Day: March 31, 2005

Hello all, well we had an experience yesterday. It was another gorgeous day & we took advantage of it. We planned on driving up the mountain & then hiking view 3 Falls. Well, first off the road going up the mountain was a two lane road that should have been one way! It was narrow…that is the first picture. The higher we went up the narrower it seemed to get. Thankfully we did not meet but 2 trucks in the road & that was at times we could pull off. Though, one was on the side of the mountain, but the road had been widened in turns & sharp curves. We were suppose to “turn right by the cabin”–we never found “the cabin”. So, we kept going up the mountain until we started heading down the other side. Stephanie turned the van around in the widest section of the road we could find. We laughingly joked that we would get cross ways the road & get stuck..but she made it. Hit the back end of the van against the side of the mountain–but we got turned around. No damage to the van & the kids were fine. So we make our way back down the mountain we had just climbed & I took pictures.
Once down the mountain, we decided to go to Kintai & eat our picnic lunch there. But first we would hike up to Iwakuni Castle. It is not a good sign when the first slope you come too is the steepest part of the hike. Because that one slope is a good bit of the first few minutes. We reached the top with no problem though. The picture of Stephanie, MDF & myself is at the cable car hut (yes you can opt to take a cable car up & down to the Castle…we thought the hike would be nice.) Around that clock is diamonds built in the walkway with various places & the distance in kilometers.

Clock, halfway up the mountain

The next picture is of Iwakuni Castle. I was sitting on a bench looking up at it. It provided a great view of the city, as you can tell in the following picture. Stephanie was able to get us in front of the Castle.

Iwakuni Castle

View from the mountains.

Iwakuni Castle again

By the time we hiked down, we were all ready for our picnic lunch. We were able to find a cute little hut to eat at.

Picnic at the bottom of the mountain.

When we came back to the apartment all of us girls took naps. We have some soreness in our hips & JF’s knees are a little sore but other than that we are doing fine & thinking of walking along the sea wall later today.
We are going to a Spring Bazaar this afternoon (Friday) and for dinner we are going to Stephanie’s favorite restaurant-Gnesh. It’s an Indian restaurant, so it will be interesting. I’ll let you know how we liked it

Today we tried to go to a place called “Three Falls.” The instructions said to go to the top of the mountain, turn right at a cabin, and we’d be there. So off we drove.
Now I ought to mention that most roads have a speed limit of 40 or 50 kph — which is only about 25-30 mph. It sounds slow, but most roads here would be narrow one-lane roads back in the States. 30 miles-per-hour is fast enough around here.
Anyway, so we headed up the mountain, and the road kept getting narrower and narrower, and it curved. And eventually it became a curvy, one-lane road with a mountain on on side, and a big drop on the other. Actually it was a two-way, one-lane road… more on that later. So we kept getting higher, but we never found a cabin and a right turn. Eventually we got as high as the road went and started down the other side of the mountain.

Going up the mountain.

At each curve in the road there was a mirror so one could see if anyone was coming from the other direction before going around the curve. We were alone on the narrow road until we started down the other side. Then we almost ran head on into a little Japanese truck. Fortunately our “lane” was on the inside, beside the mountain… so we moved over to let him pass… which he did. I’m sure at least one wheel was dangling over the side of the mountain as he went by.
After that excitement we decided we need to turn around. So we drove a little more until we found a section of road with a guard rail and that was a little wider than before. We made the turn, barely, and started back. We never did find the “Three Falls,” but didn’t mind settling for the “Three Rapids in a Stream” that we passed on the way back.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a down day. We spent the morning watching Abigail and MDF. We did walk over to Vasco’s office to take care of some paperwork for the house. After lunch we went for a walk on the sea wall.
For supper we went to the NCO club for “Mongolian Night.” We got to make our own stir fry dish, picking from a selection of meats, vegetables, and toppings. I chose some turkey meat, Chinese cabbage, bell pepper, carrots, and mushrooms. We payed by the ounce for the meat and vegetables (I got over a pound!), and then added as much rice as we wanted and seasoned to taste. Then we took the bowl outside for the chef to cook on the grill.
We got a lot of food, making it ourselves that way, and I was the only one who finished his plate. Actually the others only ate about half theirs! It was a lot of food. CDF thought her’s needed more seasoning and Vasco said that the only person who ever got the seasoning right was Stephanie.