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Letter 25
Thursday 05.09.13 56 km
Sometimes things are tied together in a long row of incidents that fit
together. But often it only takes one one missing part to make it all fall apart.
That's how things happen when I've landed in Aomori. I find easily downtown and
the station. Get the most exact informations that I've ever had during my trip.
The lady prints out 3 maps and put them together with tape, to show me how to
get to Moya Kogen Youth Hostel, which I've found in Lonely Planet and know is
quite a bit out of town. I'm also
instructed how to find a bicycle shop where I hope to get a new computer.
I find the shop and a young japanese knowing about bicycles finds out, that
he thinks he has just the kit-set I need, so I don't have to change the computer
itself. And he checks numbers and types and look things up at the internet and
in catalogs. Added some gestures we speak easily in each our language, and he
manage to get the set out of a huge bunddle and I can go on....
Now I need to buy food for the evening and the morning, as there'll probably
will be nothing to buy around the hostel. In a road leading to the 103, is a
Lawson and I shop there in 2 min. And then it's just full speed ahead, it's
5.30pm and maybe I ought to be there before 6pm?
The 103 starts to incline up through the woods, so I'm soon dripping from
sweat. End up at where it's supposed to be. But where is it? Damn! I stop a car
from a smaller road. Yes, the man knows this place. Smiling he starts to haul
out english words and tells that it was there he learned to speak english a long
time ago. It's just around somewhere. I go back to the last poster and when I
see it from the other side, the logo is there: IYH. Maybe I can get a discount
with my card?
The outer door is open, but hte inner is locked and it's dark everywhere.
Closed. Damn! In vain I try to call a number on the poster with the help of a
lady opposite, but nobody answers.
There's a bit of grass beside the house and I put up my tent there. The
mosqitoes are at my over heated body in no time. Certain things are repeated,
but within long I'm secure. I eat my dinner and lie down on the sleeping bag to
cool down.
I don't feel I've slept, but when I look at my watch it's after midnight. And
then the rain starts! It must be that "hard rain" I heard about yesterday that
has been delayed. There are some harsh wind blows but the tent is shielded by
the house.
The tent in the morning
This morning the rain has ceased and I pack up the wet tent and leave without
breakfast. When I reach the front of the house there's a car there. I avoid
stepping in to present myself.
The road inclines km after km. I've named it "The green hell". Green
everywhere. A fertility beyond borders, that eats you up totally. No overview,
no feeling of where you are concerning the outside world. At the end I reach a
plateau, where I find a place to eat breakfast.
On it goes through another green hell, but I think I'm past the worst now,
where I sit shielded in a waiting room in a ski resort. Only onre thing is
actually missing, but don't worry, it'll come. Quiet and easy I move up in the
clouds - and it rains. And as if that wasn't enough, the fog/clouds pack up all
in a grey mist. On top of all one hook on my long rubberband jumps off and
disappears into the woods. That's the one that keeps the backpack in place at my
rear. I have to tie it in one side.
I reach a spa. I can smell the sulphur in a long distance. There, in this
deserted area, are people. Upwards it goes. Suddenly a sign over the road:
Kasamatsu Pass 1040 m. So I dragged it all 1 km up in the air since yesterday.
It felt like that, really!
Now it has to go downwards
Then comes the descent, long straight parts changing with hairpin turns. The
brakes are working. I reach under the clouds and in the end there is the sun!!!
Now I'm at an Onsen (Spa) with a nice fountain in front of me.
On it goes downwards. It's so easy that I end up going too far. Luckily
there's a map at the road, and according to that I'm going along a river that
flows to the sea. I have to go 3 km back. On the way the most peculiar happens:
The meter starts working again. Now I've got the kit-set. I go for the caldera
lake: Towada.
I go up through a gorge with the water bubbling in the other direction.
Sometimes steep rocks to one side sometimes to both. There's a path along the
river. This is a tourist spot. Waterfalls of different types come rushing down
from the sides. From quiet water flowing down steep rocks to the more flamboyant
Kumoi Falls where the water in three steps fall down 20 m. This gorge is the
clou of the trip until now..
From the gorge with all the waterfalls....
In the end after 14 km like a revelation the gorge ends in the lake from
where the water comes, and which I go along all the way down to a town beginning
with Y... where I pass a poster saying: Backpackers Hostel" and where I've got a
bed for 2.000 Y, but as I'm the only one, it's as good as a hotel.
The old man who looks after the place, can say things like "Just a minute",
but that's about it. He said it when I wanted a shower. I think he had to lit
the gas water heater. And they have wi-fi. On the other hand there are no
convinient stores. Yougurt and bread I couldn't find. Have to be some
place at 6pm. The tent is drying outside, I'd better pack it down before I leave
- it was almost dry.
The restaurant has no pictures of the dishes. I ordered something, which is
fish with rice (as far as I understand). We'll see...
I feel quite stuffed. It couldn't have been much better. Rice and breaded
fish - with no bones. Together with miso soup, 3 small fishes prepared to be
eaten with head and all - a little sweetish. Some red sliced ginger and a
vegetable in a dressing and slices of a root that is also prepared in some way.
I'm the only customer. They're only open because the girl telephoned from the
other restaurant which closed at 3pm. I'm glad I could order breakfast in my
hostel.