Mike’s excursion took him to Usuki, a castle town and home to the Usuki Stone Buddahs. The Buddahs are carved in the face of cliffs created by hardened volcanic ash and molten rock that erupted from Mt. Aso about 90,000 years ago. The figures are believed to have been carved from the late 700s to the early 1300s, but who carved them is unknown. “The prevailing theory is that they were commissioned by the Oga clan, which ruled the area…
Later that morning we arrived in Beppu. It has a concentration of hot springs. Rainwater seeps deep underground through faults, is heated by magma, and rises to the surface under high pressure. The hot springs are used for farming, aquaculture (underwater agriculture), heating and even cooking. They are also a huge tourist attraction known as the Seven Hells of Beppu. I chose the “Hells of Beppu” as my excursion. Hot water pools of various colors are often present in geothermal…
From Sakaiminato, we were to set sail for Hagi, but there were gale warnings and our ship’s captain did not feel it would be safe to proceed. We stayed in Sakaiminato overnight. The next morning, we had the option of visiting Tottori Flower Park in Sakaiminato. It was raining so we decided to stay back on the ship. These are pictures from the Flower Park that were taken by the ship’s photographer. That afternoon, we departed Sakaiminato for Beppu on…
While I was at the Adachi Museum, Mike’s excursion took him to the town of Matsue where he toured the Matsue Castle, also called the Black Castle because of its dark-colored exterior. There were many castles during feudal times with “tens of thousands” throughout Japan. But most of these were destroyed as a result of natural disasters and an official order for their dismantlement during the Meiji era (1868-1912). Prominent Matsue citizens stepped forward urging the Matsue Castle be protected…
Tauck’s Sakura Seas tour continued as we boarded the Le Soleal and we set sail for Japan. The first town we would visit was Sakaiminato, located on Japan’s main island of Honshu. Sakaiminato is a key port on the Sea of Japan coastline, connecting Japan with Korea, China, and Russia. The port supports fishing, cargo shipping, cruise ships and international trade. And of course it’s a great place to get fresh seafood! In Sakaiminato, we had our choice of excursions….
Our group boarded a KTX (Korea Train eXpress) bullet train that would take us to Busan. There is a picture of a KTX train above the title of this blog post (Credit: Shutterstock / sorao.211). Pictured below is the train station in Seoul where we would begin our journey. There is also a picture of the interior of our train car. The following is information posted on the internet about the train and the Busan route: “South Korea is a…
We would soon be leaving Seoul for Busan but first I want to share a few other places we visited and things we saw – some even from the windows of our bus. Pictured above the blog title is Namdaemun Market. It is a traditional market dating back to 1414 when it was a government-chartered market. The historical picture below was posted on the Namdaemun Market website. The gate in the picture is the Sungnyemun Gate, also known as the…
Our tour also took us to the War Memorial of Korea. It was an exceptional museum with lots of information about the Korean War which is where our group spent most of our time. But first I want to share a little about two other exhibits. The first is a South Korean patrol boat that became famous during the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong (2002). Two North Korean patrol boats crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the disputed maritime border in…
Our Sakura Seas South Korea and Japan Tour officially started and first took us to the Gyeongbokgung Palace located in Seoul. When I researched the Palace, I learned it was the site of significant Korean achievements, followed by the Japanese’s government systematic destruction of the Palace during its occupation of Korea, and finally Korea restoring the Palace to its original glory. Gyeongbokgung Palace was built in 1395 and served as the royal residence and government center for the Joseon Dynasty….
After our night tour of Seoul, we went on another independent tour with Tours By Locals. This time we would be in Suwon area, about 20 miles south of Seoul. We would first visit the Hwaseong Fortress, a stone and brick fortress built in the late 1700s. It was badly damaged during the Korean War. A document, Hwaseong Seongyeok Uigwe (Records of Hwaseong Fortress Construction), was published in 1801 and was used to reconstruct much of the Fortress. It is…