what do you see?

Just to let you know we'll be away from tomorrow (Wed) until late-Sunday, in Hong Kong. I'll try to blog while we're there if I can get access, otherwise see you in a few days!

Yesterday, heavy heavy rain which meant stupidly dangerous driving conditions, as the roads here turn as reflective as a mirror the instant they get wet, the white lines aren't at all reflective at night and many people have HID headlights (the blindingly bright ones)...we survived though. Today is sunny, chilly and windy. We should get a frost any day now...

Just catching a few minutes of rest before I go to work, listening to Nick Cave and contemplating having a nap...

Yesterday we went up the small mountain accessed from a ski slope near Akan lake (again). The autumn leaves were coming to an end, but it was still very beautiful. THe leaves were falling and the sulphur smoke was rising...a couple of pics on the picture site, which incidentally is getting a bit full up now. I might have to work on a different option. We spent most of today driving around shopping for various things. Including big (well, double size) sheets or blankets...very hard to get unless you want to pay a fortune, as most couples here sleep in separate beds or futons...

We got back a short while ago from a little overnight trip down to Kushiro on the south coast, via Akan national park again...we saw plenty of CRAZY autumn colours, unbelievable really. I don't have time to put pictures on-line right now but will try and do it as soon as possible.

So, on Sunday we headed down through Akan like I said, stopping off at a couple of places on the way to see the leaves. Lots of traffic around (of course), with people stopping on blind curves, brows of hills etc. etc. in order to get pictures. We survived though, and continued down to Kushiro city, via the marshes (the biggest marshes in Japan I think). They looked like something from Australia, a vast yellow grassy plain with clumps of bushes and small trees, surrounded by tree covered ridges. There are lots of wooden pathways through the marshlands which you can walk on. Did a little walk, and then drove on through the city (took a while, got lost many times, but we made it in the end!) and out the other side to find a campsite. We found a good one next to a small lake, just as it got dark. After we pitched we went back into the city to find Uniqlo and do some shopping there, and then to KFC for food which we took back to camp.

This morning we brushed the spiders off the tent, dried it afte the inevitable night-time rain and set off back to the marshes to walk more of the trails. On the way we saw quite a lot of the famous Japanese cranes (tanchou) grazing like dinosaurs in the grassy meadows. Again, this inspired suicidal tendencies in people driving by, desperate for pictures. We also saw a couple of very tame foxes, which approached cars fearlessly (even if they were driving at 50kph), and in the woods, a chipmunk! After the marshes we drove back through Akan stopping at some different places for leaf viewing. one place was basically someone's back garden in which they had tried to create a traditional style garden with lots of red maples. Pretty nice despite being a little tacky.

Haven't written that much in a long while! As I said, look on our pics site soon for the goods...

A year ago we were amazed that it was finally cool enough to do things outside, this year we're amazed it's warm enough to! Got mild again a couple of days ago. Leaves even better. Lots of updates on the picture site!

Getting colder gradually now, still no frost though. Really nice autumn colours around. I keep promising pictures online don't I...well take a look! There's a new Album (I got rid of the "Phil and Christine" section) with the goods in it, I'll be adding more bit by bit!