place that had only two words on their sign: "Udon Soba". Inside we were greeted with the smell of smoke (non-smoking areas only exist in major cities in Japan), the sound of a baseball game on a little TV and the cook, a little Japanese lady, pointing for us to take any available seat, which was most of them (It was 3 on a Saturday). We then spent some time deciphering the menu, which was pretty simple because, as the name implied, they had various kinds of Udon (thick buckwheat noodles, usually served in a broth) and Soba (thin buckwheat noodles, usually served in a broth) and nothing else. This is usually a good sign. In Japan (and the US, for that matter), the more menu items a place has, generally the worse the food quality is. I had an absolutely wonderful Karee Udon (Curry Udon), which is regular Udon in a basic broth with Japanese curry and tiny amounts of beef and onions on top.

Spicy, Salty Goodness

Sumi had the Saizan Soba Teishoku (Soba with Wild Vegetables set). I was too involved in my heavenly MSG injection to sample hers, but she liked it.

Seisan Soba, rice, sesame vegetables, pickled daikon and tofu with ginger and onions.

Afterwards, we saw Ice Cream written on the map. Not needing any further prompting, we walked another 100 meters to a stand that specialized in Black Sesame Ice Cream.

The universal sign for ice cream, the over-sized cone. Every shop in Japan that sells ice cream has one

Usually, that's all it takes to get me to try a new dish, but I was sidetracked when I got inside and saw Japanese crepes on the menu. Japanese crepes are like sweet pancakes wrapped around a sundae. They are popular in Harajuku (in Tokyo), and I had been looking forward to having some before we decided to avoid the Tokyo area. Sumi was mesmerized by the Almond and Chocolate Special and I lost to the Banana and Chocolate Crepe.

The only time this trip I didn't have to tell her to smile for a picture...

Satisfied, we made our way back to the hostel, where I finally caught up on all the posts I had been writing, but not posting (had some trouble uploading to Blogger the last few days), finished the first of my homework assignments, planned our route for tomorrow (climbing a 1500m tall active volcano that is currently steaming, with snow covering the peak, unless we get a Sulfer Dioxide gas warning, in which case we'll be doing....not that), and stocked up at the local konbini with provisions for the climb. We'll see which way the wind blows tomorrow, and go from there.