The Japanese word satoyama describes the border between farm land and the foothills of the mountains. We’re lucky to live in a satoyama region, full of plants, animals and geography unique to our little area.
The diversity of the geography makes for some truly amazing hikes. We’ve done some great ones in the last year and a half, but we’re still finding beautiful new land to conquer.
This past week we were fortunate to find a hike in nearby Ogawa that took us through the farms, mountains and shopping streets of this little town in the foothills of the Okuchichibu Mountains. Special thanks to a detailed post at Chaobang’s Travelsfor providing excellent directions on the five-mile trek.
We were amazed by some of the fruits we came across on the hike. Persimmons are a popular fruit tree in our area. Many homes in our neighborhood have them growing in their yards and it is definitely persimmon season right now. But we also came across some unexpected fruit (pineapples and kiwi!?) as well as some mystery fruits, including akebe—a pod-like fruit that only has a two-week growing season.
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One of a hundred persimmon trees we saw during our hike.
A pomegranate tree. We may or may not have snagged one of these.
Pineapple? Seriously? The owner came out of his house to see what we were up to.
Eating Japanese pears is one of the reasons we were put on this Earth.
A mikan (mandarin oranges) tree is getting ready to produce its winter harvest. All of the mikans were still green.
This one was a mystery. It appears to be an akebi tree, which only has a two-week fruiting season in early fall. The pods were already dried out in the first week of October.
Kiwis. We’d never seen a kiwi tree before.
The figs weren’t quite ripe yet either. They’ll be delicious!
It was a quiet day on the trail despite the perfect weather. We’ve reached the time of year where it’s hot in the sun, but the chill of autumn greets you in the shade. We had plenty of both along the way.
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The lonely train track near Tōbu Takezawa Station was a hint of the peaceful, quiet day ahead of us.
Fall flowers are in full bloom right now, balancing the changing colors of the season with pops of color. These were growing near one of the Ogawa (小川) city markers.
The glorious colors of the fall flowers on our walk through the neighborhood leading to the hiking course.
First stop was for lunch at Sanno Shrine. A pretty good view.
Ten’ō-ike (天王池), or the “pond of the heavenly king” greeted us at the beginning of the hiking trail.
A crystal clear day coupled with perfectly still water created amazing reflections in Ten’ō-ike.
Hiking through the forest on Kannokura Mountain.
The summit of Kannokura Mountain. We met three Japanese hikers up here who chatted with us and gave us directions to the next peak.
Looking out over Ogawa from the summit of Sekison-san, a smaller mountain just a short walk from Kannokura.
Descending from Sekison-san was a little bit technical and required a chain guide to traverse the rocky slope. At the bottom, the chain was attached to a tree trunk. Old hiking shoes were used as a buffer to prevent the chain from damaging the tree. Another reason why I love Japan.
This cute Akita—Mimi—was hard at work protecting his chicken buddy.
Several fields had these cool makeshift windmills made from bamboo poles, wire hangers and old water bottles cut into sails.
We walked through a beautiful and mature bamboo forests. Even in Kyoto we’d never seen bamboo this big.
Chōfuku-ji temple was empty except for an electric car charging near the front door. Old meets new once again.
An accidental find. While looking for Hachiman Shrine, we came across Anhachiman, a tomb complex built into a mound under a large tree. An inscription on the tomb shows it was built in 1278. The identity of the tomb’s resident is unknown.
The grounds of Hachiman Shrine which dates back to the Kamakura shogunate of the early 1200s.
The torii (gate) for Hachiman Shrine. This would be a pretty cool lawn decoration.
The old ivy-covered red brick chimney at Harekumo Sake Brewing is an Ogawa landmark.
Three bottles of locally-made sake. Easily the best sake we’ve had in Japan.
The final day of our trip began at dawn, before the rest of Saigon started its day. From our hotel room balcony, we watched as buses and motorbikes began to filter through the typically-frantic roundabout connecting the city’s lively districts.
The first stop on the long road home was a three-hour layover in Kuala Lumpur. We found an Indian restaurant in the food court. The nearby juice bar had a 3-in-1 option that called our name after 40 days of travel eats.We arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on a mission to catch the last train home. In a karmic kick in the pants, our luggage came out five minutes before the train departed. We spent one last night in a hotel, staying at the airport itself.By the afternoon of Day 42, we were finally on our way home. The “stop” button on the bus called out to me… we were finally stopping.The end of another adventure… and where we’ve already started planning the next one!
