Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Kiora from New Zealand!

I'm back! The flight to NZ (Japan to Seoul, transit wait 3 hours extended to 4 hours, night flight from Seoul to Auckland 10.5 hours) left me slightly sleep deprived, so I spent most of yesterday napping. But after a great night's sleep, I'm back to normal (or as normal as I ever am *g*). I went from full summer to full winter, but the weather's not that cold right now so I'm having a chance to adjust. But definitely no more short-sleeves.

Thanks to all of you who dropped by while I was in the air or in dreamland! I loved your guesses about what I was doing in the chopper. And as promised, here is the answer. Drum roll please....

On Sunday, I went on a road trip with a very good friend. Our destination - Mt Aso, an active volcano in Kumamoto, Japan. This volcano is seriously active - bubbling lava active. The gas gets so dangerous at times that they shut down the ascent to the top (yes, you can go to the top). But we had a gorgeous day on Sunday, the gas wasn't at danger levels, so we got to take the cable car up to the top and look down into the boiling heart of Mt Aso. The volcanic liquid below is extremely hot but from the top, it looks like creamy soda, soft and toucheable. A very surreal experience.

While we were up there, we saw the helicopters flying around, showing people the birds-eye view. And we looked at each other...the rest as they say, is history. The ride was absolutely fantastic and the view was completely amazing. I have a ton of photos which I'm dying to share with you so look out over the next few days!

(p.s. The timezone of this blog is now NZ.)

10 comments :

Anonymous said...

Welcome home Nalini! Can't believe it's been THREE YEARS! My how the time has flown .... see you in two weeks! xxx Shar xxx

eatrawfish said...

Oh wow! I went to Mt. Aso with a friend the first time I visited Japan. Until now I'd never ran into anyone else who'd been there! I remember looking down at that water and thinking it looked like you could swim.

I did not go on a helicopter though. :)

Cyn Bagley said...

Hello again... hope you are having fun. :-)

Anonymous said...

I'm very much looking forward to seeing the photos.Take care.

Nalini Singh said...

Hey Shar! I didn't know you read this blog! Waving back madly. :) :)

Nalini Singh said...

Can't wait to catch up in person, Yvonne! What're my chances of getting a sneak peak at your book hmmm???? ;)

Nalini Singh said...

Emma, timeanddate.com/worldclock is my best friend. *g*

I know, it's weird no? I once flew from NZ and arrived in another country before I'd left. Mind-bending. NZ's really close to the international date line, so we're I think, 16 hours ahead of New York.

Nalini Singh said...

Hey eatrawfish - isn't it a fantastic place?! I've been there three times, and all three times, it looked utterly different. And you're so right, the water looked harmless from the top. Strangely beautiful in fact.

Nalini Singh said...

Hi Cynthia - I am! Thank you! :)

Nalini Singh said...

Hiya bluecitybabe - am dying to share the pics with you all! I'm on a dialup connection for the next week until the broadband gets set up, so they might be delayed, but they will come!