Sunday 1 November 2015

Highlights of October 2015 - Autumn Leaves, Chanel at Saatchi Gallery, Baths in Kyushu


Isn't this tree the perfect autumn tree with its color gradation from top to bottom?

I took this picture today on my morning walk in the park and it was oddly so crowded.
I think everyone was out enjoying the park at its peak.


The courtyard garden below was one designed by Karl Lagerfeld because he doesn't have much to do besides design numerous collections at Chanel and Fendi while redesigning houses and being a photographer.
The Chanel exhibition was so popular that there were waiting times of up to two hours.
The exhibition itself was what you would expect and the highlight was a short movie clip directed by Kaiser Karl himself.
I left a bit feeling neutral but this freebie bag and poster left all those who exited very happy and glad we all decided to visit.
 
I went to Korea to visit my Korean side of the family to spend Asian Thanksgiving but my highlight was visiting the Japanese island of Kyushu when I needed a break from all the feeding.
 
I adored everything about it and now Tokyo seems one of the dullest places in Japan the more I explore the country.


I adore hot springs and I take at least one bath a day in London so this was such a treat to take the healing waters at one of the best hot spring towns in Japan called Kurokawa.

 
I even took a sake bath.
Sake is very good for the skin and most workers in sake factories are known to have youthful hands.
It was a bit gimmicky because a 30 minute soak wasn't going to do much but it was more about imbibing the atmosphere.

 
I also can't forget this beautiful bathtub that isn't available in any bathware store in Europe.
 

A popular snack in hot spring areas is a boiled egg cooked in the waters.


You realize that in Japan nature is powerful and there are reminders that nature is to be worshipped but respected.


I went to one of the oldest spas in Japan in  a town called Beppu.
Takegawara spa was open in 1879 and is famous for the special niche treatment where they bury you to hot black sand for 10 minutes. If you have nightmares about being buried alive, this place is not for you although I quite enjoyed it.


I took on average 5 baths a day to soak the various waters.
I can't tell you how seriously they take the practice of Onsen.

 
It may look like kimonos to most but these are dressing gowns.  Kurokawa is a town where the main goal is to try all the different springs so this was a common sight.
 
I decided to talk to springs just outside the town and enjoyed the scenery along the way.
This was my favourite bath of all the 25 different hot springs I tried in Kyushu.
The water was a perfect temperature and the surroundings could not be more perfect.
It's become my new go to meditative mental spot where I imagine if things gets stressful.
 
They also had an internal tub that was just as perfect and this has become the new benchmark of the perfect bathroom.  I have been to fancier/chicer/more luxurious/modern/older bathrooms but this is the one that captured my heart. 
 
I did do other cultural pursuits that I might share but I did try and not get culture fatigue.
But these Buddhas were memorable with their Mondrian blue heads.
 
 
The picture is terrible as you can't see the hue of the unique blue lotus flowers I had never seen before.  I had a deep and intense conversation with a Japanese caretaker who spoke way above my Japanese pay grade but I had no heart to tell him I didn't understand the hard bits. Mind you I have the same problem in English with some people.


Cats were lounging around in all corners of a temple in Fukuoka and yet


dogs were banned.
I think it's a religious thing.


Good thing about jetlag was that I was up at sunsets but other than that I am finding jetlag harder to digest as I get older.


Japan loves vending machines but there were these 4 out of nowhere in the middle of a highway.


While gardens were not in the same league nor seriousness as the ones I saw in Kyoto last year, they did not disappoint.

Please excuse the disjointed post but editing posts take twice as long as writing it.
I don't have the patience at the moment.
I thought I would instagram more but I am realizing more and more that it doesn't have legs. It has its place but I am going against the grain and think I will definitely stay blogging.
 
I had to remind myself that in the beginning I blogged for me as no one else was reading and I must not worry about invading your inboxes!
 
Hope you have been well and here is to a fabulous November xx
 

36 comments:

  1. I really do love travel posts. I went to an onsen town when I was in Japan a few years back. Loved it. I think they allow cats because cats don't let people tell them what to do.

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    1. I love travel posts too but in a different way from trip advisor. Korea has onsen too but they are mostly indoors with their own specific ritual. In Jspsn it was so quiet where in Korea it's very social.

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  2. And omg the hot and cold vending machines!
    I like insta as I am a lazy blogger

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    1. I am too but I rarely catch up on Instagram whereas I always catch up on old posts.

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  3. Phew, Naomi - you are back again. I've been checking regularly for your return. Your trip to the bath-spas looks intriguing. Not sure I could cope with being entombed in anything up to my neck, though...I always really enjoy reading whatever you have to say, by the way.

