Friday 22 April 2016

A bus, a very big lake and a very bad smell.

Another day in another place.

 Konichawa

Today we are leaving Japan and I am a little sad.  I do not think I will ever be here again.  Mme tells me to cheer up and she said leaving Japan is not the end of the world.  I know about the end of the world now and I am not worried.

Today, my very last day in Japan, was filled with new adventures.

Mme bought a bus ticket at the bus ticket office on Our Ship and early this morning we sat on the bus along with many other people from Our Ship and it took us far away from the port of Kushiro  to the mountains and the famous thermal lake.

I sat in the seat beside Mme, in the outside of the backpack and I looked out the bus window when Mme lifted me out of the backpack net. Homer-san stood at the front of the bus and told us many interesting facts about the world passing by the bus windows. It was very difficult to remember all his facts but I will tell you my facts.

My facts are stop facts.  A stop is a place where all the people leave the bus and do special things. Our first stop was a place where people could buy some food, visit the rest rooms and walk about and look at bridges and trees and buildings.  Mme looked at bridges and trees and buildings and I looked at them too.  I want to see everything. At this stop Mme asked Homer-san a question about the roofs on the houses.  I did not understand anything about this conversation.  Homer-san understood and he answered the question.



The bridge at our first stop.  We did not walk on this bridge.

The very best part of the day for this loyal, hard-working little Japanese dog, was the stop at Lake Mashu.  Everything was beautiful.  The sky was a beautiful blue. The far away mountain ranges with snow on the tops were beautiful. And Lake Mashu was very calm and very beautiful.  There were no very high buildings and today I think Lake Mashu is the most beautiful place in all of Japan.


Lake Mashu

Mt Iwo was the place of very bad smells. It is a real volcano.  There are many real volcanoes in Japan. Mt Iwo is not beautiful like the mountains around Lake Mashu.  There is a very bad smell which is the sulphur and lots of smelly steam which looks like smoke.  On the ground  there are very bright yellow patches of sulphur and there is a fence to keep people out and many signs telling people not to pass beyond the fence.  Mme sat me on the ground.  I was very frightened and I was very happy when she picked me up and put me back in my place in the backpack.


Sitting on the safe side of the fence at Mt Iwo.


Nearby was the meal stop at Kawayu.  There is a foot onsen at Kawayu and after the bus people ate their meal everyone sat in the bus and the driver took the bus on a short drive to the foot onsen.  All the bus people removed their shoes and socks, sat on the edge of the pool and put their feet in the water.  The water is very hot and people's legs were very pink when they lifted their feet out of the pool.


The water for the foot onsen comes from beneath the rocks. The water is very hot in this part of the onsen.  Look closely at the lady in the top of the photo,  the water is so hot she wants to lift her feet out immediately. 


I was a very tired, little dog after all the exciting stops and I fell asleep on the way back to Our Ship and I did not wake up until we were in our room.


Our Ship is leaving Kushiro and I will not see Japan again.


I sat on my window ledge and watched as Our Ship left Kushiro port.  I was very brave and did not cry, even though I was a very sad little Japanese dog because I was leaving my country.





3 comments:

  1. A new adventure is ahead of you

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  2. Nice to know you traveled around the places of Hokkaido where I also explored long time ago when I was a student. Thanks for visiting my blog.

    Yoko

    ReplyDelete