The Takao-san Field Trip, or How We Survived The Big-Ass Mountain and Got Drunk Later
So, today was the long-awaited Takao-san trip.
Suzanne and I rode to the station on our bikes that morning and got to Takao-san-guchi on time. We didn't think climbing the mountain would be that bad.
We were horribly, horribly, wrong.
About a quarter of the way through, I found out I had trouble breathing, so I stopped to rest before I wound up collapsing on the stone path. It didn't really get better until we reached the halfway point, where there were stands selling dango, fruits, little tourist-trap things, really. Well, okay, I could have done with some imo and yuzu for sure.
The temples were beautiful, though, and they distracted me from my shortness of breath, thanks to oh, the little love shrine I spotted, the other huge shrines, and the fact that these people were selling lucky charms like hotcakes. The only one I got was the one in the pictures--the little doll that has chuu-kichi (misspelled in the caption), because according to it, something will happen this year. We'll have to see, I guess.
After lunch (where we stopped to rest), it had beautiful scenery, but we still had to go further up. As in, we went up, I felt like I'd been socked in the gut, and Boccellari-sensei would cheerfully go, "oh, the worst is over. Now it's the second worst!" As you can see in the pictures, every time we thought we were done climbing a slope, there would be another one, and it'd be a hell of a lot more steep and a hell of a lot more dangerous looking.
Example: on the way to the very top, I saw a man slip and fall and hurt himself. I asked him and his wife if he needed help, and they waved me off, but it looked like he may have sprained something.
In other words, while I felt like I'd been socked in the gut, I had to worry about falling. Yay.
The top, as you can see in the pictures, is worth it, though.
Of course, when Kimi-san cheerfully said it was all downhill from here, we thought that it'd be easier this time.
(insert maniacal laughter here)
Not only was the downward walk steep, but there were mud, rocks, and tree roots where one could slip and fall easily and did so. Quite a few, actually. It's amazing we all made it down in one piece, considering the sharp turns, loose rocks and my shoelaces getting untied like mad. I finally grabbed onto New Zealand Mark's hand for dear life and made it down.
Afterwards, some of us went back to the dorm, and some of us decided to go to an izakaya in Hachioji for a party.
Beer, sake, and Japanese food going all over the place. We had a ton of stuff. Boccellari-sensei ordered natto and passed it around making people freak out.
I had two little cups of sake; one was room temperature and one was warm, and they kinda went to my head, as I felt pretty good afterwards. I'm better now, since of course, I rode my bike back home without incident.
And so, this concludes the Takao-san Adventure.
Suzanne and I rode to the station on our bikes that morning and got to Takao-san-guchi on time. We didn't think climbing the mountain would be that bad.
We were horribly, horribly, wrong.
About a quarter of the way through, I found out I had trouble breathing, so I stopped to rest before I wound up collapsing on the stone path. It didn't really get better until we reached the halfway point, where there were stands selling dango, fruits, little tourist-trap things, really. Well, okay, I could have done with some imo and yuzu for sure.
The temples were beautiful, though, and they distracted me from my shortness of breath, thanks to oh, the little love shrine I spotted, the other huge shrines, and the fact that these people were selling lucky charms like hotcakes. The only one I got was the one in the pictures--the little doll that has chuu-kichi (misspelled in the caption), because according to it, something will happen this year. We'll have to see, I guess.
After lunch (where we stopped to rest), it had beautiful scenery, but we still had to go further up. As in, we went up, I felt like I'd been socked in the gut, and Boccellari-sensei would cheerfully go, "oh, the worst is over. Now it's the second worst!" As you can see in the pictures, every time we thought we were done climbing a slope, there would be another one, and it'd be a hell of a lot more steep and a hell of a lot more dangerous looking.
Example: on the way to the very top, I saw a man slip and fall and hurt himself. I asked him and his wife if he needed help, and they waved me off, but it looked like he may have sprained something.
In other words, while I felt like I'd been socked in the gut, I had to worry about falling. Yay.
The top, as you can see in the pictures, is worth it, though.
Of course, when Kimi-san cheerfully said it was all downhill from here, we thought that it'd be easier this time.
(insert maniacal laughter here)
Not only was the downward walk steep, but there were mud, rocks, and tree roots where one could slip and fall easily and did so. Quite a few, actually. It's amazing we all made it down in one piece, considering the sharp turns, loose rocks and my shoelaces getting untied like mad. I finally grabbed onto New Zealand Mark's hand for dear life and made it down.
Afterwards, some of us went back to the dorm, and some of us decided to go to an izakaya in Hachioji for a party.
Beer, sake, and Japanese food going all over the place. We had a ton of stuff. Boccellari-sensei ordered natto and passed it around making people freak out.
I had two little cups of sake; one was room temperature and one was warm, and they kinda went to my head, as I felt pretty good afterwards. I'm better now, since of course, I rode my bike back home without incident.
And so, this concludes the Takao-san Adventure.
posted by Jessica at 1:09 午前
3 Comments:
Seriously, this is going to be the story of every field trip led by Boccellari sensei. He walks fast as hell (which I actually liked and was always the only one to keep pace with him) and can climb mountains like no one's business despite looking like your average out-of-shape American. His stamina is insane and he's always a bit misleading with his responses to the inevitable "are we there yet?" inquiries that accompany all excursions.
wow, seems like you had tons of fun climbing, ne? ;) i heard that climbing fuji-san is hellish, and that it's not even very pretty when you get to the top. :P
yeah... about the hikaru no go stuff. i like pretty much anything hikaru no go, so it's hard to narrow down. ^^; i can tell you what i do have though... i have volumes 1-3 and 20-23 of the manga, as well as the gorgeous character guide, and a plushie of isumi-san. i also have this cute mini-stationary/memo type set. other than that, i dunno, use your best judgement, i guess. ^^;;
--connie
nice pics, jess. i especially like the food ones heh heh.
emily
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