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    1. It was almost too easy to stop and transition to Instagram but blogging is now such an ingrained habit that it seems odd not to post. But editing is truly the obstacle to posting! And I must say thank you for being a great ear Sue:)

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  4. Love this post and you're making me want to travel to Japan so badly. The connection to nature and the spirituality and ritual associated with it is fascinating I think. Something about taming and highly cultivating nature perhaps is more restful than wild open spaces in some way? Although I suppose in heavily populated countries most of nature has been cultivated in some way and there's very little open spaces left…
    I like blogging too - you just can't explain stuff so well with insta. I like the quickness of it all, but still enjoy the writing process from blogging. If you write too much on insta no one reads it anyway. Modern ADD where we all want to just click 'like' and not have to interact too much. xxx

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    1. Yes I think with wild spaces your primal instincts get switched on. In the national parks in the States and Austrslia I'm always on the lookout. Korea has great places too but they aren't as organised about it. But Kyushu blew me away and I want to go back. Blogging while taking a backseat for most still has depth that I enjoy and I realised that writing and reading is gratifying and perhaps a picture isn't worth a thousand words. Xxx

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    2. How interesting that Heidi also felt the spirituality associated with these beautiful places!

      One of the things I loved too is that they seemed so off the tourist track. No sign of the busloads we always saw in Kyoto, for example, stunningly beautiful as it is. It feels in your pics as though you really would be able to stay silent and soak in the waters and absorb all beauty around you without being distracted by crowds of people. Pammie

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    3. I was lucky that it wasn't busy and most times I had it all to myself. Sounds corny but it was such a great time and do conducive to thinking and reflecting. I loved Kyoto but it's rather serious.

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    4. Love Kyoto too. But you need years I think to see it all properly - there are just so many amazing places and the gardens (so varied) are amazingly beautiful.

      But in most there's an intensely strong feeling of man taming and bringing order and control to nature (even combing the sand in some). Of course in any garden that is (combing the sand aside) what has to happen. But there is an intellectuality and/or philosophy in some of the Kyoto gardens (the carefully placed rocks etc) rather than a spirituality.
      I tend to prefer gardens that are more subtle and where one almost feels that nature has been allowed almost to take its course - eg the English gardens of Capability Brown or Sissinghurst etc where structure is still very important but the foliage is allowed to blur the lines a little (or slightly colour outside the lines?) - rather than Le Notre, though I still love Le Notre too.

      The gardens around the onsens you showed appear so natural and as though you're at one with natural world when you relax there. Somehow there is also a sense of spirituality there that I don't feel so much in most English gardens. You're not corny at all - can see how the spirit of the place was conducive to reflection. Pammie

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    5. I think in Japan they have a special relationship with the various travails nature brings. Kyushu has active volcanos and typhoons that I suppose they are always trying to tame it. Yes the gardens in Kyoto were in another league and each came about for various reasons but mainly it serves as a tool for meditation. I think the untamed countryside inspired the Druids ( and still today ) but trimming of the gardens tames and weakens the leylines they say.

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    6. Yes, Naomi, many thanks for explaining. Had forgotten some of the animistic beliefs and folk tales that crop up in Japanese literature. Seem to remember the fox in particular was rather sinister - happening upon a fox's wedding was a kind of doom for the unlucky person. These beliefs must have been one of the reasons why many of the garden designers were keen to create gardens where nature was brought under control and clearly tamed. Pammie

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  5. Dear N-
    I am so glad to stumble back across your writings and photographs. Your good humor, joy, and love toward life always has a way of shining through, making your CSW a rather special place. Like many of your readers, I love your travelogues. Like many of your readers, I love your Instagram world. Whichever you decide is fine by me, but me being greedy, just please, please keep posting somewhere, somehow...

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    1. Thanks GF but you haven't posted on either in ages and think we are due for an update! :)

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  6. Leslie in Oregon2 November 2015 at 00:22

    Lovely post, one I will archive for reference before I next visit Japan. I think that that trip will focus on the practice of Onsen. I agree with you about Tokyo and avoid it as much as possible. Thank you for starting your post with the photograph of that gorgeous tree with its evolving colors.

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    1. Onsen is just a tonic in every which way! Kyushu is known for onsen in most of the island. Kurokawa is one of the most famous and it was a delight being in this hamlet and I think you will be blown away by the beauty of it. Tokyo has the best food ever but oddly it now just seems so dull.

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  7. Hi Naomi,
    I second what Sue said, I kept checking to see if you were back from your trips. I did check your Instagram posts and enjoyed what you did share.
    Hey I want to do the onsen baths you did too! It's on the shared bucket list of my husband and me! I am totally enthralled with the sozu in your photos! I think they are so beautiful in their simplicity.
    Would you please please post a list of the 25 baths you did partake in?
    Thanks so much! Welcome home!
    Susan

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    1. The baths in Japan were very different to the ones in Korea. They didn't have treatments but we're very meditative. In fact I met someone who said they were surprised at how much a ritual it was. In Korea it's very social and fun so do get ready for some quiet and time for reflection. I will try and post some as I couldn't take pics of all as there were people in those! Hehe

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  8. Cats in all the temple corners but dogs are banned? Sounds like heaven!

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    1. Ha! It's the 9 lives that the Buddhists revere. all that detachment...

