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For the New Year I was in Indonesia at Tuk Tuk on Samosir Island in Lake Toba, Sumatra. Shortly after the New Year I traveled back to Medan and then caught an over night bus up to Banda Aceh on the extreme northern coast of Sumatra. The Aceh province had a more extreme form of Islam than the rest of Indonesia and generally wanted its independence from the rule of Jakarta. Banda Aceh had a beautiful central mosque and a colorful central market, however, I had really traveled up to the province to go out to the island called Pulau Weh. From Banda Aceh's port of Krueng Raja it was a 2.5 hour sailing out to the idyllic tropical island which was famous for it's marine national park and diving.
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1996 Travel Diary (Part 1)

Gjcmcclurg
2005-12-23 14:40:13

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on, with the bride and groom in full traditional dress - quite a treat to see. Mark also took me out for a night in the famous night life area of Roppongi. The place was certainly buzzing but then so were the prices - a few beers each later and we were US$100 worse off.

I worked out that the only way I could really afford to see Japan was to buy one of the 3 week JR rail passes and to travel like crazy for three weeks. The rail pass cost around US$500 but allowed unlimited travel on the whole JR network, including the Shinkansen (Bullet Train). On 5th June I began my three week whirlwind tour of Japan. I caught the local commuter train into Tokyo and then boarded the 10.07 Hikari Super Express Shinkansen to Hakata on the island of Kyushu. We covered the 1,200km in just over 6 hours, averaging a speed of around 200km per hour. I thought of how expensive it must have been to build the Shinkansen as for much of the journey we were traveling on high viaducts or through long tunnels. Once in Hakata I transferred to a normal train to Dazaifu, which was to be my first stop.

In Dazaifu I stayed at the local youth hostel which was supposed to be a temple, however, I couldn't see much evidence of this. It was US$30 a night, but I did get a nice room with tatami mat flooring. I had a good nights sleep and came down to a typical Japanese breakfast of Miso soup, rice, pickles, tofu, pork dumplings and a large slice of melon. After the breakfast experience I went to see the beautiful Tenmangu shrine and gardens, and then I visited the Komyo-ji temple with it's classic Zen garden. The all wooden Komyo-ji temple had beautiful tatami mat rooms with traditional paper screens and hanging scrolls. In the center of the temple was a court yard with a meticulously kept Zen garden. The Zen garden was particularly interesting in the way the raked white pebbles represented the sea and the moss covered boulders the land.

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