京都の夕暮れ

妹がきれいやで、と教えてくれて、急いで窓を開けたらこんな景色が。実家のベランダから見るゆうぐれ。京都はほんと落ち着く。

広島にて思うこと

広島に行ってきた。実は今まで一度も行ったことがなくて、前から一度は行かなければと思っていたので、今回は時間もあるので、１泊で行ってきました。

小学校の頃から、原爆関係の映画を見たり、本を読んだりすることが多く、自分の心にその記憶が深く刻まれているなと感じた。子供の時に受けた教育は、曲がりなりにもにも世界の平和と人権、social justiceに関わる仕事に就いたことに、関係しているのだろうなと思う。

元安川のほとりを歩きながら、１９４５年の８月６日に、被爆した人々が水を求めて、川に飛び込んだ様子の描写を思い出し、胸の詰まる思いだった。

原爆資料館ではオーディオガイドを借りて、２時間かけてゆっくり見て回り、最後は精神的にもヘトヘトになった。特に2階の展示は涙なしには見られなかった。

メッセージノートを見ていたら、にほんがこわれませんように、とかこわかった、とたどたどしい字で書いてあった子供のものあった。

広島は原爆の傷跡から立ち直り、青々とした美しい街に戻ったけど、今も世界中で内戦や紛争が続いているし、みんなの願う世界平和からは実際ほど遠く、本当に悲しくなる。

来られる機会ができて嬉しい。あまりにも疲れて、楽しみにしていた広島焼きを食べ損ねたけど！

１日目に行った、宮島もきれいでした。あなごめしもこいわしのお寿司も美味しかった。

Volubilis

One of the most memorable places visited among all wonderful cities, for me, was Volubilis in Northern Morocco. In a guidebook, there may be only one or a half page speared on this historical site. Most people may or may not come on a day visit from nearby Maknes.

I am not sure how busy this place gets in a high season, but when we were there it was empty. We deliberately went there around the sunset time two days in a row (entrance charge was next to nothing).

Words cannot describe the wonder of this place. Roman ruins buried in wild flowers and tall grasses. Absolutely enchanting. It feels that the place is abandoned and left in wild for centuries in the most beautiful way. Most of the structures are destroyed, but you can still see beautifully done tiles, pillars, drainage in bath/ swimming pool, olive oil extract factory etc. It amazed me how advanced their civilization was. Apparently, some houses of noble people even had a heated floor!! We had this place almost all to ourselves.

I was just fascinated by this place. I imagined how this place must have looked like centuries ago filled with Roman people. I wanted to watch some Roman theme movies movies to satisfy my imagination and obsession. We found a TV series called Rome, and we totally got hooked on it! We would download a few episodes at a time through i-tune (given slow internet connectivity) and watched them throughout the trip. I also read practically most of Wikipedia entries about Rome and major historical figures. This is how magical this place was.    

We stayed here for two nights at a charming farm style maison d’hote, run by Moroccan man who used to work in a posh Michelin restaurant in Holland. We enjoyed organic five-course dinner and story telling by the adventurous owner. Actually, he is one of the people who encouraged us to go through Mauritania, and he put us in touch with his friend who owns a guesthouse in Saint. Louis in Senegal. The guesthouse was 10 minutes walk to the wonderland of Volubilis.    

なぜかドーハ

ネパールから日本に帰るのに、なぜかドーハでトランジット中。もっとましなルートがあったんじゃないかって気もする。

いつもの見慣れたラウンジで、アスパラのポタージュスープ（毎回アスパラかブロッコリーのスープがある）を飲みながら、こちらもアブダビでトランジット中のFR氏とチャットし終わったところ。つまらないことでスカイプであやうく喧嘩になるところだった。

雨期で涼しいカトマンズからの、灼熱の京都は何だか想像できないな。でも半年ぶりの日本楽しみ。

そろそろ搭乗です！

電車の旅

電車の旅はなんでこんなに楽しんだろう。パリからバルセロナまでは個室の寝台車。今まで寝台車に乗ったことはあったけど、２段ベッドの個室は初めて。子供みたいにワクワクして、嬉しくて、寝てしまうのがもったいなかった。

