Yakushima

Yakushima is a tiny island south of Kyushu and we are going there tomorrow. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and I know hardly anyone who has ever been there which makes it all the more appealing. I am looking forward to seeing the rich flora and the famous Yaku-sugi – the giant Japanese cedar trees that are over 1000 years old.

Our friend Justin first suggested a trip there a few months ago at one of our hiking club meetings. The Japanese members just laughed at him as no one in their right mind would go in August, typhoon season. Anyway, we thought we’d chance it and do a bit of hiking. I should have checked what Justin meant when he said “do a bit of hiking” before I committed. We are going to do a traverse of the island from south to north covering 39k and numerous peaks in 3 days. It will probably be hot and wet, there will be leeches and we have to carry all our food and gear. Are we insane? Why on earth did I agree to that? Chiho, the other girl coming, has sensibly opted for a base at a hostel and some guided day walks instead. Why oh why am I not doing that too? I am sure it will be a good experience and I will see some amazing scenery, but I admit to looking forward to the 3 days we have AFTER the walk to lounge about on beaches and in hot springs. I will be out of contact until next Sunday where I am sure I will have plenty to blog about.

Read about Yakushima and see a video

The most expensive 35 minute hike in the world?

Nagoya is hot so we thought we’d disappear to the mountains for a few days. We love Nagano prefecture and went to the Kiso valley to do some hiking in the Central Alps. We were there in July (see pics) and there was still a lot of snow and no mountain flowers then, so we were looking forward to seeing everything in the bloom of summer and bagging a couple more peaks including the mighty Kisokomagatake (2956m). The problem was the weather was bad. Really bad. Everything was obscured by fog, the wind was fierce and the rain pelted down. We originally planned to camp, but when we got up to about 2500m we realized that was not an option and were forced to stay in the expensive mountain lodge. The lodge is very simple and can sleep 250 people. Fortunately, there were only about 40 people that night so we didn’t have to sleep like sardines in the long room full of futons. We ate the dinner we had brought in the common room downstairs annoyed that so many people were smoking. It was a bit like being at school. Or prison? “Lights out” was at 9pm and we were awoken at 4.30 by people moving about, the lights all came on at 5am and then just in case we were tempted to sleep in, there was the official wake up call via a tannoy at 5.30. I wouldn’t have minded if the weather had cleared, but it was still foggy and windy outside. No one was going anywhere. We waited a while just in case it cleared, but we soon admitted defeat and climbed down again to the cable car station.

What a waste of time and money! It only took us 35 minutes to hike up the cirque to where the fog began and that was pretty much all of the hiking we did apart from the descent the following day. We took our time on the descent to make the most of being in cool weather. The flowers were wonderful and we even came across a troop of macaque monkeys so I guess it wasn’t a total waste of time, but not really worth the cost (amended sums):

Petrol: 3000 yen
Road tolls: 7600 yen
Parking: 400 yen
Bus and cable car fee: 7600 yen (3800 each)
Cost to rest in the mountaineering lodge: 600 yen
Cost to stay one night in the lodge: 10,000 yen (5000 each!)
Extra bus fare (we lost one ticket): 850 yen

Total: 30,050 yen

That’s 130 British pounds or 259 U.S. Dollars.

That’s a lot of money for a 35 minute hike.

We visited an onsen afterwards which was as lovely as ever. There's nothing quite like a hot bath outside while looking out over mountains.

The drive home was mostly in heavy rain. It appears that there was no rain in Nagoya; it is as hot and muggy as ever! Plan B? Rent a load of movies and stay in under the air conditioning unit.

More photos HERE

Home again

We arrived back in Nagoya last night and it is HOT! We are beginning to wonder why we didn't stay away longer...

I will be typing up my diary from our trip to Indonesia and Taiwan over the next few days and posting it here along with photos if you are interested:

http://balitaiwan2007.blogspot.com/