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  9. Naomi,
    So glad you've decided to stick with blogging. I really missed your posts - you provide such a lovely variety of different subjects and attitudes. Who else but you would include a wonderful review of your favourite onsens in Kyushu! They all look so beautiful but your favourite has a kind of soft spiritual beauty that I love.
    Also enjoy the way you mix it up with accounts of Karl's Chanel Exhibition. Nice surprise to receive a goody bag with poster!

    Is that tree at the start of this post a liquidambar? They often have a similar mix of gradations of colour.
    Beautiful!

    Welcome Back! Pammie xx

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    1. I have no idea what that tree is but it was just perfect in its colouring. I feel I'm a bit too disjointed but that's me I suppose! I wish I were more singular in my focus at times but I shouldn't fight it too much. I will post a link to the video they showed because it made me chuckle. But I haven't figured out how to post the video properly! Good to be back too xx

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  10. you are a one man tourist ad, i suddenly want to go to japanese countryside!
    i too love that wooden bath & filled with sake would suit me just fine.
    yes, keep blogging please!
    debra

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    1. The Kyushu landscape was so varied that I felt it was a continent. A bit forgotten between Kyoto and Tokyo. That tub was so perfect and I'd love to import them!

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  11. The onsen in Japan are miracles of serenity. I don't know if Taiwan's are up to that mark, but there is a great variety here, both public and private. I haven't gone for a long time but my favorite was out in the Wulai River, south of Taipei, where you could mix hot spring water with cool river water to your own comfort. Like the Korean springs you mention, the atmosphere was very social. The town of Wulai was pretty much wiped out last August by Typhoon Soudelor, but I guess they are rebuilding.
    --Jim

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    1. I hear Taiwan has great onsen too! But I think it's a social thing rather than a take on Shinto ritual. I love the different approaches to bathing and think you need to be in the right mood and Bevin the right town. Kurokawa is a serious bathing town so they don't welcome big groups and limit numbers. In fact I didn't go to one because they were at their limit of 15 people

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  12. DO keep blogging as I ADORE your writings!!!LOve your TAKE ON LIFE!
    Looks like YOU Bathed your way through your trip...........I WOULD LOVE THAT!
    THANK YOU for your RECAP........I look forward to MORE!!
    WELCOME BACK HOME....................that KARL is BUSY!I do not know how HE does it!!!

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    1. Thanks Contessa! But brief but no way I was going to fit in more pics...Karl must have 48 hours in a day or sold his soul!! ;p

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  13. Welcome back! What a busy and interesting trip you've had, clean too! I've never taken five baths in a day but enjoyed the photo of the women in their dressing gowns. Now, at least they have an excuse to be wearing such garb, unlike some people I've spotted on city streets wearing PJ bottoms around here!

    Perhaps the no dog sign has something to do with not scaring the cats away.

    So glad you are blogging again.

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    1. 5 was the average!! I miss that town as it was unusual even for Japan. I bathed seaside, riverside, and stream side. Many takes on the dog but cats have a special place in Japan but they usually do what they want anyway!

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  14. One of the intensely-coveted things on my Last List! I can feel and smell the heat and steam and the ancient wood of the surround and cleansing buckets.

    I am still trying to wrap my mind around such an intimate exposure amongst other whole families of strangers, but I know I can just disappear into it, as I do in busy streets or crowded social gatherings, just taking in the feel and soothe of it, in a bubble of shielding peace.

    Lovely photos and supremely inviting moments.

    rachel

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    1. Hello Rachel

      Thank you for being generous about my iphone pics - half of them were taken quickly while there was no one there in the baths. I grew up with weekly saunas that I am used to that aspect but what I still have an issue with was the mixed sex baths in Austria for instance. I just couldn't relax and wore my suit which caused much frowning from the locals there. Also in this town of Kurokawa - it was for the most part very quiet and you rarely had to share with anyone at all which did enhance the experience. I hope you make it to any one of the numerous onsen - perhaps the one where the monkeys bathe too?

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  15. Welcome home Naomi, although I'm sure you'd rather be back on holiday and welcome back to blogging although I take your point about Instagram - I checked your blog post when I saw your latest instagram post and it was still saying September and then up you popped in my comments!

    Those baths are right up my street. I can't remember the last time I've had a proper bath . The only time i run a bath is to clean out the dust, but there's something about spa-style baths like this that really appeal to me, especially if they are outdoors and the weather is good, although I fear I'd get through too many body butters having 5 a day as I like to moisturise after getting my skin wet! xx

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  16. Naomi I love your posts and prefer them for sure to Instagram, edited or not. I love to really experience things like your trip here and you cannot get the same with Instagram. I like sharing on there, but I feel it's a whole other time sink as you need to reply to comments, see others posts, and more. Blogging is hard enough to find time to do! This trip looks fabulous and this town is amazing that it's all baths. So beautiful too. You visit the coolest spots. Japan is on my list of places to go. My husband lived there as a small boy and I hope we get to visit one day. Thank you for the wonderful tour here... Those boiled eggs are funny too. Love the quirkiness!

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  17. That bathtub and the spas! Beautiful. You have such a great eye for loveliness.

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Thank you for dropping by!