Obviously there are plenty of obvious differences in terms of my current surroundings versus my usual ones, but I think that climate and diet are potentially the ones which have the largest impact that I'd like to measure.
Perhaps also the amount of exercise I'm getting here in comparison with being in England where I used to go running at least once a week and also play football, but I think in the last couple of weeks I have definitely walked enough to go well over the recommended amount of steps per day.
There are naturally some physical differences I can notice, but it'd be interesting to see if being away has had any noticeable differences in its impact on me.
Unfortunately, but only naturally, there have been some moments on the journey when I have felt under the weather although I think they can be chalked down to the combination of a lack of sleep and a lack of nutrition, something that I have definitely attempted to correct as time has gone on.
Having the usual routine that my body is used to went completely out of the window pretty much when I stepped on a plane to the Philippines, and I think that my body has probably had to do quite a lot of adaption that it might not have been prepared to do when I first set out on this journey.
I know that people's diet when they go on their travels has a massive impact, but I think that I have done my best to eat as healthily as possible whenever I can, although I'm sure that my dentist will probably tell me differently when I go for an appointment after returning home.
It took a while for my body to get used to the temperatures it was having to deal with on a daily basis, and as I mentioned when I first got to Busan, it had to make an equally difficult adjustment having been used to two months of 30+ degrees each day.
I don't think that either the climate or my diet have played an incredibly important part in the changes that my body has gone through in the time that I've been away, but it would be an interesting experiment to conduct.
I guess I will be proved either right or wrong when I get back to England and it has to make those changes in reverse!
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I totally forgot until it was mentioned last night when I checked in that breakfast came included in my reservation, so for the first time since being in Busan I actually attempted to get up early enough to be able to eat.
I was given a card by the hotel last night which stated that as the breakfast room usually gets very busy between 6am and 8am that I needed to pick what time I would want to eat should I go down between those two times. They obviously didn't realise they are talking to someone who has very rarely seen either of those times of the morning on this journey, although I did notice that 'last orders' was at 8.30am so I made sure to head down before them.
The breakfast was actually quite reasonable, mostly the usual kinds of rice and noodles dishes I've come to expect over the last couple of months, but considering I went straight back to sleep afterwards I'm not sure if I'll be getting up again for it tomorrow!
Having arrived at my hotel pretty late last night, I didn't really get an opportunity to discuss what is another very decent accomodation choice.
Aside from a few mis-steps I feel like I've been very lucky with most of the hotels that I've stayed in, but I really think that it is important for me to praise somewhere like this as I know that if things weren't great than I would definitely have highlighted them.
To start off with there were the simple touches like the receptionist agreeing to allow me to leave my bags here before checking in, and the even nicer touch of someone taking them up to my room for me. I'm sure they didn't appreciate the weight of them!
The overall room itself is a decent size and it says that it's supposed to be a single, but it looks suspiciously bigger to me.
There have been a few stays this trip where I've gone without a window, but here in Kobe I have a window, not with the most spectacular view, but it's nice to be able to assess the weather by looking out of it, and also see my street lit up at night:
The people I encountered at the reception yesterday were very nice, particularly the older gentleman who checked me in.
He said that nobody at the hotel spoke English very well, but I understood perfectly what he was saying, and I think it was the usual Asian thing of them putting their language skills down.
My room has pretty much everything I would require during my stay here including a TV....
....microwave.....
.....strange looking kettle.....
....and a robe.
The bathroom is lovely too with a shower, a bath, and most importantly, a remote control toilet.
It's always good to have a fridge too.
This has been the case at a couple of my hotels, but there is a little folder with everything you need to know inside, and there is some very useful information which would be helpful for anyone staying here.
To me it is the little touches which make your stay special, and if you genuinely feel like you matter and then psychologically you feel like you're more likely to enjoy yourself. From customer service to exceptional details in the room even though I've only stayed one night I think I rate this place pretty highly on the list of hotels I've stayed in so far.
One thing I noticed before leaving this morning is that instead of the usual sign which you hand on the doorknob to let the staff know whether you'd like housekeeping or not, there's a magnetic thing which you stick to the door which lets them know if you need your room cleaning.
Very clever I thought and making use of the fact that the rooms have metallic doors.
