For many of you, I’m sure, Italy is no stranger. The country, which boasts 54 World Heritage Sites, including countless priceless relics / ruins from the glorious Roman Empire (which at its peak, stretched from as far as the Middle East and North Africa to the south of England), is abundantly rich in ancient history, tradition, food and culture.
For me, after 40 years of my existence, this would only be my first trip to the famous Shoe/Boot of the Mediterranean. And one that took me more than a month to put the itinerary together…
Now, back to Naples.
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I promised to leave Japan when I wrote my last post for 2018. As some of you might know, I failed to do so. This time, it’s for real.
This is a trip that has been four years in the making. I first had the idea of tracing the cities along the Mediterranean coastline in 2016, because I’ve always been fascinated with the Mediterranean region.
Countries like Italy, the south of France, Spain and Portugal are so rich in history, cuisine and culture. I had always been interested in ancient civilizations, in particular the Greek and Roman Empires.
Of course, to visit every major city in the Mediterranean region in one trip is almost impossible. I originally planned to spend four and a half months covering the coastline from Central Italy to Portugal, but due to my sheer ignorance of the Schengen ruling, I was forced to cut Portugal (and a side trip to Morocco) altogether and scale down the plan to meet the 90-day allowance for non-European Union citizens.
Still, three months of traveling nonetheless looks a bit daunting, given the longest I’ve continuously been on the road (not including my two-year stay in Japan) was a 24-day solo trip to Central and Eastern Europe (Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Austria) back in June, 2012.
Central & Eastern Europe Trip – June 2012
This time, I would spend almost three weeks to slightly over a month in each of the Mediterranean countries I planned to visit, starting with Italy, then to the south of France, and finally ending in Spain.
Leaving the depressing gardens, we went in search of shabu shabu (しゃぶしゃぶ), because my friend was craving it. It didn’t seem such a bad idea at all. Nothing like some steaming hot broth to warm up freezing bodies, I thought.
A light rain accompanied us en-route to the shabu shabu restaurant, as we navigated through some winding (and partially hidden) alleys in search of the hotpot paradise, aided by Google Maps.
Suddenly, the heavens decided to throw a tantrum, and it started pouring buckets!!
Just then, we spotted the shabu shabu place from across the street and dashed for it, only to be greeted by a wooden sign hanging on its door that read “定休日” (meaning “designated rest day”).
We collapsed on the bench next to the entrance of the restaurant, exhausted and convinced that our day must have been cursed from the start.
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Exhausted from our pre-dawn excursions, including a two-hour maroon at a train station, we decided to sleep in on New Year’s Day, and woke up for lunch. It had been an eventful New Year’s Eve for us, having started the day as early as 8 a.m. The original plan that day had been to visit Okayama Castle (岡山城), bright and early so we could avoid the crowds.Standing majestically over the Asahi River (旭川), Okayama Castle (like many castles in Japan) is a reconstruction, the original structure having been almost totally destroyed during the Second World War. Only the Tsukimi Yagura (月見櫓), which translates literally as the “moon viewing turret”, remains from the original 1620 construction. However, what separates Okayama Castle from the others is that it is one of only two jet-black castles ever constructed in Japan, the other being Matsumoto Castlein Nagano. Their black facades have earned them the moniker “Crow Castle”.
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I hope you have enjoyed the trio of haiku (俳句) from my previous posts. It’s actually my maiden attempt at writing haiku. In fact, I’ve had to read up on the rules and conventions / stylistics of writing haiku before giving it a crack myself.
Native Japanese speakers or non-native speakers proficient in the Japanese language may even find the grammar or my choice of words used in the haiku somewhat strange, and I can only apologise for my own language shortcomings.
What I do try to convey through each of these haikuis a state of mind or an emotion that works symbiotically with an accompanying photograph to capture or express those thoughts / feelings / emotions at that point in time (i.e. when the picture was taken).
Instead of three parallel lines, I chose to present the haiku in a single line in the classic Japanese way, like the script on an omikuji (おみくじ) strip.
However, I have deliberately left out any explanation of the haikuin all my previous posts, so that you can draw your own meaning or interpretations.
I hope to come up with more of such posts in future, as and when inspiration strikes.
I promised to get out of Japan in my previous (and last post of the year) in 2018 but seems like there are still a few stories left in my shelf that I haven’t been able to pull out. In the words of the great Italian-American actor Al Pacino “Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.”
And so I present to you this post, which was inspired by a fellow blogger’s comment(Do check out her travel exploits in Japan. Jennifer has probably covered more places in the Land of the Rising Sun than me, and her photos are so gorgeous your eyeballs will be glued to her blog).
But first things first…
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
Here’s wishing all my readers a Prosperous Year of the Pig in 2019!!! (Excuse my Chinese-ness. Chinese people love prosperity above all things). *sings* Money, money, money… Must be funny… In the rich man’s world…
Of course, prosperity is not restricted to money and fortunes. So here’s wishing you prosperity in all areas of your life, be it health, family and career!!
I spent my New Year in 2018 at Chayamachi Station (茶屋町駅).
The reason?
My friend and I had intended to catch a train from Okayama Station(岡山駅) to visit the celebrated Kibitsu Shrine (吉備津神社) of Momotaro fame for hatsumode (初詣, a tradition observed by my Japanese on the first day of the new year to pray for safety, peace or well-being in the new year).
But… we ended up taking the wrong direction.
A quick check with the few commuters on board after our gut told us that something was not quite right about confirmed our initial suspicions.
We had taken the wrong train!!
Instead of taking the Momotaro Line (桃太郎線), we had hopped onto the Seto-Ohashi Line (瀬戸大橋線) bound for Shikoku (四国).
So we hastily got off at the next random station, and found ourselves at Chayamachi Station (茶屋町駅).
When the clock struck twelve, we could hear temple bells ringing from different directions (each temple bell is supposed to ring 108 times by the way, to symbolise the cleansing of the 108 worldly desires of the flesh according to Japanese Buddhism) at the station, creating a discordant symphony of sorts.
It was a surreal experience, given our original intention was to catch the ringing of the bells live at the temple itself.
Midnight at a deserted train station, just my friend and I. We didn’t kiss in the New Year, unfortunately.
When the return train to Okayama Station came, after having waited for almost 2 hours, we were so excited (and relieved) that we jumped for joy on the platform.
When we finally got off at our desired station, which shares the same name as our destination temple (吉備津駅), it was almost half past three in the morning.
However, to our pleasant surprise, we found ourselves in good company. No need for Google Maps as all we had to do was to join in the steady stream of Japanese making their way to the temple from the station.
There was still quite a queue up to the main hall of the temple but it could have been worse.
I offered to buy us some snacks (piping hot sweet potatoes) from one of the food stalls that have been doing brisk business next to the temple’s car park.
We soon found ourselves moving at a steady speed up the stone steps, and soon we were standing before the main altar.
We clapped twice, whispered our prayers, and bowed.
I prayed that I won’t take the wrong train again in 2018. LS
P.S.: This post is dedicated to Alicia Loh, who counted down 2018 with me at Chayamachi Station, and also braved the freezing morning chill to queue for our first omikuji of the year.
Standing majestically over the 
lonesojourns 