And That......Dear Abby....

...is what we did after climbing those hills....

We soaked in the steaming hot-spring and enjoyed the last moments of sunshine on the red-leaved hills.

What a perfect day, again.

I bet you wish you were there too.

Salute

Esther did it Again, part 1

Sooooo many times we have driven out of Fukuoka City,

heading east, west, south....

(see last picture in this post).

And ALWAYS wondered what those hills near Kurume City were 

we could see in the distance, ...

Somehow they were never on our stop-list.

But finally Esther got the honor to take us there!

In the hills (Mt Koura) just next to Kurume City sits this temple.
Koura Taisya Shrine.

Over the years we have seen "a few"....

 ...and still it's always nice to spend some moments near a temple.

This one is definitely a "returner".

The front-gate from the inside...great view out there.

Kurume City down below and in the far distance, a bit to the left: Mt Sefuri...

BTW, Mt Sefuri we can also see from the cockpit of Alishan,
 from the other side of course and....if the weather is clear. 

As at most temples, you can post a "wish".

Those on the Left are personal and hand-written,

those on the Right...are lucky draws...

The road was mostly on the ridge of this mountain range, 
with great views left and right.

Here once more facing N.

Ahhh, the Lady with the Nikon beat me to it...

Not a road to meet too many cars from the opposite direction.....

We offered this fellow a ride, but he said that his pick-up would come "soon".

After the hills near Kurume we drove further east.

Marijke wanted to see

the big river that marks Hita Town.

Always good for spotting birds and....

 Fish

This time of the year the AYU swims around.

Indeed tasty river fish.

Here a river-side eatery with an AYU fish trap set-up.

Just watch the fish swim into the trap!
Not a bad job...

Arrow top-left: Alishan.

The arrow in the middle is Mt Koura & mountain range we drove.

And at the arrow right-bottom: Hita town.

That was another great spin with Esther.

Salute

Busy Season

Yep, it's a busy season.

With 3 times a mountain top inspection in 1 week.

So many great pictures....to follow...

Just 1 for warming-up...

or how about this video...

Salute

Socks on the Floor

See Wakame?

Do you really think she emptied the socks drawer.....??

Maybe you wonder where Nori and Wakame go and 

**get their yearly medical check-ups & shots,  

**stay in that 4-Mouse Hotel when we are not around, 

** and like last time with Nori...get stitched up??

Marina Animal Hospital, Odo

is the place.

Salute.

Autumn Sunset

Looking west (of course) from the top floor of the car-park at the Nokonoshima ferry building.

That's all for today,

Salute.

Ni Mai Season

Ni Mai.

Or in English: Two Layers.

Yep it is cooling down.

There are moments these days we need two layers of clothing.

Tell you, it even feels nice to wear long pants again. 

And sleeping?...No Sweat at All!

First a short report Re a Spin with Esther the Car made early August. 

South of Karatsu is a hilly area where rice is grown on 

man-made terraces, with stone walls.

 An area also with plenty of wild pigs, hence the fence.

Our first target was Mt. Hachiman...

and yoho-yoho, see those antenna towers?

The road should be going Alll the Way. 

Remember, that was still early August..and too HOT to walk.

So......indeed Esther took us all the way to the top...

.....our heads in the clouds.

         And this was the splendid view....

Down we went again and there was the valley.

 Plenty of rice fields, nice and crispy green.

 Who says red should be the color of luff??

Last week Esther made that Spin again...

Oops , it's all mellow-yellow now!

Usually this time of the year the walls around the rice fields are covered with red flowers , but due to the enormous rains Kyushu had this spring.....
No Red to be Seen.
Then a few days later...

Thought so!!

Just around the corner from Alishan: Red Flowers. 

As said, it's much cooler these days, so it's time to re-explore the hills just to the south of Imajuku.

This road is leading to the start of the climb...& most of the trail-run along the mountain ridge you see in this picture (above).

Entrance.

