Aso-gun

Today we expect to meet our driver, kindly organised by previously mentioned restaurant owner. As usual, I'm up before the rest of the world and excitedly slide open the door to the onsen to check out the morning. Pea soup fog surrounds the hotel (and I'm assuming the rest of Aso). Check my best friend Mr Google - it's currently 2 degrees (aiming for 19) with fog expected to lift mid morning. Could throw our plans of an early start out the window me thinks. At the appointed time we head to reception, bags repacked (ready for room transfer for the next two nights). Ask reception where restaurant is. ????? is the look on her face. She takes us over to a hot water dispenser with tiny paper cups and green tea bags. This is it we sign? Yes she signs back. Now being one who likes food, as most of our friends would be aware, it would be highly unlikely that I would choose a hotel in the middle of friggin nowheresville which did not have the option of providing sustenance. Maybe I read it wrong I say to PC. And so we wait for driver to turn up and finally after much tooing and froing a 'barely' English speaking bloke turns up ready to drive us. To the Station. No, says PC, we want someone to take us to Mt Aso and the gorge and Fountainhead for the day. Nope say bloke. I only drive to train station. PC says to bloke, so there is no way for us to get to Mt Aso? Nope says bloke. I'm on the computer with Wifi that a) can only be connected by sitting in the 'lounge room' of the hotel and b) has the capacity of dial-up trying to come up with alternate solution. Surely, if this is the case, someone in Aso would have thought "well, here's a money making exercise - day trips to Mt Aso and other places" and purchased himself a little bus and now be looking at a fine retirement? Clearly not. PC's wandered of for parts unknown, clearly stressing. I find him in one of the free massage chairs, now slightly more relax and wanting to know if, when we get home, can we purchase one. Sure love I say. When we have a lazy $6000 to dispose of. God help me.

A quick discussion about current circumstances and we decide that the universe is telling us that Mount Aso and the other sights we broke out necks and backs to get here to see are not meant to happen. Back to Mr Google I book another night in Osaka and we kindly accept the blokes offer to take us to the train station (after negotiating a non-cancellation fee for the next two night - which seemed a little too easy if you ask me, I think after all the tooing and froing they were happy to see the back of us). Get to station, fog has cleared and the sun is shining.

We've had a little chat on the way to the station and come up with plan B and feel ok about everything. Thanked bloke for assistance and transport, waved him farewell and turned to see a rather large bus parked outside the station. Going to Mt Aso. On a loop. Every hour. Are you friggin kidding me I say to PC? Why did one of the ten people we spoke to about transport to Mt Aso tell us about the bus?? And then it occurs to me. They did. We just didn't understand them. They all kept saying, in different ways, 'go to station'. We just kept saying 'no, we don't want the train, we want to see Mt Aso' (Paul has by this stage given up in trying to use pigeon Japanese - which he did with flare when doing the same in Europe) - it just doesn't translate as successfully in Nippon. He has resorted to 'drawing pictures' of what we are trying to achieve. Remarkably, this system proved extremely effective.

So we park our luggage in the office, hop on bus. See Mt Aso and return. Hop on another bus to Kumamoto (2 hours) to catch train to Osaka (4 hours). Arrive at Shin Osaka to check in to our hotel and delight in the fact it has enough room for both suitcases and our persons and a bath! It's now around 10pm and we venture out to find food, discovering a teppinaki place with wine and food and a lovely Japanese business man who was travelling alone. Long day. Worth every minute.

Footnote: on leaving Aso establishment we are shown by the driver the very extensive restaurant where we could have had breakfast. Ho Hum.Les mer