Although I mentioned earlier that I did quite a lot of walking yesterday and it took it out of me, I was back out using my feet today in search of some views, as looking online at a couple of different websites, one thing which was suggested was to climb up either of the 'mountains' (I use the ' ' because I think the Japanese use mountains in the same way that Koreans do when they essentially mean a big hill) which are in the northern part of the city.
I decided to pick the option which was closest to me which was to go towards Mount Maya which is located pretty close to the centre of Kobe.
Just out of interest, I think the one which I photographed yesterday is Mount Futatabi as I'd seen a couple of signs pointing towards it in the direction of some of the other things I saw yesterday.
Getting to Mount Maya was pretty simple as I had to do one of my favourite tricks was to follow the train line until it got to the closest station and then use the map to navigate from there to get me to the right place. Aside from getting here yesterday I haven't, and don't plan to use the trains at all, I don't think that the lines are connected up as well as they are in Tokyo or Yokohama, from looking at the map anyway. It seems like a few of the lines run parallel with one another and as far as I can tell Sannomiya appears to be the only place where they all connect together.
Speaking of connections, I decided to follow a path to Kobe station this morning which ran all the way underground from where I went into the bookstore yesterday. The road that runs across the one my hotel is situated on has a couple of crossing points, but mainly there are pedestrian bridges and subways which can be used to get from one side to the other.
I went underneath the one closest to me to get to the other side, but then I saw a sign pointing in the direction of Kobe Station which is where I needed to be anyway. I expected it to bring me out at an exit which was near the station, but instead it took me through an underground passage which eventually turned into a shopping centre which came out at the exit right near the station.
Strangely when I'd looked at Google Maps for how to get to my hotel on Friday night it had suggested a route which came out at the point that I went into, but in a way I'm glad that I stayed above ground or else I'd never really have figured to find my way around yesterday. At least I know I have that option should it be raining when I leave.
Once I got to Kobe Station I checked the map (the same one I'd looked at yesterday) to make sure I was on the right track, and after getting some lunch I continued on the way towards the next station and eventually Sannomiya.
The surroundings weren't very interesting until I got towards the main station, and then it turned back into the kind of location that I have grown to love since being in Japan.
There were lots of shops and restaurants around this area as well as arcades, Pachinko parlours and karaoke rental booths.
I guess Kobe is most known for two things (to me anyway); I think I first heard the city's named mentioned in connection with a devastating earthquake which struck in 1995 (also known as the Great Hanshin Earthquake) which took the lives of over 6,000 people. Occurring on 17th January it measured at 6.8 on the Ricter Scale and is estimated to have caused around $100 damage. It was the worst earthquake in Japan since the Great Kanto eruption of 1923 and there are memorials around the city commemorating the event.
The second, and slightly more positive thing the city is known for is Kobe beef which is prepared using animals from the region, and can be served in many different forms throughout the city. Before 2012 it was not exported anywhere, but has since been taken to other parts of Asia as well as the United States.
I continued my walk past Sannomiya Station which looked to be extremely busy for a Sunday afternoon and then I started seeing signs for Shin-Kobe Station which was the actual station that I was looking for.
In the piece I'd read about Mount Maya it suggested first going to the tourist information point at the station and getting a map because it lists the different viewing points.
One of the first things that I noticed was that pretty close to the station itself was that there were some signs pointing towards a waterfall which looked to be close by. There was a big sign out at the front of the station which even pointed you towards Nunobiki Falls so I thought I'd check that out first and then continue on towards any viewing points which I could find.
The last thing my poor aching tired legs needed was to be trekking up hill, but I guess that is kind of a necessity in order to see a waterfall so I started following the path until it got to the point where I was able to see and hear water. As I walked up what were mostly steps (even worse than a slope for my legs) it started to cool a little as I went under the shade of the trees and shortly after it appeared to be getting darker because of the dense amount of trees there was a large opening where I came out at the bottom of the waterfall:
There were a few benches where people were sitting around and enjoying the view, but eager as ever for the best view I continued on up some stairs before finding another area of trees and a path which led along towards the top of the waterfall:
It was quite strange because the water kept reappearing on different sides of me as I climbed up and up, and then eventually I got to the top of some stairs and there was a platform where lots of people were standing and looking at the beautiful sight of Nunobiki Falls:
I've been very fortunate to witness some excellent waterfalls on this trip, and I think that Nunobiki matches up with any of the ones in Jeju or Luang Prabang.
