Hot !

It has been officially declared that this August has been the hottest on record. No surprises there. The last two weeks have been mostly fine with a few showers and some spectacular thunderstorms at night. One good thing is that the sun is nowhere near as ferocious as home and sunburn hasn’t been a problem. 

The local landscape

The countryside here has turned from vivid green to gold as the rice crop approaches harvest time. To me, the scenery here is nearly picture perfect. The bright green rice paddies contrast with the dark green forests and steep mountains. The sky is deep blue most days and the air is crystal clear. In NZ summer means heat haze while winter brings the clear days. It’s strange for me to have the heat and the clarity together. The old traditional houses are straight out of a storybook with their sweeping tiled roofs and sculpted conifer trees in the garden.  It’s a landscape that’s similar to NZ but yet entirely different in the way that humans have impacted on it. One thing that struck me was the blatant disregard Electricity companies have for the landscape.  The mountains here are fantastically steep and heavily wooded. But that hasn’t stopped the power lines people from building huge pylons everywhere you look. Some of them must have been constructed by helicopter.  It’s like someone got a map and then just drew a straight line for the route of the power wires.  Damn the terrain!! They just go straight up the side and over the top. The howls from the local population would be deafening if someone tried to do this in NZ.

The village

The area seems to be a mecca for motorcycle tourers and road cyclists. The roads are in good condition and the traffic is light. The 60Km/h speed limit is routinely ignored with most people travelling at 70-80ks. I find myself wishing for a big cruiser like my mate’s 1800cc Suzuki Boulevard. The warm weather, good roads, slow speeds and beautiful scenery all make for a great motorcycle experience.  Shizuka, on the other hand, is not so impressed. I guess when you grow up with it it’s nothing new. I can just imagine this place with a covering of snow.  I would like to come here to see that but just for one day as I hate the cold.