| Day 2 – 14 October 2007
Just before catching my 0h30 am flight out of Singapore, I decided to stop off at the 24 hour airport pub and have a Singapore Sling. Well I did have a Wiener Snitsel when I was in Vienna earlier this year so why not a Singapore sling while in Singapore. I remembered how expensive things were at this airport so stopping off at the Thomas Cook office to change a travelers cheques brought a great surprise when I received Singapore dollars not USD. Suddenly the penny dropped as I realized that all the airport prices were in Singapore dollars with is 1.5 to the USD. Suddenly a whole new world of shopping opened up as prices dropped by 32%. Unfortunately I had a flight to catch so airport shopping will have to wait until my return journey.
It must have been the excitement of finally arriving in Koi heaven that caused the sleep to leave me during the 5 hour flight to Fukuoka in Japan. My in-flight movie tally went up to six as I managed to squeeze in another two and a bit movies. I probably looked like a real criminal when I stepped off that plane as the Japanese customs was on me as soon as I collected my luggage. I think it must have been the suspicious looking plastic wrapped rucksack that drew their attention but what else can one do to keep the keen SA Airport Company baggage handlers away from the contents of your case. I was questioned, I was searched, my bags were unpacked and even my toiletries were inspected before I could set foot on Japanese soil.
Walking through customs and out into the street was like arriving on another planet and I realized that I was in deep stinky stuff. There was not a single sign or name or letter or number that I could read or understand. Fortunately the Japanese nation is extremely helpful and will go to great lengths to try and help. Unfortunately the use of the English language seems to be something that very few have actually mastered. After having bought a bus ticket for Hakata and unsuccessfully trying to get onto the train with it, I managed to meet up with a Koi colleague. My gear was stowed at the Green Hotel, we bought lunch and we set off on the bullet train to the first Koi farm.
It was amazing flying through the countryside at 250 – 300 km an hour in a train with almost no noise, sitting and eating a huge container of sushi bought at a supermarket for R50.00 and sipping on the bottle of cold green tea from a vending machine. The nori was the best and softest I have ever tasted and I am definitively going to get my fill of Japanese foods while here.
We met up with the chief editor of Rinko magazine. The Rinko magazine is a very successful monthly Koi publication about the size of Getaway magazine but packed with all things Koi. The paper based subscription is only in Japanese but I understand that us westerlings can subscribe to a bi weekly electronic edition that is translated into English.
We only visited one dealer down south from Hakata but we spent about 4 hours there, looking, bowling some excellent Kohaku and Showa species and afterwards sitting and drinking green tea and speaking in broken English to the dealer for about another hour. We discussed everything from the number of fry in the mud pond to the parasites that he was treating for. The prices were incredibly low and one could pick up a 60+ cm two year old fish for 15000 yen (R1000.00). Unfortunately he is only harvesting in a week’s time so the koi for sale were not of the show quality that I was looking for. There were some smaller Kohaku that was really brilliant but as this was the first farm, I was not going to jump in and buy immediately.
While at the breeder we were introduced to one of the breeder’s regular customers and he said he will take us to his home pond. This was really exciting as I not only met a breeder but also a hobbyist like me. This was however a really koi mad hobbyist as we stopped next to a huge mud pond on the way to his house. The mud pond was built above some rice paddies and his explanation was that the water from the pond is captured from the rain in the mountains. The water is used to grow the rice in the fields below. He then rented the pond to keep some of his excess fish in. Imagine that – renting a mud pond for your own koi. Something us South Africans will never be able to do.
The hobbyists pond was indoors in a beautiful Japanese style house. It was about a 20 000 liter pond and was absolutely brimming with approximately 50 big fish. Honestly, there was not a koi under 60cm in his pond. The filtration was absolutely basic with a big concrete container with filter media. Asking about his secret on keeping so many fish in such a small pond he replied – “turnover”. He has a huge pump and it circulates his whole pond about every 10 minutes.
Checking into the hotel I arrived at my incredibly small room but that is another story. Koibooi is tired and will catch up again tomorrow. |