Hakuba - a man's gots to know his limitations!

Well, sorry for the delay but I have spent a good portion of the last week behind the wheel of my Suzuki pushing up hills and waiting at traffic lights.

The drive from Tsuruoka took me along the west coast of Japan down to Nagano-ken. I was heading for a place called Hakuba, very popular in the Winter for skiing and snow sports, and a refreshingly cool place in Summer.

The drive wasn't too bad, but an all-day affair. I found myself on a very slow route at one point, and decided I'd swap over to the expressway for a time. They are not cheap, but the expressways will get you where you want to go probably three to four times faster than the normal roads. So I sped down the expressway and cut a couple of hours out of the day. By the time I was on a normal road again it was the last 40km to Hakuba, on a road winding through mountains and tunnels. Behind a long row of trucks, I rarely did more than 30km an hour. Such are the roads in Japan.

I arrived at around 7pm at my hostel. It was clean, with a good kitchen, I had a cheap single room with proper beds and ensuite. I didn't realise how much I was missing a real, comfortable bed!

Ski jumps, Hakuba

Hakuba is in Nagano-ken, which played host to the 1998 Winter Olympics. Whilst the Summer games were going on in London, I stepped back 14 years to see some of the old places used for the Olympics in Nagano-ken, such as these ski jumps. Mad sport really, every bone could quite easily be broken. And they don't get nearly as much stopping space as I expected!

 The second day at Hakuba was time for more hiking, and I chose the popular Karamatsu-dake (mountain). First I took this 'gondola lift' pictured above. It rattled and speak and jolted for 15 minutes and left me a little shaky, I must admit! After that two sets of ski lifts were easy going, mainly because my feet could touch the foliage!

The boarded track

 After that it was about a 45 minute walk (although they advised 65-80) to the first point of interest, Happo-ike, a big pond. The clouds rolled in and out all the time I was up there. The track was mostly boardwalked to the pond, and naturally basically straight up.

Happo-ike

 It was a nice view, but I was hoping for better things, like the full ascent to Katamatsu! I was feeling much better than the previous walks, so I didn't even stop, I pushed on! Up and up and up. Within 15 minutes it was getting really hard for me. I was at over 2000 metres but altitude shouldn't have affected me, so I put it down to the incredible decline in my fitness. I was feeling in and could barely move. It was all pretty much uphill, steeper than before, no board walks. I passed people and thought maybe I could make it to the intermediate peak, Maru-yama. I got to my limit though, stopped just about a section of snow. The temperature would have been around 16 degrees, but the snow hadn't completely melted.

A peak through the clouds, from the pond.

A man's got to know his limitations and I started back down. It had taken 45 minutes from the pond to that point, less than half of that to return to the pond where the clouds broke briefly and allowed me to see a few surrounding peaks. Beautiful area. I would naturally discover that I was possibly very close to that peak and if I'd persisted another ten or so minutes, maybe less, I would have made it. Such is life.
Hakuba was a very pleasant, cool, green place to visit. A great choice in the middle of August. But two days was not enough. The following day would see me drive all the way to Yokohama.
But that will be another blog post....

Temple, beach, mountain, mountain.

Hello friends, it's been a long two days but before I sleep I must blog, I guess. LOL. Today I drove a long long way to find myself in Nagano-ken, in a town called Hakuba. However today's blog is about yesterday's adventure, which left me tired with two of the sorest calves I could imagine. That's the sort that are part of my legs, not baby cows!

At Zenpo-ji.

 First, as the rain gently fell, I drove out to Zenpo-ji, a temple a few kilometres from Tsuruoka. It was a very nice temple, there was only one other person visiting, worth a look for sure. It had a five-storied pagoda like all good temples complexes must have in Japan! Lovely little garden (above). The temple dates from the 10th century. Opposite is an interesting long abandoned train station with an old engine inside, not going anywhere. Totally overgrown with so many trees, I expect it's been at least 20 years since it's been in use. After seeing so many temples, I must admit to finding that more interesting...

