i keep smelling papa murphy's pizza; which is insane. not only am i thousands of miles from the nearest establishment, i am thousands of miles from actually delicious pizza. this leaves me to include one of two things. one, there is pizza pixy playing nose tricks on me. two, i can almost taste 'home' and it's reached my nose.
for the major part of my life i had papa murphy's (originally papa aldo's) every saturday night, with my family, while we watched star trek or, later, a movie. in college that waned. in japan it disappeared, obviously. so, smelling papa murphy's everywhere i turn is like torture. it's still too far away to actually say, 'i can't wait till i can have that pizza!', but it's too close to not imagine making that statement. what's silliest of all is the fact that as that time nears, i know i will be saying, 'fuck papa murphy's! i don't wanna leave!'. even now, those words are on the tip of my tongue, right after, 'what is that smell? pizza?'.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
the hike.
during winter break i had wanted to go camping, it didn't happen. although i had not used any of my nenkyu (days off) during that time, so i still had days to spare. i decided to use three to go down to yakyshima, the rainiest place in japan. silly place to go, you say? well it also has the oldest cedar trees in japan and some of the best hiking in japan.
saturday morning i woke early to finalize packing, washing dishes, and making sure i had everything i could need. i then bought my shink ticket from my little train station and was off. the trip down was rather uneventful, except the minor excitement at being on the shiney new kyushu shinkansen for the last land-based leg of the journey. once in kagoshima (where my port to yakushima was) i switched stations and grabbed a cab to the トッピー (toppy) express ferry. at that point, if it weren't for the boat being 2 minutes late to leave, i would have missed it, which might have been the only boat to go to the island that day--as the weather was stormy and dark; foreboding you might say.
on the island i started to bemoan my choice to not buy the lonely planet's 'hiking japan'. i did find my english maps, after waiting and getting nervous about missing a bus, but even then it was confusing and not obvious the way i would want go. my saving grace was named, kosuke. on the ferry, when i asked in bad japanese if a seat was free, he answered my in clear perfect english. while waiting for maps from the information center, on the island, i started up a conversation, realizing i was a little up the river, paddle-less. i followed his lead and went to anbo for the night. this little town was near the base of a few of the hiking starts. still on kosuke's coat tails, we asked questions of the more local information center and got the low down for our hikes.
kosuke was a nice young man (28ish?) who had planned a trip with his parents to yakushima; they had bailed, so he was there alone. as he was eyeing his hiking route, and realizing it made no sense not to make it an overnight trip, he decided to tag onto my hike. now i was quite happy to have him there to be a perfect translator, but i had been looking forward to my one-woman hike. he was eyeing me in my gear and hoping to mooch off my apparent hiking skills. after my moment of surprise, i said 'of course you're welcome to join me!'. what else was i going to do?
so i stayed in the dorm style rooms above the rental shop, next to the info center; kosuke went for a real hotel, and then we went for dinner. he paid, thank you! and i enjoyed his selections on the menu. in the morning we met at 5am to take a taxi to the head of the trail--that's japan for you, a taxi to go hiking. kosuke again paid, thank you!
the start of the trail looked like any national park trail in oregon. there was the biffy (bathroom in forest), the map on the rustic looking board, and the parking. there with us, at 6am, was a large group of retiree hikers. they were a patchwork of bright gortex, rearing to go. kosuke and i started out, after a few photos taken, ahead of the gortex quilt. the weather from the previous stormy day had not completely disappeared and the air was a mist of wet, that later turned to rain, back to mist, to clear, to heavy mist, and so on. our first day was simply hiking up and up and up. we were going to the miyanoura-dake (peak). after that we would move on to the cabin, that was the designated sleeping spot. [tangent: i had to laugh at the fact there were 6 cabins in these mountains for tourists to sleep in. there was no charge, simply a courtesy. i was laughing till i thought about it and realized it was actually a great way to save the forest from damage from campers. of course it would never work in the u.s., but i'm not sure i would want it to. i kinda missed my tent--hence it not working in the u.s.] overall it ended up being ten hours of hiking with a few breaks to stretch out the time. my converse (yes, i was hiking in converse) were basically dry for the first seven hours, and then they were puddles. i only fell two times. first, only five minutes in, i did a face dive in a puddle, with my 40lb pack on my back. don't as me how. second, i did the semi-splits in a puddle of mud, thanks to the rain most of that mud did wash off.
the sights that stunned me were, that while on the top of the mountain, it was field after field of miniature bamboo, only broken by the sprinkling of pink rhododendrons. the path at that point was a raised wooden platform, so it felt rather unreal. my pictures did not capture any of this because while on the top the rain and wind beat down on us and i feared damaging my new camera.
