24 December 2005 – 太地と白浜

太地

Woke up early to go to the port to see the fishermensell tuna. The catch was not good coz of the cold weather. However, it was an eye opening to see those big tunas. They sold the tunas tobuyers for 15000 yen each. But the buyers can sell much more!

Board a ferry to 太地, the whale-catching town. Watched the dolphins and whale show. I got to shake hand with the dolphin after the show. It was the first timeI got so close up with the dolphin. Then we went to the holding area for the dolphins and whales. The dolphins and whales swam near me! I was so excited. I started to video record them. They were so cute! I guessed they thought I have food for them. Keep on ‘calling’ me. Haha.

太地 is a very beautiful place. Good for relaxation. The place is small and we only spent half day there. We were kind of lost during lunch as we have finished visiting both 勝浦 and 太地. So I proposed to 今中さん to go 白浜. He was surprised to hear that and said I’m 若まま。But he agreed to my suggestion. So no time being wasted, we board the ferry and went back to 勝浦.

On our way back, we bought fishes and seaweeds from a local stall. Very cheap! 今中さん bargained for more packets. Then we stopped by a shop selling Japanese oranges. The oranges were so sweet! It was sold in different packets, with names of the farmers written on the bags. The difference was that the oranges were planted in different mountains. ^-^ We bought 5kg of oranges for only 500yen! So Perina and I carried 2.5kg each.

We then rushed to check the train schedule and check out. We had to pack our stuff, check-up (luckily that the owner refund us abit of money) etc within 30 minutes. But we managed to board the train which stop at every train station. Lucky!

On our way, we saw high school boys sleeping and chatting on the train. The guy seated opposite us was quite tall and good looking. Even the country guys also trim their eyebrows. This is something which I salute the japanese guys. They know how to present themselves.

We stopped at 串本（Kushimoto）, the most southern part of the Japan Peninsula Sea, to change to another train. I wanted to take the photo of us and the sign that show串本 is the most southern part. Because perhaps I’ll never come here again. I spotted a young guy, who resembles Tsubasa, but was with mask coz he was down with cold. He took the signage only! Poor guy. I asked him to take the photo for us. Then while I was checking the camera, 今中さん suddenly said the train is at the next platform. The alone young handsome guy got a shock when we scream He asked innocently “何があった？” I just replied “大丈夫です”, picked up my luggage and ran. We really ran like mad! Although we rushed and reachedthe platform, we did not manage to catch the train. The train driver left coz he could not wait for us even though he saw us.Japanese are conscious about punctuality. No choice, got to hang around at the station for an hour before the next train comes. Just treat it as a break. We called up the minshuku that I chose at 白浜 station.

Reached there and found, wow it was a mansion, facing the sea. Oh my gosh! Daytime view would be fantastic. We dropped by at 長久 to give 小森さん the oranges as お土産 before we went to the onsen. I was a little disappointed that 小森さん could not recognize us. Maybe he has too many customers. Spent our Christmas Eve at長久. We chatted, ate and drank. We were all happy. It was great to be able to come back to 白浜. I did not want to waste my Christmas Eve. Because of my 若まま and I am a wonderer, I made the decision to go back to 白浜. I am glad I made that decision. Reached the minshuku around 10pm. Then I listened to Masha’s ‘All Night Nippon.’ First time I heard it so clearly in Japan. Lucky!