 I drove along the coast. Not a hot day, mid-twenties, a bit of rain about, I stopped at the beach to take a couple of photos, the first time I have seen the Sea of Japan and the West Coast. Quite a violent looking sea, but the opposite side to the Tohoku coast of just a couple of posts again.

 I also noticed these big concrete things. You can see them in the ocean they seem to form some sort of wave blocks. Not sure if they are meant as tsunami blocks - they would have little effect I think on a serious Tsunami, however, the waves seem to always be crashing heavily all the time so I presume they prove rather effective.

Torii Gate, Yudono-san.

 Then it was time to head back up to the mountains. I headed to the third of the three holy peaks, Mt Yudono. This one is the mountain of rebirth, and at around 1500 metres is the second biggest of the mountains. I took a wrong turn and went half-way up a different mountain. Yes, the lots of wrong turns on this journey, navigating Japan is not easy. However, eventually I found my way up this toll road for a few kilometres. Considering we pay to use it, they could occasionally repair the road...
I arrived at the Torii gate where it was bus or foot power from then on in up the mountain. I new I wasn't going to get to the peak, but I looked at the map and saw there is a section where people climb ladders attached to the rocks. I wanted to see that, about three quarters of the way up.

 Up! Yes up and up and up! I went up the road. Then up some steps, down some steps to a little temple where people were getting blessed. From there it was a small, rocky path. I kept on, I had been climbing for over an hour. I finally reached the waterfall above. Amazing. A damn up the mountain, letting the water pour through a gap in the middle. Amazing because the path was only good for one walking person, but this stone wall was two metres thick. How the hell had they made it?
From there the path got worse, it was basically a creek. I had sneakers on and was worried about coming down, too easy to re-injure my ankle. Not good footwear for serious hiking. The previous day I had been warned by the man at the information centre that there would be snow here. Well it seemed unlikely, it all seemed dry - apart from the rover and creek of course. When I returned to the bottom I looked at the map to find I must have only been a couple of hundred metres away from those ladders! But in fairness I was climbing over steep wet rocks. Probably the right choice. No-one else on that part of the trail if I did hurt myself.

 I picked up an American guy at the car park who had run out of money and needed a ride into Tsuruoka. He'd hiked across the three mountains. He said it was very difficult. We stopped at this nice lake on the drive down.

Gas-san.

 It was getting late, but I made a push for the second (and third for me) Mountain, Gas-san. At over 1900 metres it's the tallest if the three, and it represents Death. Maybe not the one to finish on. The drive up was hairy to say the least. Winding road for about 20 kilometres I was thinking about turning back. But finally I arrived at 'Station Eight' where there's toilets, a building and a few vending machines where drinks are three times the normal cost.
The hitchhiker I had picked up said there was a boardwalk circuit there that would take about an hour, so I decided to the do that. Plenty of vegetation, but only at waist height, and there was snow there much to my surprise. It felt about 18 degrees up there. It was the most pleasant of the three mountains, I wished I had the time to climb to the peak, but it was over two hours from Station Eight. The weather switched and changed about six times in the one hour I'd been there, and I was warned not to go by the lady at my Guesthouse as it would be raining,

Gate at Zenpo-ji

The drive down was much easier than up. Poor car sounded far more healthy too. Hardly any traffic on the road, none at all on the way down. Another day of adventure! Boy were my calves in pain! So that was that, a night of sleep would take me to... today....

road trip!

I sit here in my little Ryokan room in a town on the west coast of Japan called Tsuruoka. It's been a long, hot, tiring but rewarding day. 

Road trip! I left my little apartment in Ichinoseki just before 10am and was on the road navigating thanks to google maps -  not too bad but not great - my way through to Yamagata Prefecture. The mercury at one point in the mid to high thirties, my little car may struggle to get up hills but I was thankful for the quality air conditioning! The route across the country was simple enough, and after the first 30km or so the roads cleared up and despite only being one lane I was able to move at a decent, if not lightning-quick pace.

lake near where the car was parked.

I traveled on the smaller roads, but made good time. It was a pretty journey and interesting.The roads mostly sat in valleys next to rivers. The quality of the free roads here though is a bit poor to be honest. Lots of make-shift repair jobs and thus many roads were like patchwork quilts, and not so smooth. Naturally very windy, I could really appreciate that I was on one of the world's youngest countries. Extremely mountainous because everything had been pushed up from below without the time to flatten out. The roads had snow barriers alongside, far from needed in August, but essential in 6 months I'm sure. Every little bit of flat land is used for rice or corn. Or maybe wheat. I am still yet to see a farm animal like a cow or sheep in Japan. They are hiding somewhere.

Museum

It was time for a stop. One of the main plans for this trip was to see a couple (at least) of the three sacred peaks in Yamagata Prefecture known as 'Dewa Sanzan'. Today I thought I would get in the smallest - Harugo-san, at 414 metres. I came to a camping ground at its base, and then a sort of information centre. The signage was poor, but I followed a small sign at the rear of the camping ground (which I'd walked back to up and down a steep hill) and through the forest I went.

It's dense, almost jungle-like in these parts. Alive with insects of all types, the path was pretty average. I read about the path, there were supposed to be loads of people on it. Not a one. Oh Andrew, you did something wrong! Well, the sign said Mt Harugo.

And indeed I ended up in the right place. Seems I didn't START from the right place. I crossed a toll road and followed another path. I was hot and sweaty and it had been over an hour, but I was there. An interesting small museum, many temples, a functioning monastery,  souvenir shops and quite a few people. Very interesting place. Beautiful buildings. I found the correct path and decided to take it back down.

Shrines at Harugo-san

 It was darned steep, and still quite a few coming up. Well patronised, completely made out of stone - no good for the ol' legs. It went on and on and I soon realised - it must have gone down further than I hiked up! Near the end of the path was a beautiful bridge and a five-pillared pagoda - never go out of fashion those. I walked up a hill at the end, but it took a long time to get down, and I feared it was no where near I parked my car.

Main temple at Harugo-san

 I was right! Harugo village is where I found myself! That's where I should have started from. In fact I was told at the information centre I was now 10km from where I had parked my car! What? How was that possible? I thought I had walked 4-5km max. If I'd started there I could have got a decent map with English, but no I had to take the hard route!
Luckily, I was told by the very kind man at the information centre, there was a bus that went past the camping ground. I waited. The bus turned up but said 'end of the line'. Only in winter does it do that route in the afternoon! Woah! But instantly the INCREDIBLY kind man offered me a lift.

The path down (and up to) Harugo-san. 

 Wherever you go you will find kindness, that's one thing I've learnt from my travels. Back to the car, and onto Tsuruoka. This was a great day. Adventure, friendliness, a bit of exercise! Harugo is a bit of a pilgrimage. The three peaks each have their importance - Harugo represents birth, but most pilgrims only make it to Harugo, the other two are much harder to get to and can only be reached in the Summer months. Many pilgrims dress in white. It was a very interesting day. Tomorrow - well you can find out more about tomorrow, tomorrow!

another pagoda to the power of five

Olympic Soapbox

Ahhh Japan. What a country it is. Beautiful mountains everywhere you go, a land that's constantly shifting and moving. Open to the elements, resolute as well. And it needs to be at times! Think of what this country has survived in the past 70 years. It's darned impressive!
Then the curiosities. Last week I saw a man pedalling around on his bike in his dressing gown with a cigarette in his mouth. Bikes cross the roads, use the footpaths and often can be found riding on the right-hand side of the road too. They're a law unto themselves. BUT try to organise something like a money transfer and every little thing has to be perfect! Cross you i's and dot your t's. Hmmm wait no..... Anything involving a form generally also involves a team of people looking at it and working out exactly what should be done. It's paperwork galore here. I'm trying to hire a room. It doesn't have a dvd but it does have a video player. Yet go shopping for electronics and you can ONLY find the absolute latest models. Contradictions galore!
On Sunday I head off to Yamagata-ken, starting a slow, west coast journey before swinging back to Yokohama. It hopefully will make for some good blogs. But today I thought I would depart from standard blogging and get all opinionated!