I sat for a while, enjoying the rest before deciding to continue on up to one of the viewing points which I saw a sign for just next to some stairs.
It appeared there were lots of people coming down the steps, and I didn't know if I was heading in the wrong direction or something, but I continued on and following another sign I eventually came to a platform which gave you a good view out over Kobe Port:
There were a few benches around there, but my eye was caught by another set of stairs which appeared to lead up even higher.
Even though I'd picked up a map, it wasn't as if the trails were on there, only a few landmarks and the road were marked on there so essentially for hiking up to somewhere decent, it was useless!
The maps which showed the trails themselves were all in Japanese, and it appeared that there were about thirty which all led in different directions so pretty much whenever I was faced with a choice of where to go, I just had to pick at random and hope for the best.
In some strange way I always felt like it was a good sign if people were walking back towards me as it probably meant that they'd come from somewhere and were heading in the opposite direction, although obviously I had to make sure that these people hadn't passed me earlier and were now coming back towards me because they'd gone the wrong way!
I managed to get another view of the waterfall a bit higher up.....
.....and then eventually came to what looked to me like it was a dam, but apparently it was a reservoir - according to the map anyway:
I guess that the waterfall is created by water coming off the top of the reservoir, and there were some signs up there which said that the wall of the reservoir had to be rebuilt after the earthquake, and had been constructed to make sure that if a natural disaster such as this occurred again then it wouldn't cause major flooding as it did in 1995.
I was not faced with the choice of going up some stairs or following a ramp up to the top, and choosing the stairs I discovered about five minutes later as it didn't really matter because they both led to the same place.
Now I was following that looked more like a road although there were no cars on it, and no other people either. The last sign if people I'd seen had gone off in a different direction entirely.
I kept walking for a bit knowing that there must be something up ahead, because otherwise why would there be a road? And also above me there was cable car tracks which looked as though the came to a station somewhere around here:
Eventually I came to a massive signpost which either guided be back down towards the station of into Kobe Herb Garden which I checked on the map was actually somewhere further up than I'd been before.
From what I'd read when I was looking at things to do with Mount Maya, for those with a ticket you could walk through the herb garden to an observation point or follow a trail round the outside which would take you there.
I figured I'd do the latter and walked around the outside of the herb garden and though a gate which had a sign above it pointing towards the hiking trail.
It started off looking pretty sketchy with lots of overgrown grass and plants everywhere, but eventually it opened up to have some steps and generally a bit more of a feeling that other people had been walking on it:
I crossed paths with a couple of people who had obviously come from somewhere and after walking for half an hour or so underneath the trees I came out in a bit of a clearing where there was what I'd like to call a restricted view.
It's one of those which wouldn't make a good photo because there are plants or trees in the way, but with your eyes it doesn't look too bad:
Continuing on I came to another view point which was attached to a building called the 'The Resting House'. I felt like it was probably quite a good place to make my summit, and the views from the top of there were really impressive:
Had the trails been a bit more clearly marked then I might have carried on, but without realising it, time had started to creep on, and I knew that the further I went up the longer it would take me to get down, and there was more of a chance that I'd end up getting lost or stranded - two options I didn't really fancy.
I went back down a slightly different way, following the road, but I crossed paths with the way I came up when I got to the first observation station.
Heading back towards Shin-Kobe Station I decided to go a different way and followed the signs through an area called Kitano.
Kitano-Cho is historic district in Kobe which contains number of foreign residences and buildings although lots of them were lost in the earthquake. Some of the houses still exist as I saw a British house (appropriately named....
....as well as other buildings linked to Germany, France and Italy. There were quite a lot of tourists in this area and the businesses seemed to be doing quite well for themselves even late in the afternoon:
I continued walking through there until the end of the Kitano-Cho district and then managed to intersect back with the route I'd taken in order to get to Shin-Kobe earlier.
I'm pretty sure if I was in a Looney Tunes cartoon then my feet would have been red-raw and burning when I got home as yet again I think I might have slightly overdone the amount of walking I'd done today, but hopefully with some stretching, a relaxing evening and an early night tonight I'll be feeling fresh and ready to explore Kobe for one last day tomorrow.
Jackie Wilson
Higher and Higher (1967)
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