My mom always said we came to Asia on this trip to get away from winter and the snow of Northern Utah. I think Mother Nature has proven she cannot be bested and there’s no escaping the wrath of winter no matter how hard one tries to get out from beneath its thumbs.

I have been checking the weather almost non-stop, hoping for any signs of improvement. Since we left, there’s either been warm days at home or snowing on and off for days. Then, over here in Asia, it’s either been hot and muggy or cold and rainy. Maybe March isn’t an ideal time for vacations.

On our last full day in Kumamoto, we decided to venture to Aso-kuju National Park. I didn’t know this until I arrived in Kumamoto. I didn’t even know there are over 30 national parks in Japan until yesterday.

It was only about 36-degrees when we left the hotel yesterday but according to my phone, it felt like 25-degrees. Due to traffic, it was almost 2 hours later when we arrived at Aso station.

We entered the station to find these 3 Kumamon bears occupying the only seats in the station. They are everywhere around these parts.

Soon, the bus arrived to take us up into the mountains. Without the familiar spruce trees, the forest in these mountains doesn’t look like the forests I would venture by car back home.

Aso-kuju National Park is an active caldera consists of multiple volcanoes with active craters. My initial plan for the day was to ride the shuttle to the bus terminal at the top of the mountain and then transfer to the shuttle that would take me to the crater.

It was almost 45 minutes that we reached the station at the top of the mountain despite being only a few miles. The second we got of the bus, we We’re hit with an icy cold wind that felt like I was being choked from the inside out. Even with 2 layers of jackets (one of them being a down jacket), it was not enough to withstand the cold. The worst part was, I couldn’t even run into the station because the ground was partially covered with snow and ice.

I decided to stay in the station while my mom braved outside. There was no way I would risk a fall. I guess my mom wouldn’t let that happen because after a few minutes, she returned and dragged me outside into the suffocating air.

The bus to the crater was cancelled because of the snow and ice.

Suddenly, the crowd waiting for next bus down swelled as more buses brought more passengers up. The next bus down the mountain wasn’t for another 20 minutes. We decided to just head back down to get a peek at the visitor center before catching the next bus back to Kumamoto.

On the way back, my mom said, “I never thought I would come to Japan to see something I can see so easily at home.”

She meant snow mountains.