Japan 160122-160204
Bird Photography trip
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© NF Photos 160124
Woke up rather early to go down for breakfast. It was kind of, a mix between western and eastern breakfasts. A detail I noticed was that the boiled eggs was marked in the shell where to cut of the "head". So, instead of open the egg by smashing the top I only had to grab the top and lift it off. :)
We met in the lobby at 9 for the plane to Kyushu. Now, it turned out that the plane was cancelled. A snowstorm had hit the western part of the island. But our guide, Ms Harumi Yamanaka, quickly run out in the domestic hall. After a little while she came back. Smiling. She had rebooked our flight to the airport Miyazaki on the east side of Kyushu where the storm still had not hit.
Kyushu is a subtropic island so they have almost none experience of snow. They had no means of clearing snow away from the runway.
Well, we boarded the new flight and was on our way almost the same time as scheduled. Due to the changed route, I guess, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of Mt Fuji. The trip took about 2h. Cool to see it has a upside down heart-looking feature on it´s side. See image at the end of the post.
When we were going in for landing it was kind of weird. The clouds were very low and it felt as if we were flying in a tunnel. Strange!
Arriving at the airport we found palm trees and other tropic plants and a chill in the air as a warning about what was to come. The bus that was about to pick us up in Kagoshima was rescheduled to Miyazaki. It took a while before it came so we took an early lunch.
Around 13,00 we was finally on our way up north west across the island to find our hotel in Akune. Luckily the driver was used to snow as he sometimes works in the northern part of Japan.
After driving a while the snow started. And increased for every bit we drove. Half way across the island the conditions was bad. The road started to have a lot of snow and the traffic was not used to it. It was sad to see bamboo shrubs and tea bushes bowing heavily with snow on them.
We made one stop, in an convenience store to buy something to eat. And to give the driver a rest. In the end of the day it was at least 2 dm of snow. At one place we spotted an excavator trying to get rid of snow on the road.
We arrived at Akune at nightfall and was having dinner. Then we went to bed as the morning will be an early one.
From the news!
Snowstorm in Kyushu more news
The bed, Japanese style :) Quite good actually.
Mt Fuji
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24/1: Flyg Tokyo – Miyazaki på ön Kyushu. Buss
till hotellet i Akune
Planen idag var att vi skulle flyga söderut till Kagoshima på ön Kyushu. Nu visade det sig att ett snöoväder hade stoppat alla flyg dit. Snö är extremt ovanligt på Kyushu, där det normalt råder ett subtropiskt klimat. Därför orsakar minsta snötäcke inställda flyg, då det inte finns snöröjning på flygplatsen. Vi lyckades dock boka om flyget till Miyazaki på östra delen av Kyushu, som inte drabbats av snön. Vi nådde dit vid lunchtid och fick sedan en lång bussresa till området där tranorna övervintrar. Bussfärden tog oss genom ett landskap med snötäckta teodlingar, bambudungar och palmer - på vissa ställen med upp till 2 dm snö! Många udda intryck med andra ord! Så småningom nådde vi fram till vårt hotell i Akune lite efter mörkrets inbrott, glada att det gick att ordna så vi kunde ta oss hit överhuvudtaget. Imorgon väntar en heldag bland tranorna vid Arasaki och då ska vi äntligen kunna börja fotografera på allvar!
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