The Tan Tans' Life Begins

The second stop of our trip was actually our main purpose of the trip. The ONSEN!! For this, we went to one of the hotel with Nanki Katsuura hot springs. Hotel Nakanoshima. It is the only hot spring on an island in Japan! Well, we definitely needed a ferry to reach the island and look at the cute ferries below: And a satisfied Mrs Tan Tan after the nice onsen. Oh well, what do you expect? Of cos it was impossible for me to take photographs in the onsen right. And I was enjoying every minute of it with no camera on hand. Just to be clear, it wasn't a mixed onsen (disappointed...) and there were just me with 2 other ojisans in the open-air onsen (rotenburo). But it felt great! The onsen directly faced the sea and one could enjoy the panoramic sea views while soaking. Definitely very very therapeutic and outstanding!! For more information, you can visit their website at http://www.hotel-nakanoshima.jp/english/index.html

The Taiji Whale Museum in Wakayama is a mystery in itself. It was the Tan Tans' first visit to a whale museum and it was insightful, educational but yet strange and confusing. Why? hmm... read on. The place comprises a museum, an aquarium, a underwater world etc. There, the Tan Tans and their friends were treated to Dolphin and Whale shows. The same stuff one would get at Dolphin Lagoon in Sentosa. This performance showcases a combination of short-finned pilot whales, risso dolphins and false killer whales. And have you ever wondered how whales sound?? And yes, this are the standard bottlenose dolphins that everyone loves. Oh. I believe everyone knows "Willy". Don't worry the sea lion on the left is taking a nap and not dead. Next was the exhibition area where the Tan Tans learnt about the giant mammals of the sea. It was educational as the Tan Tans walked through the exhibition halls where different parts of the whales are being displayed. That's the tongue of th...

Yes yes, Japan is full of public holidays. You can get 1 or 2 holidays per month on average. Haha.. Go on and envy us. Yesterday was Autumn Equinox day. Basically, the centre of the Sun will spend a nearly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on Earth and night and day will be of nearly the same length. The word equinox derives from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night). In reality, the day is longer than the night at an equinox. (More info can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn_equinox ) And YES, it is a holiday, but do not ask me why such a day can be an holiday, we just enjoyed it, thats all. Oh, this is a mobile massage van. But we did not really try it as well, we were rushing for our onsen. These are some giant pumpkins that they have here. But this is not fit for human consumption and is used to feed the horses. And ya.. this is the most popular amongst kids in Japan. Kabutomushi (カブトムシ) or Japanese rhinoceros beetle and the ...