saturday - awashima
what a fantastic day. saturday morning, kat, kate and i drove to the iwafune ferry port near murakami to catch the 10:30 am ferry to awashima, a tiny island off the coast of murakami. the population of the island is a bit of a mystery, but we've been told somewhere between 200 and 350. it's possible to do the circumference of the island on a bicycle within less than 2 hours. there aren't many ferries that go back and forth each day, and only one in the winter time per day. we've wanted to visit the island for a long time now, to cycle a bit, take some pictures, and to try it's famous Wappo soup, which is a miso broth fish soup boiled by submerging fire-hot rocks into it's middle plucked fresh from a fire, which makes it bubble over and steam, cooking the vegetables.
on the ferry the 3 of us were like celebrities. everyone wanted to say hello and come up and talk to us. eventually we were approached by a really friendly woman who had amazing english. she was on a trip with about 15 students from niigata university (half japanese, half chinese) who were on a 3-day visit to the island to eat, drink, and snorkel. she was so friendly and said that once we got there, we should join there group at the place they were staying and have lunch with them. we thought it would be fun so we accepted the invitation.
the ferry pulled in at noon and we got off and went to rent some bicycles. we then cycled with the woman ("chikako san") to where the group was staying.
the building where the group was staying was right on the beach. the front opened up facing the beach with just a tatami floor eating room, and upstairs was where they were to sleep. we watched them prepare the wappa-ni soup. they had fish on sticks roasting over the fire and three large bowls of miso soup. there were hot rocks roasting in the fire pit (outside) as well. they took the rocks out of the fire with tongs, dunked them in boiling water to wash them clean of ash and dirt, and put two in each boil of soup, then added vegetables. the soup steamed and boiled over from the added rocks. they then added the fish. the tatami room table was sat for about 20 people, and they had called ahead and told them to set an extra 3 sets (for us). we each had a bowl of rice, meatball soup. octopus (freshly fished) sashimi, potato salad, yellowtail sashimi, fried white fish, and then they placed the three huge bowls of wappa in front of us! when they were making them, i thought that they'd make these three huge bowls for everyone to eat. but it turns out they weren't eating theirs until the follow day and had just made them for us! so we all ate together, but we were the only three with the huge bowls of wappa-ni.
after our delicious meal we bade them farewell and the four of us (kate, kat, me and chikako san) cycled along the coast to the tip of the island (halfway around). it was so beautiful - and completely natural. beach on one side, and trees on the other. no neon signs, no concrete, not even houses or cars really. we cycled uphill to the lookout point and then back down again. it was really the perfect day.
on the ferry the 3 of us were like celebrities. everyone wanted to say hello and come up and talk to us. eventually we were approached by a really friendly woman who had amazing english. she was on a trip with about 15 students from niigata university (half japanese, half chinese) who were on a 3-day visit to the island to eat, drink, and snorkel. she was so friendly and said that once we got there, we should join there group at the place they were staying and have lunch with them. we thought it would be fun so we accepted the invitation.
the ferry pulled in at noon and we got off and went to rent some bicycles. we then cycled with the woman ("chikako san") to where the group was staying.
the building where the group was staying was right on the beach. the front opened up facing the beach with just a tatami floor eating room, and upstairs was where they were to sleep. we watched them prepare the wappa-ni soup. they had fish on sticks roasting over the fire and three large bowls of miso soup. there were hot rocks roasting in the fire pit (outside) as well. they took the rocks out of the fire with tongs, dunked them in boiling water to wash them clean of ash and dirt, and put two in each boil of soup, then added vegetables. the soup steamed and boiled over from the added rocks. they then added the fish. the tatami room table was sat for about 20 people, and they had called ahead and told them to set an extra 3 sets (for us). we each had a bowl of rice, meatball soup. octopus (freshly fished) sashimi, potato salad, yellowtail sashimi, fried white fish, and then they placed the three huge bowls of wappa in front of us! when they were making them, i thought that they'd make these three huge bowls for everyone to eat. but it turns out they weren't eating theirs until the follow day and had just made them for us! so we all ate together, but we were the only three with the huge bowls of wappa-ni.
after our delicious meal we bade them farewell and the four of us (kate, kat, me and chikako san) cycled along the coast to the tip of the island (halfway around). it was so beautiful - and completely natural. beach on one side, and trees on the other. no neon signs, no concrete, not even houses or cars really. we cycled uphill to the lookout point and then back down again. it was really the perfect day.
posted by Justine at 9:18 p.m.
2 Comments:
"bed" them farewell??
oops typo
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