the night was spent in the cabin with three other groups (again, this would never work in america). we had our little dinner, and curled down in our mummy bags, trying to keep warm. the cold was unexpected and all permeating. with my one warm shirt being wet, it was a chilly night as i tried to sleep with a little mouse running around the cabin, deciding--on occasion--that i looked like a climbable mountain. this was actually a pretty good night, despite my complaints, and in the morning i had a nice hot oatmeal breakfast to warm me up.
our second day hiking was in the woods. it was raining and dripping in the morning, but slowly the world began to dry out. after our first landmark, the second cabin on top of the mountain, we began to pass into the world heritage territory and the giant cedars that draw so many to this island. this included the oldest cedar tree in japan (they don't know how old, anywhere from 2,000 to 7,000 years old), and the husband and wife trees, the old oldest tree, and a few more with their own quirky names. one that i found funny was wilson's stump. it was called this 'cause some guy named wilson came upon it in a storm and thought it was a cave, but it was a tree stump. he was so impressed by the size he wrote a paper that got published and read world wide.
on our hike down we ran into group after group, led by guides, of tourists going up this famous trail. it got rather tiresome, but it was very japanese. at the bottom of the hill was a set of old trolly tracks. this was kosuke's trail down. i was on it for a while with him before i took my own path. we saw some more wildlife, my first monkey in japan and a few dear, then we had our lunch before splitting off. we said goodbye and then i went up my little path, that looked like no one ever went on, into the princess mononoke forest (yes, like the movie).
i had what was supposed to be a 80 min hike to the cabin where i would sleep that night. i knew that it would take me at least two hours, as that day's previous six hours, and my heavy bag, were weighing on me. along the way i trudged through and around a trail that was more like a small stream (this was just the same as the previous trails on top of the mountain and such), and i was excited to see more deer that were not very frightened of my single appearance. this was even to the point where i heard a deer scream. i had never heard a deer make any vocal sound before, but there he was, screaming his little head off. i still don't know why, but it was pretty cool.
when i finally reached a sign directing me towards my cabin, 20 min to go, and i took a wrong turn. i saw the pink ribbons, that had been guiding my way, off to the left. the sign basically pointed in this direction, and i saw no other ribbons, so i headed up. and up and up and up. i thought i was getting closer, but no. my hike up onto a questionable trail was taking me no where near my destination. however it was taking me to a renewal of my ambition in life. at the top, i came upon a large granite stone, i thought maybe the cabin was just on the other side, oh was i wrong. over the rock was on of the most amazing views of my life. the island of yakushima fell below my feet and i was stunned. i couldn't help going back, in my mind, to my hike two years ago with my parents to the wallalas. at our peak there it was entirely granite stone and look like something out of the lord of the rings. this, in the center of yakushima, was so much more lush and seemed out of a dream.
of course, because it's japan, i was not alone in this beautiful, perfect spot; there was also a japanese couple there relaxing in the sun. the young man had a lovely large video camera and was filming the clouds, the woman was just keeping him company. he was filming for a video about yakushima that he would sell, as he had done in the past. it was nice to chat with them, but nicer still to just sit there and feel the warm sun on my chilled body. i never wanted to leave, but inevitably, i stood up, put my heavy pack back on, and retraced my steps. with directions from my japanese encounter, i knew where i was going and in an hour, was at my concrete cabin. the hike to the cabin was beautiful and green and a little beyond belief (as i sit here at my sterile desk typing this), but the cabin made me laugh.
it was a concrete building, that used to have running water, electricity and the whole set up. now it was a bare and empty leftover. it was still clearly used, fire residue on the walls where people had cooked, toilet paper for the biffies. with a little looking around i found there was even a little room, sliding screen style doors, that i could close myself off into and have privacy from the sure to come japanese hikers. i set up, filtered my water (from the set up source that everyone else drank out of straight) and settled in for the night.
up on my rock, i had decided to stay for an extra day, just hanging out at the cabin or maybe going back up to look at the view. pain in my legs and feet, plus the rain, stopped me from any hiking the next day, but i did enjoy my sleeping late, napping, and lots of reading. throughout the day there were hikers stopping for lunch, i had a few brief conversations. in the end one girl asked if she could share my private little room, her english was amazing, and i was happy to have the company. a little conversation reveled she was a professional singer, and her mom was a gospel style singing teacher in new york. in the morning i shared my last oatmeal before we said good bye, and that was that. (oh, there were also two very loud middle aged men who slept there that night in the main room of the 'cabin').
on the morning of my fifth day on yakushima, after my friendly conversation, i started out on my last hike. i had two hours to do a 60 min hike, and i was happy to have the extra time to take photos and enjoy the beauty. the hike down was through the mononoke forest, and with the little historical information dropped on the side of the trail, i now feel the need to watch miyazaki's movie again.
