Western Japan 2009: Kagoshima

This was written during my Western Japan trip in Sept.. thus it was very detailed..

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What a day! Full of twists and turns.. luckily everything turned out fine.. :)

Flight from Haneda is 8:35am.. so I woke up around 5:45, after going to sleep around 2am.. Met my landlord.. He offered to send me to one of the nearer train station.. unable to refuse without hurting his feeling, I agree to his offer.. He dropped me off at Tokyo Station.. I took the Yamanote Line to Hamamatsucho Station and changed to Tokyo-Monorail to Haneda Terminal-2.. Haneda AirportSNA check-in counter

Bought my air ticket from SkyNet Asia Air (SNA) for only ¥9,600, which was student discount.. :P The plane was delayed in taking off due to high traffic but we reached our destination on time.. :) Boarding gate

Looking down from the plane while the plane was approaching the airport, all I could see was fields of crops.. When I got out of the plane, the heat hit me.. it was hot.. and humid..

Paid ¥ 1,200 for the bus to Kagoshima-Chuo Station.. it took about 40 min to reach the town.. And frankly it wasn't very impressive.. Again, I am comparing with Tokyo, which is unfair.. it felt like a sleepy town.. but the transportation system is cool.. it has this cool-looking tram system..
I thought that I would be able to withdraw money from all the ATM machines that are available in the convenient stores everywhere.. How wrong I was.. And to make things worst, I brought my Shinsei Bank ATM instead of my POSBank one.. The "ordeal" is described in my previous blog entry. In the end, everything turned out fine..

I checked into Tokyu Inn (¥4,200 per night).. It was more than I had expected.. Again, I try not to have too much of an expectation so that I won't be disappointed.. They even provided their guests with a yukata..

After I had put my stuff in the hotel, I decided to go to Senganen Garden.. taking the Kagoshima City Tour bus (¥180) at Bus Stop 8 at the Kagoshima-Chuo Bus Station.. The City Tour bus is just like the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus that is found in most major cities.. Each trip is ¥180, regardless of where you alight or even if you don't and take it right back to the Station.. You can ride the bus for a day with ¥600, regardless of the stops you alight..

The view of Sakurajima Island from Senganen Garden was breathless... worth the ¥1,000 entrance fee.. the rest of the garden was so-so, maybe because it is summer where everything is just green in color..

As I had lots of time to kill, I even went up the trail to the end of the path.. had a good workout.. :p
Hiked up to the top (almost) of that mountain

With nothing to eat but one sandwich (with Nutella, left-over from my Europe trip in July) for lunch, I was famished.. I bought the local delicacy, (6 pcs for ¥165;300). It was delicious.... I was so thirsty that I drank 2 bottles (500ml) of drinks within 15 min!!

Took the Kagoshima City Tour bus back to the city.. Went to the Shopping Center next to the Kagoshima Train Station and had a proper meal of ramen and rice.. After which I went back to the Hotel and had an early night.. Didn't want to tire myself out on my first day in Kagoshima.. :)

More photos of Kagoshima and Sakurajima here..