Big mountain part two

(the continuation of part one which you can find here)

Having arrived at the summit sooner than I’d expected, I had time for a break. I found a nice spot and enjoyed the view for a while. While hiking up the mountain there were some spots in the shade where some snow remained from the night before. It’s really starting to get winterish. Well, in the shade, anyway. At the summit the temperate was just perfect with the sun shining brightly on all the people taking a break at the top. I took off my jacket for a while and sat there, eating the ‘big mountain nuts’ that I bought at the bottom of the mountain.

Exploring the area a bit I came across this tree, which has snow on it on the shadow side, and nice and greenon the sunny side. It was quite difficult to take a good picture of it though, and I’m not 100% happy with the result. Oh well. After I slowly began to freeze to death I decided to head down again. Since I’ve climbed OoYama every year since I came to Japan four years ago I decided to take a different path down. Just 100 meters below the summit there’s a junction that will either take you back down to where you came from, or alternatively it will take you along the far side of the mountain (the Fuji size) to a place called Yabitsu pass, which eventually ends up in Hadano, a city not too far away from Atsugi where I live. It proved to be an interesting path indeed…

To be continued!

Big mountain

Last Monday I was absolutely determined to climb Mount OoYama, the mountain closest to Atsugi. Unfortunately it rained that day and I stayed at home. That night I vowed to climb it the next day, but somewhere during the night my determination faltered, and I somehow managed to change my alarm clock from 8AM to 11AM during my sleep. I managed to wake up before my alarm went off at around 10:30, and I was thoroughly annoyed when I looked out the window. A beautiful day. Sucks to stay at home and procrastinate on a beautiful day, so I decided to go anyway. I went by bicycle to Isehara, a 30 minutes ride. From there I took the bus to the big mountain and I was halfway to the top at 12:00. Thanks to the cable car, of course. I suck at climbing.

This was the first time that I climbed the mountain alone. I still feel a vague uneasiness when it comes to going into ‘the wild’ alone. After all, what if a bear attacks you or you break a leg, and there’s no help? Well, the wild in Japan is not so wild, and although there are supposed to be bears I’ve never seen one. I started to climb with confidence, and that confidence only increased after I remembered that a large amount of elderly Japanese people climb the mountain by themselves. It’s amazing how energetic old Japanese people are. At the age that Dutch people will usually start to get heart attacks the Japanese climb mountains as if they were twenty years old. Well, Holland has no mountains anyway. Hah!

It was an incredibly clear day, and you could see not just Enoshima, but also the peninsula of Yokosuka behind it, and even Chiba across the Tokyo bay. It’s a brilliant view, and I really can never get enough of it. The view from the other side of the mountain was not bad either, with a steaming Fuji-san greeting me from afar.

I managed to reach the top in less than an hour, which is a new personal record for me, I’m sure. Since I have a lot more photos to show I decided to split up this report in a couple of posts instead. In other words: To Be Continued…

 

Random Oume trip

It took about 10 minutes to change from sleep mode to cycle-to-the-station mode, that Saturday. It was a four day weekend, and I was thoroughly bored. I like random plans, but if your ‘default’ random plan consists of cycling or hiking then even the random things are no longer random. So I did what I had wanted to do ever since I came to Japan, but seldom had a chance to do. Take a train somewhere. Get out somewhere. Take pictures. Anywhere will do. After loading a map of the Japanese train and subway network onto my camera (no, I don’t have a smart-phone yet…) I was on my way. To Oume.

I figured that the most interesting train lines are the local lines that don’t connect to another line when they end. After glancing on my map I determined that I had to head north for Hachioji, and from there on even farther north. I changed my mind about the ‘final’ destination a couple of times along the way, but when I arrived at Haijima I decided to take the Oume line all the way to the end.

Well, that was the plan, but somewhere in the middle of the line the train stopped at Oume and I had to transfer. That is, if I wanted to wait 30 minutes for the next train. I didn’t, so I went out and explored Oume. And it was a peculiar town. Located near a river, the walk from the station to the riverside was a steep downhill walk. Along the way I encountered the typical sights you’d otherwise see in any Japanese town. In the 1960s.

For some reason there were posters of old movies everywhere. It made the whole town have a very retro feel to it. This, plus the fact that there were barely any people to be seen, even on busy streets, made it a bit of a peculiar experience. It felt like a ghost town.

Note the awesome Metropolis poster. For some reason I had just read the wiki article about the movie the night before, so I was awesomeified by this coincidence.

Unfortunately I woke up rather late, and it was getting cloudy and dark, so I cut my visit short and went on my way back. I made some unexpected detours along the way just for the sake of it, but none of it was as interesting as the 60s movie town of Oume. Before leaving Oume I took some photos near the river side. Nice river.

Lastly, here’s some more awesome movie posters. Nothing could ever be as awesome as a cowboy ninja shooting his two guns while riding a horse.

I have to admit this trip was a bit too random. The next time I do such a thing I’ll at least make sure to wake up a bit earlier so that I’ll have more time to look around. Random train trips are difficult, because destinations like Oume are at least 2 hours away by train. Still, they’re fun every once in a while. It was good to feel the sense of exploration again. Japan always has an interesting surprise waiting for you. Like this Gundam flower shop.

Was it worth it?

The Windows 7 burger. 7 beef paddies. Only in Japan, only available for one week. Can’t miss it. Just like an earthquake or some other natural disaster.

No. It wasn’t worth it.

Sorry guys! No videos yet. I got a new camera last week (Canon S90) but I don’t have video editing software for it yet. Chotto matte kudasai.

Really. It was disappointing. It started out fine, but after some bites it just became a huge, dense mass of gray matter, without any taste whatsoever. Except perhaps leather. That’s all I can say. You won’t see me at BK for quite some time from now..

Pepsi Azuki

And on this lonesome night I ventured outside in search of some satisfaction for my ever rumbling stomach. Little did I know that this night would turn out to be so gruesome…

Pepsi Azuki. I am not surprised by the weirdness of this drink. I’ve seen all kinds of weird stuff in vending machines: hot coffee, instant pudding, you name it. What I’m surprised about is that renowned names like Pepsi and Coca Cola actually are joining in the mad craziness of putting random ingredients in their products and then selling it to unsuspecting customers like me. Despite the madness this Pepsi Azuki concoction is actually not that bad, and nowhere near as horrible as GODDAMN PEPSI SHISO.

(You can find more weird Japanese drinks here)

BAAAH NA NA

Damn Japanese bank still blocking my creditcard. I will give the asswhooping.

Also, I think the cold that I’ve been having for the past two months has finally disappeared. And on that note: my room really smells! Or rather, the roof next to my room smells, and now it’s infecting my room as well..