Today, we have a full day tour to Muroran arranged by Chris Balch. The tour will include Ainu Museum, Hell Valley, buffet lunch at Noboribetsu Manseikaku and the Mt. Use Ropeway.
Japan does not make it easy to enter their country....a few days ago, we had to go through their immigration and we were all fingerprinted. This morning, before we leave the ship, we have to go through a thermo-scanning inspection. Also, due to Japanese Radio Communication Regulations, there will be NO internet available while we are in Japanese territorial waters.
I really didn't think this day would be very exciting but we ended up having a very nice day.
We were greeted by locals as we left the ship.......
Our first stop of the day was the Ainu Museum which is actually an Ainu settlement which was moved and restored in 1965 to form this outdoor museum to preserve and exhibit the Ainu cultural assets. The Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido with their own culture and language, had lived in Hokkaido before these areas were developed by Japanese and Russian settlers.
Traditional Ainu folk dance performance
Now I have seen everything!!!!!! A HEATED toilet seat!!!!!!
Our next stop was at Jigokudani...AKA Hell's Valley. Yellow grey volcanic gas seeps from the surface of the rocks....makes the whole place smell strongly of sulfur and gives it an image like that of "Hell". The valley is a 450 meter diameter mouth of a volcano that produces 3,000 liters of hot water/minute to the Noboribetsu Hot Springs.
After a nice lunch, we were off to our last stop of the day...the Mount Usu Ropeway. Mount Usu is an active stratovolcano in the Shikolsu-Toya National Park that has erupted 4 times in the last 100 years....the last eruption was in 2001.
The cable car takes you to just below the mouth of the volcano.
The view was spectacular!!!!!!
The view of Lake Toya that was created as a result of flowing lava.
On return to the ship, we viewed a ceremony honoring the relationship between the Dianmond Princess and the city of Muroran.
Captain Dino Sagani and the Mayor of Muroran.
Me and the Captain.......
The children of Muroran put on a nice dance performance to bid us goodbye.....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment