On The Go – Day 5

We both seem to have the same problem on this vacation where we are suffering from some kind of ‘time shift’.

I realize that Japan is 15 hours ahead of Chicago which is confusing enough. And I understand the whole jet lag thing. No in this case it’s probably the whole ‘I’m excited to be on vacation’ thing.

Amelia is used to getting up at around 4:00 am. She goes to the gym every morning and then does her prep and heads out to work. For her she is usually asleep by 8:00 pm.

For me, I’m usually up by 5:00 AM every Monday – Friday because I normally like to start work by 6:00 AM.

So, for us it makes sense to be up and going by 5:00 anyway.

Plus…I’m on vacation…

So you’d think I’d ‘allow’ myself time to sleep In now and then.

Nope!

The last three mornings we have both been up and wide eyed by 2:00 AM with no hope of returning to sleep.The flip side of this though is that by 6:00 to 7:00 PM we are both exhausted and ready to crash.

Today’s trip was set for the Daimon-guchi Nyonin-do Temple which is based around the remains of a Buddhist temple high in the Japanese mountains. This acts as a gateway to an entire village centered around a collection of other Buddhist temples and shrines.

In this case, after taking two trains, you ended up taking a cable car to the base facility before making the final treck, either by bus or walking, the last three kilometers to the beginning.

The second train of this pair was the most interesting of all my train trips so far – even including the bullet trains.

This second train was a small two car train. It wasn’t very fancy and definitely not very fast. What it lacked in speed and fancy, it made up for by wandering through some of the most secluded and picturesque mountains I have ever ridden a train through. As we wound through the mountains between the base starting station and the bottom of the cable car, there were even a couple stops for small mountain villages nestled in the valleys along the way.

It was a little discouraging when we got to the top and realized that there were roads going to the same destination that could have been taken if you were so inclined. So it wasn’t as isolated as we originally thought.

Yet for us, it was still the pilgrimage that made it the adventurous day that it turned out to be.

As always, i like watching the people and observing the different cultures that have come all the way up here to see this place. And I enjoy the history of these ancient buildings that still house Buddhist monks living and worshipping today. Some of these structures have stood for so long they are in fact a testimony of the hands and the minds that built them.

To put it into perspective, there’s one spot I noticed where the rain running off the roof drips down to the natural exposed stone underneath the entire structure. The rain had been dripping so long that there had developed a small canyon about 2 inches wide and deep for the length of the roof line.

There’s a part of me that finds this normally solitude life of a monk living in a shrine fascinating. Don’t get me wrong: I love family and friends and the normal diversity most western cultures enjoy. But that part of me however that finds this alternative interesting feels that the solitude and the ability to focus on one’s purpose and path in life might also be fulfilling.

Or, maybe I just need to take more sanity time in my normal western life.

So, once we had finished our time in the temple area, it was time to head back to the hotel. By this time we were both a little worn so we decided not to walk back down to the tram, but took a bus.

One tram ride down the mountain later and we were on the platform waiting for the train.

Earlier in the day, while at the train station heading up, we had seen a vending machine on the train platform with this product called “Corn Soup” in a cute little can.

We weren’t hungry on the way up to the shrines, but we promised ourselves we would try the corn soup on the way back.

So, there we were, with enough time left before the train to have a sampling of what we hoped would be a positive Culinary experience. As soon as I popped the can, I handed it towards Amelia for her to try. Something about the smell must have hit her senses wrong because at that moment, she literally made a wrenching sound, covered her mouth like she was going to throw up, backed away and said no thank you!

Well, her reaction took me by surprise, and my reaction caught her off guard, so we both started laughing.

Then, on top of all that she started teasing me, and making me laugh with more wrenching sounds; I was actually having a hard time trying it because of my own Gag reflex caused by her reaction.

Finally however I took my first taste and found it to be quite good.

The best part however was the fact that I have not laughed that hard in a very long time.

Later, about half way through the can, I finally felt the first corn kernel fall into my mouth. This startled me so much that I spat it out and we both started laughing all over again.

The night finally ended with the two of us having our favorite ramen meal one last time at the train station and then off to bed.

Tomorrow, its the bullet train on to Nagoya for the next leg of our journey.