The Last Run of 2013

As the last run of this year, we went down to Tama River. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed it very much the 16 km (10 miles) run.  We went down south from our home and crossed Tamagawara Bridge over to Inagi.

We rested a bit by the bridge.

There were rugby players and runners along the riverbank.

Some parts of the trail along the river looked like a jungle.

Some other parts were paved.

Koremasa Cable Stayed Bridge.

Nambu LIne train runs over bridge over the river.

There were some people fishing on the other side.

What a wonderful run to conclude the year that was!

Nairobi and Mt. Kenya - Kenya

My last visit during my African trip was Kenya.

From my hotel, could see Nairobi National Park - it was vast!

I jogged around Wilson Airport - airplanes for Safari trips take off from this small airport.

I had a day trip out of Nairobi.  Here  are some fruits sellers outside of the city.

We had lunch at Trout Tree Restaurant - fascinating!

A sign at the restaurant.

We stayed at a hotel right on the equator.

There was an animal orphanage - this one is a baby Lynx.

Two brother Cheetahs.

I had a fabulous visit in Kenya.

Kigali and Rusumo - Rwanda

My next stop was Rwanda.  Flew from Addis Ababa to Kigali, their capital city.

This is a view from my airplane window.  There are some dry lands.

Kigali Airport

Rwanda at this time of the year was greener than Ethiopia.

There were many motorcycle taxis.

I then got driven to the country side - towards the boarder with Tanzania.

Bananas are abundant.

These trees have many Weaver Bird nests - very noisy and busy.

Nests are very skillfully made (by male birds) - amazing!  But this one was on the ground - it usually means the female bird did not like it.

Villigers - especially children were very friendly.

These children came to greet me to be photographed.  Altitude of this house was about 1,500 meters (about 5,000 ft.)  I had a very good hill workout.

Houses and landscape were interesting - very hilly.

An anthill - this was actually on Tanzania side.

Awash and Addis Ababa -Ethiopia

My travels took me to Ethiopia this month.

The day I arrived was the day of a big race.  Too bad I could not participate in it.

I visited a little town of Awash - about 4 hours drive from Addis Ababa.

A damaged wind turbine blade was left on a road.

There were baboons.

These look like fruits, but they are not.  Strange plant.

A common house made of mud.

There were many camels.

Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Addis Ababa.

A dog was sitting on a street by our hotel.

Mules are still used for transporting goods.

New African Union building.

Rainy Morning Run in Kanazawa

Yesterday morning, I was in Kanazawa. I was determined to go for a run. Too bad it was raining and cold, but I did enjoy the streets of the beautiful city.

One of the buildings of the Castle.

Looking at the main entrance of the castle.

A trail along the fortress walls.

A swan statue.

A Catholic Church

The fish market was getting ready for a new business day.

Local Scenes

Here are some pictures from my recent local runs.

"Jugatsu Sakura" at Koganei Park.

Beautiful vases made by a pottery master. Photo shows him shaking a hand of Ichiro (then of ORIX Blue Wave).

Pink Knotweed close from Oizumigakuen Station

Beautyberry in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suginami,_Tokyo.

It is now getting cold in Tokyo - finally winter is here.

Izu-Nagaoka Onsen

I spent a night at Izu-Nagaoka Onsen this week.  It is an old Onsen town in Izunokuni.  This area is of historical significance for  Minamoto no Yoritomo who organized a rebelion against then ruling Heike Clan lived while he was exiled.  He later became Shogun in 1192 of Japan's first Samurai-ruled government.

The entrance to the Onsen area.

"Shichifukujin" or Seven Lucky Gods at my Ryokan.

A beautiful Japanese garden of the ryokan.  

I ran up to the top of the hill (Genjiyama) - many steps.

The observatory was unfortunately, under renovation.

The view from the top.

Genjiyama Park.

The view from Genjiyama.

A paved walking trail of Kano River.

The flood control channel of the river.

  Sunrise seen from the bridge by the flood control channel

It was a brief visit, but I thoroughly enjoyed the stay. The hot spring was amazing and food  of course was heavenly!