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We spent our last day in Ho Chi Minh City doing a makeshift walking tour, including the Ho Chi Minh statue in front of the People’s Committee building. Built in 1909, it was modeled after the City Hall building in Paris. It’s still a working government building today.
One of many couples taking wedding photos in front of the iconic Saigon Central Post Office. It was built by the French in the late 1800s and is still an active post office in addition to being a popular tourist site. Architect Gustave Eiffel, famous for Paris tower that bears his name, was among those who designed the building.The epic Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica is directly across the street from the post office, offering a two-for-one sightseeing experience. The church itself was completed in 1880, but the current Our Lady of Peace statue was installed in 1959. In 2005, the statue was in the news when it was reported to have shed tears, although the local clergy weren’t able to verify the event.Finding breakfast on the streets of Vietnam is simple. Step 1: Find a banh mi stand. The bread is always fresh in the morning and there’s nothing like a deep-fried egg to get your day started.Step 2: Find yourself a ca phe sua da (Vietnamese iced coffee) vendor. This lady might have made the best one we had on the entire trip despite a very makeshift operation on the sidewalk.Students in HCMC outside their school on a Saturday. The school week is six days long, but there was extra activity as they celebrated the beginning of a new school year with loud music, loud speeches and general loudness.
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We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) around 3:30 a.m. on the overnight train from Nha Trang. To avoid the temptation of napping in our hotel room all day—oh, and to see one of the world’s most diverse biological sites—we booked a day tour to the Mekong Delta along with two other people from our main tour group.
Rich with life of all kinds, more than 10,000 species have been discovered in the Delta including the Laotian rock rat, once thought to be extinct. It’s also under great risk due to climate change. Some estimates suggest two of its provinces could be completely flooded in the next 15 years due to rising sea levels.
On Turtle Island, we rode from a coconut candy-making kitchen to lunch on a motorcycle with a seating box in the back. The four of us decided to put on the provided helmets more for fun than safety (mine had a drawing of a teddy bear with the words “bears” and “hapry dreams” on it. Yes. “Hapry.”). However, the helmets proved handy as we dodged low-hanging palm leaves. I even had a bundle of bananas bounce off my helmet!
The Mekong River passes through five other countries (China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia) before reaching Vietnam. At the Delta, all of the silt and sediment collects, making the river appear the color of chocolate milk.A boat full of bamboo fish traps parked along the shore of a creek. Nearly 60 percent of Vietnam’s fishing output and a quarter of its agricultural land is located in the Mekong Delta.Part of our tour included a boat trip on a stream leading back to the river. The woman paddling the boat was clearly working hard, each stroke accompanied with grunts that grew louder as the trip went on. She earned an extra tip when the four of us leaned left to take a photo, swinging the boat hard to the right toward the muddy bank. Oops!Traditional river boats parked at shore have eyes painted on the hulls. The stories say the eyes are meant to scare off river monsters while also helping guide sailors back to land on their many journeys.The traditional conical hats are available for sale all over Vietnam. On a particular sunny day, it seemed like a good investment. It would also be donned by our guide in a demonstration of the carrying pole during the tour.
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With our long journey winding down, we used our last day in Nha Trang to catch some rays on the beach of Nha Trang Bay. In the distance, we watched the cable cars carry guests to the resort island known as Vinpearl Land.
Authentic civet coffee— better known as Weasel Coffee—is made using partially-digested coffee beans passed through the digestive tract of the Asian palm civet, a weasel-type animal. The real deal is about $30 USD a cup, but most of what you’ll find in Vietnamese shops is made artificially and can be had for less than $10 per bag.XQ Hand Embroidery, an open-air art village near the beach in Nha Trang, is a great opportunity to see Vietnamese embroidery art for free in a very cool setting. Multi-colored thread is arranged throughout the village, catching the light like rainbows. Exhibits show different parts of the process used to create photo-realistic works using only thread.Looking out the doors from XQ Hand Embroidery Village at Nha Trang Beach.Nearly all of our previous banh mi (Vietnamese baguette sandwiches) experiences, while delicious, were basically a fried egg sandwich. In Nha Trang, we found this woman’s cart where she made the sandwiches using vegetarian mock meats she made herself. Better yet, the sandwiches were 10,000 VND each (about 45 cents USD). We ate here a lot.
