aelle, around the world.

I have been in Korea for 3 months now. Time to test the leniency of immigration services by going back to my first love. So I booked 2 days off, and off to Japan we flew.

The idea was mainly to get out of the country to renew Wally’s visa, so up until the day before departure, we didn’t have much of a clue of what we were going to do. A look at a map of Kansai taught us that Kôya san was probably the most accessible place from Ôsaka airport, so we decided to go back there. (It would later turn out not to be all that smart, because from the airport you need to go back north to Osaka before taking the private train line south to the monastery complex anyway.) A quick copy-pasting of the dedicated paragraph from Wikitravel sent to my Blackberry, a bunch of clean clothes and a few books thrown in a backpack, and we headed out.

Because you’ve already heard it all about Japan, let’s not go through the events in chronological order. Rather, some intriguing themes kept popping up.

Traveler’s Luck

The trip started very nicely with a free upgrade to business class (my first upgrade ever – awww) which we didn’t get to enjoy as thoroughly as we would have liked, as we didn’t inform anyone of our non-meat-eating ways and were promptly served salmon. Seriously, who would expect a meal for a 90 mnute flight at 3 in the afternoon? At least the dessert, plump seats and massive legroom were very enjoyable.

The next token of luck came after a two hour train ride back to Osaka, up through the mountains of Kii peninsula, and a nice cable car ride to the village of Kôya-san. This journey from civilization to monastery ends with a bus ride, which you pay on board, cash. As we had just barely landed, though, we only had big bills which the on board machine would not accept. When anywhere else in the world we would have been stuck with this problem and a “tough luck” attitude from the driver, here he simply wrote us the amount due on a piece of paper and suggested we pay for it at the station, before we leave. This is one of the many reasons why I love Japan – trust systems that just work.

Wally’s Disastrous Hiking Ideas

So Wally is a fan of hiking. Fine with me, de gustibus et coloribus and all that. But every time he takes me up a mountain, catastrophes seem to ensue. Okay, the blame can be cast most of the time on 1. the LP and 2. Japanese sucky map skills, but still. You remember our ordeal near Sendai that almost got us stranded on a cold mountain at night. And just 2 weeks ago, he tried to take me on what was described in the guidebook as a nice 2-hour stroll north of Seoul, that turned out to be a 6 hour hike requiring some mountaineering experience and rope safety skills (luckily I found that out before we got started). Anyway, this time we went on the Koyasan’s women’s path, an old pilgrimage road that used to be reserved for women devouts, who were not actually allowed within the monastery complex. We weren’t even 2 hours out, and hiking along a mountain crest, when lightning hit within hundred of meters of our feet. Repeatedly. It goes without saying that we ran down to the valley as fast as we could (and that’s not very fast when you’re soaked all the way to your underwear) while thunderbolts were chasing after us.

The next day had good weather, but terrible planning. What was supposed to take seven hours going uphill ended up requiring over 9 hours going downhill. Luckily we made it to our train station just before nightfall this time. With blistered feet, dry throats and not-so-high spirits.

The Curse of the Dragon Tattoo

I have been trying to read the first opus of the Millenium trilogy for over a year now. But it seems that this book is doomed. I first bought it on my way to Bali, last summer, but didn’t have a chance to open it until November. When I came down with the flu in Holland, and my thoughts were delirious enough not to spice them up with a thriller. I picked up the book again some time after Christmas, and was getting really into it… when I forgot it on a Seoul-Paris flight. Since CDG does not seem to keep a proper lost and found office, that copy was lost forever. My friend Elsie read this book recently and I borrowed it from her to have a chance to finish it.

Sadly… it was in my backpack during the disastrous hike. And got soaked from  cover to cover. It’s not in as bad of a shape as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is still not dry after 3 days or airing, but it’s definitely not in a shape I’d like to find any book I lend a friend. Sorry Elsie! I’ll buy you a new one.

Japan

I love it. Still. Always. Inexplicably. I want to go back.

For more stories and a photo album, check out Wally‘s account of our holiday!