子供の時に、毎月届く学習雑誌に電車の号があって、電車関係の付録が色々付いてきたのを思い出した。偽物の切符とか、切符にちょきちょき穴をあけるハサミが入ってた。その中で、電車の色々を書いた小さい本があった。日本で一番長い電車の駅の名前とか、鉄道関係の話が小学生向けに書いてあった。その本で初めて、寝台車は車掌さんが夜になるとベッドを下ろしにきてくれて、朝になるとまた席に直してくれることを読んで、なんてすてきなんだろう！！と寝台車に憧れたのを覚えてる。数年前にDargiling Express の映画を見てから、電車の旅行に行きたいなとも思ってた。食堂車で食べる朝ご飯も、なんてことないオムレツとパンなのにこんなに美味しく感じてしまう。

Why is it so much fun to go on a train?? From Paris to Barcelona, we took a sleeper train with a private cabin. It had a bank bed, a small sink and a space for luggage. I was so excited and giggly like a child and didn't want to go to sleep. I was laying down on the bed, staring through a window into a darkness feeling so happy. I was disappointed how soon we arrived the next morning. Simple breakfast tasted so special just because it was on a train.      

I must have been 7 or 8 years old. I used to subscribe to a monthly children's study magazine. In one of the months, the subject was railroad. It came with a "conductor kit" including train tickets and a little punch to make holes on tickets etc. It also had a book that contained various interesting facts about rail ways in Japan, such as the longest and shortest stations names.  The book also described how sleeper trains work: during the day you have seats, which turn into a bed at night. I remember admiring how wonderful this is. It was as wonderful as I imagined that to be many many years ago!   

Paris Dakar パリーダカール サハラ砂漠横断の旅

Over the past two months, we have traveled from Paris to Dakar, covering over 5,000 km.

This trip was first conceptualized as another French speaking holiday to go to Morocco and Senegal. I wanted to go back to Morocco, as I was there only for a few days last year attending a conference. M.FR, on the other hand, wanted to go to Senegal for good music. Then, he thought of this “great” idea of going overland through Mauritania combining our respective preferred destination, which was for me a crazy idea initially, given the threat of terrorism, long ride, heat etc etc. After meeting some people during the trip, everyone seems to think that it was fantastic plan, so I finally gave in and decided to go along with it.

Here is the “trajet” of the whole trip of our Paris Dakar. (FYI Paris Dakar race has been moved to South America, after tourists got shot in 2009 in Mauritania) As you can see, a wide variety of modes of transportation were applied.

Paris

ê overnight train

Barcelona 3 nights

ê  train

Cordoba   1 night

ê  train and ferry from Algeciras

Tanger, Morocco   3 nights

ê  train

Fes  3 nights

ê  Driving (Rented a car)

Volvilis  2 nights

ê  Driving

Maknes  passing through

ê  Driving

Rabat  2 nights

ê  Driving

El Jadida 1 night

ê  Driving

Essouria 3 nights

ê  Driving

Agadir 2 nights

ê  Bus and grand taxi

Sidi Wasek 2 nights

ê  Bus and grand taxi

Tantan Plage 1 night

ê Overnight Bus

Dhakla 2 nights

ê  Shared taxi

Noadhibou, Mauritania 2 nights

ê  Bus

Nouakchott 2 nights

ê  Shared taxi

Saint Louis, Senegal 6 nights

ê  Hired vehicle

Lompul 1 night

ê  Hired vehicle

Dakar 6 nights in total with 5 nights of annex trip to Casamance in the South

It looks like a backpacking type of trip, but none of us actually had a backpack. In fact, I had a huge red suitcase, which even contained things like a hair-dryer (only used once during the entire trip, though) and several summer dresses. M.FR was not too happy with my luggage, as he likes to travel light. After two months, he even has grown attached to and was fond of this travel companion of ours.  We didn’t “rough it” too much, by staying in each place a minimum of two nights in most cases and choosing middle level comfortable accommodations. Had neither bed bugs nor smelly bathroom experience. It was never too hot, since we always had a nice breeze from the Atlantic Ocean. We did not get mugged, kidnapped, stuck in a sandstorm or fell ill with malaria fortunately.  Nonetheless, it was still a huge adventure. During the course of our travel, we lined up at 7:30 in the morning in Rabat to apply for a Mauritanian visa, witnessed a huge tense fist fight on a long overnight bus where police was called in in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, drove 5 kilometers of land-mind no-man’s land between Morocco and Mauritania and maneuvered through notorious Rosso border. We narrowly escaped getting an expensive fine for allegedly passing a red light by negotiating with a police officer, cornered by vendors and ran over a tiny bird.        

I can’t document the trip in detail, but I hope to write about some anecdotes and highlights.    

This was by far the longest travel and covering the most distance in my life. It was really once in life time kind of experience.