when at the bottom of this lush and wet forest, i felt i was coming out of the din. after the rain of the previous three days, the bright amazing sun felt like i was starting anew. it felt like i was coming out of the rainy oregon spring, into the magical oregon summer. i felt so much better, happier.
the rest of the trip was marveling at how different yakushima looked when it wasn't raining, down by the port city, and then the ferry ride to the shinkansen, to the limited express transfer train, to the other shink, to my little local line and home. my ride home was peppered with the end of 'the pleasure of my company', wait wait...don't tell me, and this american life. these listenings brought me back to road trips with my family, and made me grin. a perfect ending to a perfect trip.
saturday morning i woke early to finalize packing, washing dishes, and making sure i had everything i could need. i then bought my shink ticket from my little train station and was off. the trip down was rather uneventful, except the minor excitement at being on the shiney new kyushu shinkansen for the last land-based leg of the journey. once in kagoshima (where my port to yakushima was) i switched stations and grabbed a cab to the トッピー (toppy) express ferry. at that point, if it weren't for the boat being 2 minutes late to leave, i would have missed it, which might have been the only boat to go to the island that day--as the weather was stormy and dark; foreboding you might say.
on the island i started to bemoan my choice to not buy the lonely planet's 'hiking japan'. i did find my english maps, after waiting and getting nervous about missing a bus, but even then it was confusing and not obvious the way i would want go. my saving grace was named, kosuke. on the ferry, when i asked in bad japanese if a seat was free, he answered my in clear perfect english. while waiting for maps from the information center, on the island, i started up a conversation, realizing i was a little up the river, paddle-less. i followed his lead and went to anbo for the night. this little town was near the base of a few of the hiking starts. still on kosuke's coat tails, we asked questions of the more local information center and got the low down for our hikes.
kosuke was a nice young man (28ish?) who had planned a trip with his parents to yakushima; they had bailed, so he was there alone. as he was eyeing his hiking route, and realizing it made no sense not to make it an overnight trip, he decided to tag onto my hike. now i was quite happy to have him there to be a perfect translator, but i had been looking forward to my one-woman hike. he was eyeing me in my gear and hoping to mooch off my apparent hiking skills. after my moment of surprise, i said 'of course you're welcome to join me!'. what else was i going to do?
so i stayed in the dorm style rooms above the rental shop, next to the info center; kosuke went for a real hotel, and then we went for dinner. he paid, thank you! and i enjoyed his selections on the menu. in the morning we met at 5am to take a taxi to the head of the trail--that's japan for you, a taxi to go hiking. kosuke again paid, thank you!
the start of the trail looked like any national park trail in oregon. there was the biffy (bathroom in forest), the map on the rustic looking board, and the parking. there with us, at 6am, was a large group of retiree hikers. they were a patchwork of bright gortex, rearing to go. kosuke and i started out, after a few photos taken, ahead of the gortex quilt. the weather from the previous stormy day had not completely disappeared and the air was a mist of wet, that later turned to rain, back to mist, to clear, to heavy mist, and so on. our first day was simply hiking up and up and up. we were going to the miyanoura-dake (peak). after that we would move on to the cabin, that was the designated sleeping spot. [tangent: i had to laugh at the fact there were 6 cabins in these mountains for tourists to sleep in. there was no charge, simply a courtesy. i was laughing till i thought about it and realized it was actually a great way to save the forest from damage from campers. of course it would never work in the u.s., but i'm not sure i would want it to. i kinda missed my tent--hence it not working in the u.s.] overall it ended up being ten hours of hiking with a few breaks to stretch out the time. my converse (yes, i was hiking in converse) were basically dry for the first seven hours, and then they were puddles. i only fell two times. first, only five minutes in, i did a face dive in a puddle, with my 40lb pack on my back. don't as me how. second, i did the semi-splits in a puddle of mud, thanks to the rain most of that mud did wash off.
the sights that stunned me were, that while on the top of the mountain, it was field after field of miniature bamboo, only broken by the sprinkling of pink rhododendrons. the path at that point was a raised wooden platform, so it felt rather unreal. my pictures did not capture any of this because while on the top the rain and wind beat down on us and i feared damaging my new camera.
the night was spent in the cabin with three other groups (again, this would never work in america). we had our little dinner, and curled down in our mummy bags, trying to keep warm. the cold was unexpected and all permeating. with my one warm shirt being wet, it was a chilly night as i tried to sleep with a little mouse running around the cabin, deciding--on occasion--that i looked like a climbable mountain. this was actually a pretty good night, despite my complaints, and in the morning i had a nice hot oatmeal breakfast to warm me up.
