Day 7, Iwakuni - Fukuoka, 05/11
  Patrick
and Florian woke up quite early in our Honda that day, but
I was totally tired and decided to sleep on the rear seat
during our drive to Iwakuni. The highway to Iwakuni
was closed due to a landslide and we had to take a long detour
that did cost us nearly one hour. The airfield at Iwakuni
was quickly, though not easily, found and we spotted three
Shin Meiwas on the apron there. The chances for some flights
of them even on a Saturday were given and we decided to stay
there for some time. I finally got awake there and had a warm
coffee on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
After some time we got bored and worried about the long distances
to the airfield. No activity in sight and also the chances
to take some nice photos of the rescue flying boat even with
our long lenses seemed very low.
 For
another time our schedule was modified and we hit the road
again to leave the main Japanese island and to cross the bridge
for the southern island, Kyhusu. The drive was one of the
few during dayl ight
for us and we enjoyed the scenic landscape with a lot of hills
and Bamboo forests. Approaching Fukuoka, the main city
on Kyushu, the land became more populated again and in the
city we encountered our first "double-decker highways".
At the civil airport we were able to photograph two nice surprises
on form of a rare civil operated YS-11 of "Japan Air
Commuter" (JAC) and a L1011 TriStar of "Thai Sky
Airways". In the civil terminal we also had a look at
the visitor's deck, which is behind thick and dirty glass,
thus not suitable for good photography, and did check our
emails at an Internet terminal.
Fukuoka Airport
|
----
----
----
----
|
 During
the afternoon it got more and more hazy and the light was
really bad, so that we left to Tsuiki quite early. Crossing
the island was really nice and we enjoyed once more a scenic
landscape, because we had a lot of time…With some small
stops the 60km trip took nearly 3h. But it was worth it, with
the ricefields along the road, typical Japanese houses, some
industry and everywhere there was a smoky smell in the air.
 Exceptionally
the youth hostel, that we also called while we were on our
way, was found really fast that day, but that time no one
spoke English there. That coincided with the fact that it
was a real Japanese one and we had to spend the night on rice
mats again. Fortunately we learned from the last stay on how
to use the mattresses properly and would not have an aching
back the next morning. Furthermore Patrick and Florian got
used to the "Eastern Style" as there were no western
toilets available. Before going to bed we once again we took
a nice and warm Japanese bath and went to bed at 8.30pm. At
that time it also started to rain, as it was also predicted
on the internet forecast that we saw in the afternoon. Of
course we were worried with the show the next day but hoped
that the rain might stop sometimes during the night.
-> Tsuiki Air Show
|
)
)
)
)
)