On the Move ehhhhh On the Road

The end of 2010 was cold and the mountains around Fukuoka were covered in snow. So one day we took the car for a spin and drove to Mt Raizan, where we spotted this monk going down hill to town. Yes the road was slippery.







Mt Raizan has this amazing temple. One of the best sights to visit here in Fukuoka.

Like before, January 3rd was Tamaseseri Day. It is a fisherman's event (plus 1 yachty...) where a wooden ball is being transferred from the seaside to the local temple. Holding onto that ball will bring Good Luck, hence the "rugby scrum" . Cold water is to cool down the boys... As you can see it was also a rainy day, i won't have to tell you how good it felt to jump into a hot bath afterwards.

The best spot to stay warm is inside the group! Ouch, did i hear a rib crack?

A few days later we hit the road again, this time for a trip to Kagoshima. We decided to take the mountain road due South of Fukuoka...And pretty white it was up there....

This was the scenery at Sendai River:

Warm sea water is entering the river mouth. That morning all and everything was covered with a coat of ice, something we hadn't seen since 2006!

One reason for this Road Trip was the Ibusuki Marathon.

See here friend Noriko, smiling at 14K point...
The course is Up and Down a lot....

Lots of well wishers along the road. Marijke did a great job cheering up us and the other 15.000 runners. THANX!! She even made it to the "front page" of the local TV station.

Well, this is at 41K point. The smile is ONLY for the camera as ..... anyway i made it to the finish. And that's what counts.

On the Road again the next day, after of course the compulsory Hot Spring Stop ( PM soak # 5), we saw these Big Long Radish being dried. Driving around here in Kagoshima we felt we were a long way from home.