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The coastal city of Nha Trang, Vietnam is well-known for its world-class beaches, but just a few minutes away from the coast lies a rich religious and cultural history that won’t make you regret giving up the beach chair for a few hours.
Among the city’s main draws is Long Sơn Pagoda, home to the nearly-80-foot-tall statue of Gautama Buddha (Giant Buddha sighting #4). Cast in stark white concrete, it seemed to float among the blue skies and pillowy white clouds on the day we visited.
The Hindu temple of Po Nagar has enjoyed a long history in Nha Trang with a documented history beginning before 781 A.D. Constructed atop Cù Lao Mountain, the views of the city and the sea are spectacular. The steep steps to the top seemed to keep the tourists to a minimum, except for this group whose leader, dressed in the traditional áo dài dress and nón lá hat.On the steps up to the Giant Buddha at Long Son Pagoda, we passed an equally-impressive 55-feet-long statue of the Reclining Buddha (Giant Buddha sighting #5). A more recent addition—it was built by the local Buddhist community in 2003—the statue is surrounded by carvings of 49 praying monks, representing the Mahayana Buddhism tradition of praying for the dead for 49 days after they pass.The gorgeous Nha Trang Cathedral was built by the French in the 1930s and still has active services today. Statues of various saints circled the church, appearing saintly in the light of the setting sun.
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Even in historic locales, it’s sometimes hard to get a feel for life in days gone by. The endless barking of souvenir vendors selling smartphone accessories and the dodging of motorbikes are a reminder that you’re in a modern-day tourist area. But when the sun goes down in Hoi An, a sense of what was begins to emerge. The vendors head home to their families, the commute slows and the lanterns that lit the streets 500 years ago illuminate a revived town.
That moment you realize you’ve taken the same picture roughly 20 times is when you know you’re seeing something special. Our memory card is full of variations of Hoi An street scenes. The bright colors, interesting angles and haunting lighting is a photographer’s dreamーeven for point-and-shooters like us.Just after breakfast time, the small cafes began to empty out and the streets quieted before the daily rush of tourists arrived. This knick-knack vendorーstill in his pajamasーcaught a few winks during the downtime.Ornate decorations floated all along the Thu Bon River, including this one depicting Maudgalyāyana, a disciple of Buddha, emerging from a lotus flower.The Japanese Covered Bridge was built sometime in the 1700s, linking the Japanese and Chinese merchant settlements in Hoi An. A small Buddhist temple is attached to the bridge, the only one of its kind in the world.A moment of serenity in the streets of Hoi An.
On the ides of the lunar month, the electric lights in the ancient town are turned off and all motorized traffic is blocked, leaving only the lights of the lanterns. We visited in between these holidays, but just a regular night in Hoi An is a close replica.
Nice by day……and nicer by night!The lanterns at this shop were a big tourist draw for shoppers during day and photographers at night.A boy on a bike coasts through the lantern-lit streets.
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After 35 days of going, it was nice to finally have a day with nothing on the agenda. We took a taxi out to An Bang (pronounced On Bong) Beach early in the day and found a couple of lounge chairs under a bamboo umbrella. The little dot in the water to the right of my feet is Viktoria. Can you spot her
Several bamboo bowl boats were lined up on the beach. Local craftsmen have been making the boats for centuries, using a mixture of tree resin and rice bran to waterproof the vessels. They seem impossible to manuever, but the bowl captains have mastered it!On the left is the face of a man who’s been traveling for 35 days, yet somehow his wife is looking radiant and energized. What gives?!
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The UNESCO World Heritage town of Hoi An, located on the South China Sea, is a snapshot to another era. It’s location made it an ideal trading port for much of the last millennium, but political changes and changes in river conditions in the late 17th century turned Hoi An into a ghost town.
As a result of its loss in status, it became a forgotten part of Vietnam’s evolution and remained untouched for much of the next two centuries. Thanks to this preservation, the city now draws tourists from all around the globe looking for a glimpse of life in old Vietnam.
We knew our tour group would be making the trip from Hue to Hoi An on a public bus, but we were all surprised when a luxury coach showed up. Complete with reclining lounge seats and a complimentary bottle of water, it was a far cry from the #17 city bus from the airport in Hanoi. Sure enough, we picked up and dropped off passengers all the along the four-plus hour route.
