Japan bound!

On August 6, after another late night packing session, we arrived early at the HK airport only to be told there was to be a delay on our Air India flight to Osaka. When we finally landed, after a flight on what must have been the oldest functioning aircraft judging from the tattered seats and musky smell, we picked up our rental car and drove to Matt's old host family home in Kobe. An absolutely lovely family, they laid out a feast for us, and then some! It was okasan's (mother) birthday so we celebrated with a cake afterwards.

The next day, okasan, Matt and I visited a local shrine and then headed towards the famous Himeji castle (the largest wooden castle in the world declared a UNESCO heritage site - see pic).

The next few days Matt and I (re)discovered Shimane prefecture, winding our way up and down the mountains, tiny fishing villages, farming towns, all in unbelievably picturesque settings, the kind you see in the movies. We stayed in little rural onsens (hot spring hotels), visited Hinomisaki Lighthouse, swam in the Sea of Japan, and camped in a trailer with canoe rentals nearby (see pic of Matt splashing me on the Go river).

The food was out of this world: fresh, organic and healthy. Soba and udon noodles, tempura, traditional Japanese meals of hot pot, seaweed, tofu, pickled veggies, eel, etc. My favourite meal was at a local sushi restaurant where the cook would make the same thing for every customer in the restaurant (which only sat about 5-6 people) and when you had had enough to eat you just had to tell him to stop and pay for what you had eaten. Great atmosphere, lots of interesting stories told and the best was, due to cultural miscommunication, while telling the cook of my peanut allergy, it ended up being "Bonnie, the girl who could not eat peanuts and allergy." Who ever heard of an allergy allergy? :) Well, it was safe to assume it wasn't on the menu that night.

It was nice to visit the places where Matt used to live; meet his old work colleagues at the International Centre in Matsue; see the old ski hill at Mount Sanbe where he attempted snowboarding for the first time; see his old apartment building; eat at his old favourite restaurants; meet Harakun (see pic), his old work/riding buddy and his extremely hyper mom and still-active grandmother who showed us his shiny Harley Davidson and the tricyle he spiced up for his 2 year old daughter, a biker in the making.

Matt remarked on several occasions how he has grown to appreciate the landscape and people in Shimane a lot more this time round, having 'grown up' and seen more of the world. As Marcel Proust so famously said, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Returning to the place where Matt once called home and being privileged enough to get an insider's, albeit snapshot, view of the area, i understand more deeply the impressions left on Matt and like him, appreciate Shimane as a place where tradition merges gracefully with modern life, all the while eclipsed by the awesome natural environment that dwarfs most other places.