Weather Talks
My first attempt to write this blog began on the Sunday – 20 July – when the City was locked down by Typhoon Wipha and the Observatory had seen it fit to issue the No. 10 hurricane signal. I had been reminded by my brother Francis that I began my blog writing years ago – nearly 30 years – when we had foul weather.
Well, Hong Kong has been lucky not to have been hit directly too often; and this last one didn’t appear to have caused too much damage. Thank God for that. Indeed, it was rather calm outside throughout. We had returned from a Rotary party the night before and the No. 8 Typhoon signal had gone up when we went to bed; but we were mentally prepared to attend a scheduled wedding banquet in Central on Sunday, for it was forecast the Typhoon would go away quickly. By early afternoon though, our host had issued notices that the banquet would be postponed to Monday. It did indeed; and we went to Four Seasons happily, meeting friends, old and new, and had a great time, leaving the packing for the next morning.
Yes, we were all geared up to take a short flight to Yonago, taking advantage of the budget airfares offered by Greater bay Airline, which had already announced that the flights would discontinue after August this year. Our airport staff were very effective. They managed to reschedule the cancelled flights and keep air traffic moving as soon as No. 10 was down. They did a great job indeed. By the time we arrived the airport Tuesday morning, it was back to normal, based on the old-style check-in, rather than the machine assisted Cathay style to which we had since been accustomed. The flight was smooth and uneventful. The pre-ordered meal was actually good. The plane was clean and tidy, no-frills and rather new. It was a 3-hour-15 minutes flight. We landed at 3:45 pm Japan time. Immigration and customs were painless and efficient. Yonago airport was small and reasonably efficient. It was actually right next to the railway station, from where we could have taken a train to the hotel, but as soon as we walked out of the airport, we were met by a friendly taxi driver who spoke some English and who offered to take us to our hotel in Sakaiminato, called Nono, which was actually Dormy Inn. The fare was 2,300 yen, and it saved us a lot of hassle and time.
We took a rest and strolled outside at around 6 pm. It was dead quiet and lifeless. All shops were closed. Thereupon, we made our way to the supermarket, got some sashimi and a bottle of sake and dined in. We then went up to 12th floor for our well-earned hot-spring bath. We then had more rest before going down around 10 pm for Ramen – a signature feature of Dormy Inn – before retiring for the night.
The next day we had early breakfast which was substantial and rather nice, except that a line had already formed up at 6:30 am. There was probably a tour group. Su had booked a tour at the fish market at 9 am, so we quickly got prepared after breakfast and walked to the railway station for a taxi. There were two waiting. We took the first one and arrived at the market in about 5 minutes. It was around 8:30 am. Su negotiated with the driver to pick us up at 1230hrs for the return journey. The fish market was as empty as the way we found it in May. It was early. We went up to the 2/F and back a couple of times. It was hot. Su even ventured out in the retail market direction at 9 am when nothing appeared to be happening. A few minutes later, I saw two ladies coming to the main building purposefully. I greeted them. They turned out to be our guide and her translator. It was a rather fruitful and eye-opening tour. We learned something about the industry and its operations. We parked ourselves at the retail market afterwards, ate and drank, and stocked up food for the evening, before walking out under the sun to meet our taxi driver, in faith. Kunji San – as we later found out to be his name – turned up and took us back to Nono hotel, but not before first taking us to some iconic sites for photos, including the stone monument of a yakai outside a supermarket, where we did opportunistic stocking up, thereby saving another special trip to get groceries. As we approached our hotel, Su once again negotiated with Kunji San to return the next day at 11 am to take us to Matsue. It was too much to walk to the train station under the scotching sun.
We spent the last morning at Nono hotel having a leisurely breakfast from 6:30 am. There were no guests waiting and we finished breakfast early, having got used to the system. After the morning routines, we got up to the 12th floor for a mandatory hot bath and dip before packing for Matsue where we were to stay for the next three nights, at the New Urban Hotel we had used in May.
Kinji San arrived at Nono hotel in good time, before 11 am, and took us to the peony park, via the famous steep bridge. It’s a private park, very well maintained, with the main peony section housed in air-conditioned rooms and the rest of the gardens generally well laid out and pruned. The walk took about 45 minutes. We then ate at the restaurant before making the trip to Matsue, so that by the time we arrived at New Urban Hotel, we had used his service for two hours, which was what he charged us, rather than based on the taxi-meter. Su had described her experience at the check in counter, and I won’t repeat it here. Anyway, Su went for shopping while I rested in the hotel. Su came back around 5 pm, fully satisfied with what she bought. We went up to 9th floor for dinner at 6 pm. There was only one other guest before we left.
In the next two days, we did the tourist things, under the scotching sun most of the time when we were outdoor. We visited the Matsue Castle Tower, billed as a National Treasure and one of the 12 remaining castles in the country and walked all the steps up and down. It was actually very close to our hotel, distance-wise. We visited the former residence of Lafcadio Hearn (1850 – 1904) also known as Koizumi Yakumo, who was born in Greece and raised in Ireland. He was a legend in Matsue because he lived there and became a Japanese citizen in 1896. We also visited the Prefectural Art Museum and ate at their tasteful restaurant. We went back a second time to watch the signature sunset and caught the last bus back to the hotel. We ate and drank well, often with the help of a hotel staff whom she had befriended in May, a Ms Chan; and we had hot spring bath every day and tried out the city bus system as often as we could. The city bus system was reliable and cheap, but it could be a long wait under the sun at times. Su had posted her blogs all the way with photos and essays and I won’t repeat them here.
Our last stop was Yonago city itself and we got there by the local JR train, once again cheap and reliable. ANA hotel is a non-Japanese style hotel, but the staff don’t have too much English. It meant no hot spring bath and no 10 pm ramen. Nevertheless, they served good and wholesome breakfast and they gave us a corner room with parallel view at eye-sight level for sunrise and sunset. Su had found her favourite Takashimaya shopping mall, and on Monday, we even managed to join a lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of Yonago South at ANA hotel.
On our last day in Yonago, we woke up for the sunrise, but had no surprises or delight. Su went shopping till the end even after we had finished packing and kept the bags at ANA. We walked to the city museum and saw some art form using electron microscope images on a withered plant which had moulded, implying new life from past lives, one supposes. We didn’t stay long, but while walking towards the shop, passed by the local Catholic Church, which was small but tasteful. I parked myself on the 5/F as Su went for more shopping, which she did indeed. We left at 1236h, intending to take a bus back ANA when. by chance Su spotted a taxi rank about a 100 m ahead. We managed to negotiate the driver to take us to JR station and to pick up our bags from ANA en route, arriving the train station in very good time, 1248h. Train was to arrive at platform 0, which was familiar territory and would depart at 1338h. In the meantime, I stuffed Su’s two new pairs of shoes into my bag.
The train arrived and departed on time, reaching airport at 2:10 pm, but it took more than an hour to check in and get our boarding passes. Other security checks and immigration clearance were okay and we were waiting at the departure lounge by 3:35 pm, pondering what would happen next. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 1620h, but boarding was delayed and we weren’t told until 1630h. Finally, we boarded at 1840h. The delay was caused by bad weather in HK. Our plane began to move off the apron at 1848h and finally took off the runway around 1855h, airborne just before 7 pm. We learnt afterwards that Hong Kong had issued its first Black Rainstorm Warning of the year that morning. Then came Saturday, when we had the Black Rainstorm Warning a second time within the week. So much for weather talks.
I hope to talk to you soon on something different.