The bus route passed through several small towns, offering a glimpse of the daily workday. Several people were raking out rice on the sidewalks and even into the streets to separate it from the stalks. I’ve read that the rice stalks are placed in the streets to allow passing cars to act as a grain thresher, separating the rice from the stalks.
The non la (conical hats) and carrying poles are still everyday tools for street vendors in Vietnam. Three ladies in Hoi An’s old town were selling fruit and thought I needed to try the gear on for size. I overpaid for some mangos and lychee afterward, figuring the extra amount was for the fun memory.
The Thu Bon River is still an important part of Hoi An. Fish are cleaned and sold at the public market on the rivers edge, but the river is mostly packed with tourist boats. We met an old boatsman named Captain Dan who promised to show us pictures of all of his American friends if we came back for a boat trip the next day.
The Hoi An Market Water Well is among the many tourist sights in the city, but we were more amused by the blatant disregard for the posted rules sign which clearly states both “Please do not sit on the well” and “Please do not park your motorcycle.”
Many of the old buildings have been repurposed for restaurants and shops, but still maintain the original architecture and external wear unique to coastal towns. Like Hanoi’s tube houses, the buildings in Hoi An have layouts unique to the city. The shop fronts the street with living quarters sandwiched between two courtyards behind it. The back of the building has a storage room facing the river, making it easy to load products out of the boats directly into the shops.
When we returned from exploring the old town area, these three little girls were riding their bikes in the parking area of our hotel. When we asked to photograph them, the girl on the left jumped into action. Clearly the ringleader, she got them all into position for the photo. The girl on the right followed along, but the girl in the middle didn’t quite trust us…
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Dong Ba Market, located in Hue on Vietnam’s central coast, has existed in one shape or form since the late 1800s. The indoor portion of the market is packed with crafts and kitchenware, hawked by some very aggressive vendors. Outside, fresh vegetables and fish are sold with a lot less vigor.
Our guide woke us up early on the overnight train from Hanoi to Hue as we approached the Ben Hai River, better known as the demilitarized zone that separated North and South Vietnam. A group of women were already hard at work, repairing the area near the railroad tracks.Women working on the train tracks near the Ben Hai River.Happiness is a cool fan, or two cool fans in this case. A brief reprieve from the humidity at a restaurant near Hue’s Imperial City.For the most part, the locals haven’t paid much attention to us, but these two young Buddhist monks-in-training kept shooting us glances while we ate. They were happy to oblige when we asked to take a photo. We were drawn to their unique haircuts. When the boys enter the monastery, their heads are shaved with the exception of three distinct areas. As they pass different milestone exams, a section is shaven off. The last tuft of hair can grow quite long as they strive toward the final exam.A building inside Hue’s Imperial Palace. The palace was heavily damaged during the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. Of the 160 buildings in the complex, only 10 survived the battle. The remaining buildings were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993 and restoration work continues to this day.A golden dragon statue inside the Purple Forbidden City section of the Imperial Palace. Similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing, the area was restricted to only the imperial family.The Purple Forbidden City’s courtyard. The two round bushes to either side of the garden are trimmed in the shape of turtles.A princess in the Imperial Palace.Only parts of the Imperial Palace have been restored. In a few places, we could see the stark contrast of what was and what will be.Hearing about the other side of the Vietnam War has been one of the more fascinating parts of this experience. Outside the Imperial Palace, a museum displays captured U.S. artillery and aircraft like trophies, listing the dates and locations when they were taken by the Communist-led People’s Army.While I snapped pictures outside the military museum, Viktoria was making friends with some kids playing soccer in the shadow of Thuong Tu gate, one of the entrances to the outer grounds of the Imperial Palace known as the Citadel. One boy acted as the group’s spokesman, telling us they were 14 years old and in the eighth grade at a school down the road.A Mary Poppins moment along the Perfume River.This pretty much sums up pedestrian life in Vietnam.Garlic, ginger, shallots, hot peppers and lime. I hoped whomever bought this lady’s veggies at Dong Ba Market would invite us over for dinner!A typical transaction in Dong Ba Market between a vendor in a nón lá (conical hat) and a scooter rider.
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