Mount Aso, the volcano

We went all the way south to Kyushu, to go to Kumamoto and from there on to Mt. Aso, which is an active volcano. It was great!!!!

It took us ages to get there, but on the way we hooked up with another English guy called Adrian and we ended up spending the day together which was very nice. Basically, there is a giant mountain formation called a caldera, which was created when a volcano erupted ages ago and pushed the land up around it into a giant circle. In it, people settled and farmed the land, because the volcanic soil is so rich.

You are surrounded by big mountains though and one of them, Mt. Aso, is still a very active volcano!!!!! We made our way into the caldera through the entry point, which is basically like a giant gateway into a cauldron type scenery and there isn't much there, just nature and rolling hills surrounded by awsome hills. From there, we went up by bus as close as poss to the base of Mt Aso and then took a ropeway up to the summit.

As we got out, we were told to be quick, as the sulphurous gases were strong right now and if they continue, they will close the area off. We scrambled and made our way and stared straight into the pit. My God, it was a beautiful turquoise lake with white foam rippling and you wanted to jump in, it was like a perfect pool, but it was hot and the sulphur was rising! I was choking and coughing so much, it really hurts your lungs.

We took some pics and then had a look from the observatory and walked up into the hills there. Unfortunately it was quite late in the day, so we couldn't do any of it, we really fancied doing some walking and exploring those hills, they looked hard but so interesting what with the volcanic ash around like black sand. Truly amazing.

We spent as much time there as we could and then went back to Kumamoto where we spent the night in a funny little hotel. The next morning, we went down for our breakfast - Phil chose the japanese breakkie and I chose the western one. Phil had a bowl of rice, a bowl of miso soup with LOTS of tofu, a grilled piece of fish, salad and an egg. I had fried eggs, bacon, toast and salad. Phil was jealous - heheheh!

After that, we went off to Hiroshima.