Volcano

I heard Mark talk about a vulcano in Kyushu yesterday and decided to check it out. It would be a two hour train ride to Kagoshima and then a short ferry ride. A bit long since i also had to get back the same day. But how many times do you get to see an active volcano, right?
At the station i quickly found out that only the slowest Shinkansen would ride all the way through to Kagoshima. This was probably due to the fact that the route leads throught Kumamoto, the city that has been heavily hit by the earthquake a couple of months ago. This would add some extra time to the trip but since i had already set my minds on seeing the volcano i went on and boarded the Kodama Shinkansen. The trip, as always with the Shinkansen, was smooth and comfortable. Before and after passing through Kumamoto it took a slower pace, apparantly for security reasons and i could see some of the damage done by the earthquake. Most of the visible damage remaining were broken roofs covered with thick sheets of plastic. After leaving the Kumamoto area the train picked up speed and quickly i arrived in Kagoshima. A short local trainride took me to the station that was nearest the volcano. I could not see the volcano yet but as i walked around the corner, the volcano island doomed before me as a big dark silhouet. Actually a pretty scarry and impressive site at first. Unfortunately the weather was very foggy so the top of the volcano was not visible. But i still had a ferry and busride up the volcano and the weather might still clear up so i did not lose all hope of seeing an eruption.
The ferry took me to the island in about 15 minutes and after buying a dayticket for the tourist bus (i already discovered that walking or biking was not really an option) I was on my way. The bus stopped at several sightseeing spots, following a rigid schedule. Depending on the spot we had either 5, 8 or 15 minutes of sightseeing before the bus would leave. Without any form of warning. Now the time we got was more than enough to see the different sites but it makes you feel rushed somewhat. Unfortunately, even at the highest viewpoint the visibility was still not good, so i did not get to see any smoke or eruptions. The bus took us back to the ferry port and i walked a little bit across Kagoshima as i went back to the station. The ride in the Shinkansen back to Fukuoka gave me plenty of time to get some extra sleep. Back in the hostel I saw Revvy again and we chilled out in the common room together. I finally went to bed at midnight. I really need to get some more rest haha.Read more