Hiking and Home
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| From 2008-05-31 |
The mountain!
This weekend saw myself and my plucky American neighbour hiking Mt.Pinneshiri, a 704m incline in the slight interior of Soya, our sub-prefecture. I was a little worried about the weather, what with the freezing winds and rain that had half-stopped on Friday, but the morning turned out perfect, with a light breeze and sunny skies. The hike took us an hour and a half to get to the top, after which my legs were already protesting this unnatural torture. All the rippled physique I’d theoretically gained snowboarding was by now long gone it seems.
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| From 2008-05-31 |
The view from half-way
The view from the top was appropriately spectacular, and the clear skies enabled us to see Mt. Rishiri in the distance (Rishiri is the old volcanic one on the islands above Wakkanai.) In all worth the climb, which was the first mountain I’ve hiked up in living memory! The descent took a lot less time, but played more havoc on the legs, this time the torture focused on the knees and calves. Chris, being the chiropractically-challenged guy he is (too many BMX crashes in his youth), complained of his kneecap scraping against his other leg bones, which is gross. Also he also got assaulted by a giant snake that slid across his path. It seems he gets all the fun!
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| From 2008-05-31 |
From the top
Back in town I’ve been gradually planning for the eventual return home. My supervisor has booked my ticket for the 30th of July, which looks to be a serious marathon of travel, leaving Wakkanai and seeing Tokyo and Singapore on the way. In more immediate travel terms, I’ve been scheming to visit my cousin in Osaka and take a whirlwind 3 day tour of the Kansai area, seeing ‘old Japan’ for the first time. While I’m not a huge fan of the tourist-heavy places in any country, I think I can make an exception for one of the few major cities in Japan (Kyoto) that wasn’t bombed to the ground…
