Climbing the mountain at Omoshiroyama station near Sendai
As suggested yesterday, today I returned to the mountain I did not complete yesterday because I went the wrong way and instead removed skin from my knees on a slippery cliff / rock waterslide I invented.
The weather was still good, blue sky, but cloud developing. I sound like a weather man, what that meant was, its blue sky in Sendai, but probably cloudy on the mountain.
Still I bravely went without my jacket, deciding speed was key, and rain would not occur, however it was below freezing on the top, so I could not stay up there long.
I did not get lost, I did not even half get lost, I did not slip down anything, injure any part of me or question my own sanity, in fact it was only a 4.5 hour round trip from the trail head, if anything too short!
When I went to start the trail, there was a tiny grandma standing there looking at the sign, she asked in almost perfect English if I knew the way, well I know which way is NOT the way.
She said she would just follow me then, this is a problem, I pre drank 2 litres of various fluids including tea and coffee.... So I told her, OK but I intend to go fast!
Once I had made the 10 steps up the path from the road and REMEMBERED to turn right, it was a great view for a few hundred metres, so good I made a youtube on the way back, and then it got really steep, but safe. But thats where I waved goodbye to grandma, I said I might see her on the way down, never did, guess she turned back, or plummeted down a ravine, I will never know.
Anyway the top was in cloud, so no great photos from the top, a shame, the view might have caused me to faint. So many colors. Just to annoy me I noticed on the way down the summit was now in bright sunshine. Oh well. And also my view was obscured by all the damn colorful leaves!
This could be the last mountain of this holiday, its back to Tokyo tomorrow, and I have nothing planned, but you never know, there maybe another day trip.
Oh and also, my knees that I fell on repeatedly yesterday that hurt last night are fine, so fine I wish I had more days in Sendai to climb more of the mountains, there are at least 3 more trails in the area I have been the last 2 days.
We start with a view of the weather outside my hotel, I was right that it would get cloudy.
The Rail Children got on the train and watched the driver, I believe it is the junior trainspotting club. The picture doesnt show it but they all wear little train driver uniforms, and have the white gloves.
And now here I am, back where I was yesterday, back where I did views and ravines and mountain failure, today would be mountain success.
A path, a path! Note that it looks like a path, and it is, so pathy in its pathness. Not like an ice cliff face at all.
Good colors. The station area below, similar photo later.
The redder selection of colors for the day, oh and a path.
Redundant colors photo for today.
Every so often the path took me through pine / cedar trees, still with the colorful maples or whatever they are.
So orange. I was actually trying to snap the peak behind it, which is where I am going.
This looks fake, but really, thats the colors of these trees, they are whiter, and their leaves are kind of dead. It was great.
The path was actually quite challenging in many places. I had to put my gloves on and keep my camera in my backpack so I could use my hands to haul myself up, and then later lower myself down.
Views of other peaks.
My peak, which is just slightly taller than the others around here, if it were not, I would have been going to one of the others.
The trees became bamboo, and a muddy trail.
Very near the summit now, just getting into the cloud, and the freezing, there were a few patches of ice around which surprised me as I am wearing a long sleeve t-shirt.
The last bit of the ascent, the very low trees have a strange color to them, or lack of color perhaps. Color is word of the day.
Occasionally the sun would almost appear, often just as I got my camera out, more cloud enveloped my face.
So here is the summit marker, with cloud all around.
I hung around as long as I could freezing hoping for a view, this is the best I could do. Had the place to myself, saw 5 other people coming down on my ascent, and no one at all on my descent.
Half way down, patches of blue sky appear.
The other ridge is a different path down to a ski field, no time for that today, I had to meet the train or wait another 3 hours.
Link to Hi Resolution 3000x2000 version
In site of the station again now, I think this one wins the coveted PHOTO OF THE DAY award! Fanfare.
Same photo, but now me. Shopped myself in.
I had 30 minutes to spare before my train, so I went to the bonus bit of ravine that goes the other way from the station that I did not see yesterday, I think this is partially man made.
Waterfall.
Feel the serenity.
Time for one of these. Omoshiroyama gets my highest rating for tourism awards as awarded by the solo lunatic traveller.
A woman was very concerned about my behaviour whilst I was taking this photo, it took 3 attempts to get the stance perfect, not sure if she was concerned with my lack of smiling or that I might walk backwards and fall in front of the train that was due.
Last photo from here, the tunnel! You cant walk down it, I went to find out of course.
The view out the train on the way back is fantastic. I had to stand the whole way again, which means I could take this bonus photo featuring a red bridge.
Eating Mapo Tofu in Sendai
Despite being late back to my hotel again due to mountains and trains, I had to do my washing before anything else. I have been wearing the same pants for 5 days now and sliding down things in them.
Luckily, Japanese hotels have cheap washing machines, and some of them have those big drum dryers that work really effectively. Not this one. This hotel has some kind of different dryer technology, featuring units so small you need to put 1 washing machine load into 3 dryers, then after 90 minutes your clothes will be just as wet as when they went in.
I noticed someone else was frustrated that his clothes were not drying, and there are no settings on the machines, so its not like I was doing it wrong.
So eventually I decided to dry them in my room, and clothes are currently strategically placed all over everything. That still left me with the dilemma of what to wear this evening.
I had put all my clothes into the wash except a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, I did not even have any underwear or socks.
This is what hair dryers are for. I put the chair on my bed upside down, the 4 legs made a mini clothes line, then I used the pants press half open as a teepee over that, draped some towels over the whole arangement, then inserted the hair dryer into the whole setup using my shoes as support to keep the dryer pointed upwards.
This worked beautifully, and before I knew it, I was wearing semi dry pants and out the door looking for my dinner I had pre selected the night prior.
All my socks were in the wash, so I used the slippers provided in my room. My feet were filthy, the whiteness of these slippers will never return.
Also they were way too small, and I had to go down to reception for change, then up the top floor to the laundry, then back to my room, then back to the top floor twice more... All the time tripping over my useless formerly white slippers.
Here are the washing machines and dryers. My top tip, do not buy a sanyo dryer.
You might recall last night I spotted a place with a chart to choose your level of numbing and spicy. Thats what I wanted and thats what I had, and it was great.
My lips stayed numb for an hour afterwards.
I needed to buy toothpaste, no problem, theres over 9000 chemists in the covered shopping street. Japan has a whole selection of toothpaste flavours, including honey! Now I cant wait for it to be late enough to go to bed so I can clean my teeth with honey.
This is an imported foods shop. It is actually quite large and impressive, lots of cool things you would not be able to find in Japan otherwise, including Menz products from Adelaide. They also give you free coffee to try, but if I had coffee now I would not sleep. Plus I wouldnt want to spoil my honey tooth paste.
Japanese santa. Someone has replaced a fat white man with a fat Japanese man. Cultural misappropriation.
Not many buskers in Sendai, the only ones are these idiot beat boxers making drum noises with their mouths, my most detested form of busking apart from juggling.
There is a guy in Town Hall station Sydney who has been doing the same 4 bars non stop for 11 years now. Bar 4 of his beat has both a hand clap and a scream.
Inside the train station there is this information kiosk, except its awesome. You stand on the mat and it rumbles and pulsates to the sound. You then Minority Report style wave your arms about to control the screen.
My dinner did not really have enough vegetables, so I thought I should have some dessert vegetables. Family mart has provided me a pumpkin flavoured something, no doubt leftover from halloween.
Those are actually real pieces of pumpkin on the top, and the bottom layer I am quite certain was unsweetened pureed pumpkin. It would be baby food apart from a middle layer of fake cream and whatever the flavourless icing is on top.