The Olympics. I'm not a huge fan to be honest. I really like the idea of all nations getting together - I think that's fantastic. But this year especially I think in Australia we are seeing what I don't like about the games.
Last I looked Australia, after four days, had won 13 medals, but only one gold. The media and public are going nuts about it. It's not good enough apparently! I read an article about how the athletes were only concerned about partying, having a good time. FOR SHAME! If we don't win enough gold medals the country will dissolve I expect. The British press were on the back of their team even more after a very bad start for the first three days, it has since improved.
After kicking up such a fuss, The Age (a Melbourne newspaper) also printed an article about how the sportsmen were bad losers. Huh? That's the pot calling the kettle black ain't it? Who's at fault for these 'not quite as good as we hoped' results? For pete's sake.....
This is a world celebration. Let's remember this. We can all get together for two weeks and in that time blow no-one's heads off. Speaking of which things are very bad in Syria right now, but that's hardly as important as Emily Seebolm only getting silver is it?

What is swimming anyway? I went swimming four times this week. No-one gave me a medal. Is it a personal validation for being able to go .001 of a second faster over 100 metres? Are you a worthwhile human being now? Don't get me wrong, people like Michael Phelps are amazing athletes. Of course they are. I just don't understand the obsession with being faster than other people. And then one person in the whole bloody world is faster than you and you are a failure? What? It makes no sense to me at all.

Then you have the fact of such an uneven playing field. If we can learn anything from the cold war it's that money makes all the difference when it comes to taking a good athlete and making them the best. For decades the USSR and USA spent fortunes so that as countries they could feel validated that they took the most gold medals home. What sort of priority is this? Are the populations so secretly insecure. Now China is in on the act. This time the UK is too, but they are hosting and maybe next time it will be less so.

Who remembers Eric the Eel? Eric the Eel was a swimmer from the small country of Equatorial Guinea in West Africa at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He had to swim his heat on his own because the other two swimmers in it were disqualified after false starts. Eric swam and swam and swam. He'd never even been in a pool until he arrived in Sydney! He broke the Equatorial Guinea record. The crowd went wild cheering this guy going a lot slower than most other swimmers, on his own, from a country I doubt they could find on a map. Now THAT was a fine Olympic moment in my mind. Not the US dreamteam winning the basketball.

There are so many athletes there with probably amazing stories but if they don't come from Australia, the USA or the UK we won't hear about them. Especially if they don't win anything. People from every country on Earth in one place, and every country's broadcast is only concerned with their country's performance. It's only natural you say. Well then what is the Olympics about? People coming together in celebration, or a whole bunch of athletes just wanting to win? And if it is the later, maybe that's okay. I don't know. But it seems countries - like Australia - throw money at any athlete with a chance to medal.
Then ask yourself. Is that a good way to spend your money? The world ain't in the best economic shape right now. Governments get criticised for spending too much money on international aid. I know the Australian opposition would cut it back if in power. Never heard it suggest cutting back money for sports training.
I'm not anti-sport, every so called 'developed' country does it. Look at China today. Didn't win a huge amount prior to the Beijing Games, now they lead the table because the government decided to put the money there. It makes a huge difference.


So that's the world today. That's how we rate achievements. Winning an Olympic medal is something to be very proud of. Not just for the athlete, but for the patriot in his arm chair.
Wouldn't it be nice to be proud of saying 'my country sent money to Bangladesh and helped out a village destroyed by floods rebuild. Gave it water to drink, built homes, repaired the road so they could get medical supplies.

Why do we feel more proud about an athlete, given an almighty leg-up to win a gold medal, than THAT?


sorry for the soapbox thing. Normal service will be resumed as of next blog.