our second day hiking was in the woods. it was raining and dripping in the morning, but slowly the world began to dry out. after our first landmark, the second cabin on top of the mountain, we began to pass into the world heritage territory and the giant cedars that draw so many to this island. this included the oldest cedar tree in japan (they don't know how old, anywhere from 2,000 to 7,000 years old), and the husband and wife trees, the old oldest tree, and a few more with their own quirky names. one that i found funny was wilson's stump. it was called this 'cause some guy named wilson came upon it in a storm and thought it was a cave, but it was a tree stump. he was so impressed by the size he wrote a paper that got published and read world wide.
on our hike down we ran into group after group, led by guides, of tourists going up this famous trail. it got rather tiresome, but it was very japanese. at the bottom of the hill was a set of old trolly tracks. this was kosuke's trail down. i was on it for a while with him before i took my own path. we saw some more wildlife, my first monkey in japan and a few dear, then we had our lunch before splitting off. we said goodbye and then i went up my little path, that looked like no one ever went on, into the princess mononoke forest (yes, like the movie).
i had what was supposed to be a 80 min hike to the cabin where i would sleep that night. i knew that it would take me at least two hours, as that day's previous six hours, and my heavy bag, were weighing on me. along the way i trudged through and around a trail that was more like a small stream (this was just the same as the previous trails on top of the mountain and such), and i was excited to see more deer that were not very frightened of my single appearance. this was even to the point where i heard a deer scream. i had never heard a deer make any vocal sound before, but there he was, screaming his little head off. i still don't know why, but it was pretty cool.
when i finally reached a sign directing me towards my cabin, 20 min to go, and i took a wrong turn. i saw the pink ribbons, that had been guiding my way, off to the left. the sign basically pointed in this direction, and i saw no other ribbons, so i headed up. and up and up and up. i thought i was getting closer, but no. my hike up onto a questionable trail was taking me no where near my destination. however it was taking me to a renewal of my ambition in life. at the top, i came upon a large granite stone, i thought maybe the cabin was just on the other side, oh was i wrong. over the rock was on of the most amazing views of my life. the island of yakushima fell below my feet and i was stunned. i couldn't help going back, in my mind, to my hike two years ago with my parents to the wallalas. at our peak there it was entirely granite stone and look like something out of the lord of the rings. this, in the center of yakushima, was so much more lush and seemed out of a dream.
of course, because it's japan, i was not alone in this beautiful, perfect spot; there was also a japanese couple there relaxing in the sun. the young man had a lovely large video camera and was filming the clouds, the woman was just keeping him company. he was filming for a video about yakushima that he would sell, as he had done in the past. it was nice to chat with them, but nicer still to just sit there and feel the warm sun on my chilled body. i never wanted to leave, but inevitably, i stood up, put my heavy pack back on, and retraced my steps. with directions from my japanese encounter, i knew where i was going and in an hour, was at my concrete cabin. the hike to the cabin was beautiful and green and a little beyond belief (as i sit here at my sterile desk typing this), but the cabin made me laugh.
it was a concrete building, that used to have running water, electricity and the whole set up. now it was a bare and empty leftover. it was still clearly used, fire residue on the walls where people had cooked, toilet paper for the biffies. with a little looking around i found there was even a little room, sliding screen style doors, that i could close myself off into and have privacy from the sure to come japanese hikers. i set up, filtered my water (from the set up source that everyone else drank out of straight) and settled in for the night.
up on my rock, i had decided to stay for an extra day, just hanging out at the cabin or maybe going back up to look at the view. pain in my legs and feet, plus the rain, stopped me from any hiking the next day, but i did enjoy my sleeping late, napping, and lots of reading. throughout the day there were hikers stopping for lunch, i had a few brief conversations. in the end one girl asked if she could share my private little room, her english was amazing, and i was happy to have the company. a little conversation reveled she was a professional singer, and her mom was a gospel style singing teacher in new york. in the morning i shared my last oatmeal before we said good bye, and that was that. (oh, there were also two very loud middle aged men who slept there that night in the main room of the 'cabin').
on the morning of my fifth day on yakushima, after my friendly conversation, i started out on my last hike. i had two hours to do a 60 min hike, and i was happy to have the extra time to take photos and enjoy the beauty. the hike down was through the mononoke forest, and with the little historical information dropped on the side of the trail, i now feel the need to watch miyazaki's movie again.
when at the bottom of this lush and wet forest, i felt i was coming out of the din. after the rain of the previous three days, the bright amazing sun felt like i was starting anew. it felt like i was coming out of the rainy oregon spring, into the magical oregon summer. i felt so much better, happier.
the rest of the trip was marveling at how different yakushima looked when it wasn't raining, down by the port city, and then the ferry ride to the shinkansen, to the limited express transfer train, to the other shink, to my little local line and home. my ride home was peppered with the end of 'the pleasure of my company', wait wait...don't tell me, and this american life. these listenings brought me back to road trips with my family, and made me grin. a perfect ending to a perfect trip.
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