There is a spring with tasty water. Last chance to fill your bottle.

The first Torries leading towards..

Mt Kanonga temple.

...Autumn is here.

Somewhere along the trail.

What a beauty neh.

That is Itoshima, play-ground for last week's ultra marathon.

Hakata Bay, on left-middle Noko Island. 

Alishan is somewhere at the top-right side of this pix.

.....one more shot on the road home.

Rainbow colors?

That was a great trail-run & perfect weather. 

According to Google Earth some 20Ks. 

That day, even Wakame was tired;-)

Salute.

Back on Board

Those were the days in Holland.

Two weeks full of Sad, Difficult, Happy, "Gezellige", Tasty and  Fun times.

It was good to be with our sisters and bro's, 

but Home is in Fukuoka.

So we loaded the suitcases, including some 7 kg of Good Cheese, took a deep breath, climbed on board a plane or two 

and "did" some 23 hours of uncomfy "air-travel". 

Hmm, why do we have nasty translations for airline abbreviations.???

Flying into Fukuoka. 

(i know, i know about those electronic toys etc...)

Right is the Japan Sea, middle is Uminonaka, at the the top the entrance to Hakata Bay (left).

Red arrow is pointing to where Fu Kyo is on the hard stand.

Just before landing at Fukuoka Airport.

Alishan is somewhere in right-top part of the city. 

Only 30 minutes away by subway.

Nori...Wakame...we are almost there!!!

Pffff.

And then, after 1 week at home...(wow what a jet lag),

Nori messed up his ear.

And had to go back to Marina Animal Hospital for some serious stitch work.

Thanx for the Good Care!!

But happily, after only 1 night stay he was allowed to come on board again....

But No Walkies Ashore, of course,

So 2 more weeks of using the toilet box..

miauwwwwgrgr.

Who's not yet ready to come "home"...

is Fu Kyo's ONAN generator.

See here at the service station's workshop.

And indeed they found the cause of the SMOKE

But were not able to explain to me why it had smoked,

And were indeed able to tell that ordering parts from the ONAN USA would take 2 months!

(how long did it take them to go to the moon and back?) 

See red arrow where the ONAN started its own smoke-oven...

Well, back to Fukuoka FunRun Facts.

The extra soft padding i gained in Holland had to come down...

so i joined my running-buddies.

They all were 99% prepped for the Itoshima  58 K or 100 K marathon the week after this 20K practice run.

Ouch, that was little fun and tuff going for me after all those stroopwafels and bruintjes kaas...;-) 

But happy to have been out There with You.

And this is the start of that 100 K Itoshima Marathon , AM 5,

Sunday Sept 16th. The day before a big T-bag was gonna hit Kyushu..

.......And at 11 AM, the start of the 58K.

By now it's raining and will do so for most of the next 48 hours.

At one stage the 2 groups would join the same trail, notable at Itoshima's own beer factory....where many-a-runner downed one...

Marijke and i were helping out with taxi service, "traffic contole", aid stations and runners-on-the-go support.

The Red Rocket is ready-to-go!

The first 5 of the 58K.

Solid rain, ideal temp and as you can see Good Spirits.

The runners have just done that hill you are looking at...

Ha, and there is one more climb to follow...

Even for the Red Rocket that next one was tuff to make it a non-stopper-to-the-top.
(but did it 3 times)

Note the weather; It wasn't perfect for a sunny day at the beach....

But the surfers out there were having a ...wave of a time.

And this is Mrs T-bag named Sanba, Monday AM.

She is passing us to the West, making it a direct hit for 

South  Korea...that is 3 in a row in 1 month!

Fukuoka is more or less in the middle of this map.
Mrs Sanba's giving us strong (30-40 knots) southerly winds. Not the best of directions as Alishan is on a lee-shore. But both anchors are holding. So far only blown-out stitches of some canvas work and some lost nerves...Oh-yes, those T-bag do effect you. Well at least it aint cold..

Salute.