** meanwhile **

A huge amount has happened in the last couple weeks, and I’ve racked up a bunch of photos, so I’m stopping the China journal temporarily to jot down a cool bit about an adventure I had on Monday. I don’t know what my problem has been recently, maybe it’s the frustrations with trying to get this #*(@$& durn acoustic regenerater simulation working, or the fact that things aren’t really going right on a lot of fronts, but every time I think about updating my blog, I’d really rather do something else than stare at the computer. But, I had such a cool adventure on Monday, I thought I’d bite the bullet and update. And, I really appreciate the people who have read the blog and found some sort of interest in the stories & pics.

For the past 2 months, I’ve been hanging out a lot with this guy Brett:

[After filming me underwater]

 

He’s an Architecture student, (senior year) at Auburn University, and came as an Assembly of God missionary for the summer break. I was afraid at first that I wouldn’t be able to get along with another US citizen. [Why am I so uncomfortable around people from my own country? Not you guys of course] But, turns out this guy could get along with a 2×4. Furthermore, he is almost exactly like me in that he likes adventures and exploring. We would randomly go on 2-3 hour night bike rides in Sendai trying to find places we hadn’t gone before.

He left yesterday. So, the day before that, we decided to go to a little, scarcely visited Island up north called “Kinkasan.” We had no idea what was in store, he just heard a couple things about the island: tons of tame deer, almost no tourists, infested with leeches, and most importantly, monkeys. Ever since we went to Kawasaki, and Brett exclaimed in a loud and confused voice “Did I just see a Gorilla crossing sign?!???” we knew we had to see some before he left. So… off to Kinkasan.

That morning, he asked Masako Sensei for some salt. “You having… BBQ?” “Uh, no, it’s for leeches, actually.” “Oh, ok… here, salt.” Not like she knew what a leech is, but whatever. Saintly lady, her.

First off, to get to Kinkasan you need to follow the Senseki line north from Sendai all the way till the end of the line. This is a long ways. Like, maybe 45 minutes past Matsushima, and it didn’t help that we caught the local train which makes every single stop on the way.

[From the train to Ishinomaki]

Once we got to Ishi-no-maki, however, we knew the appropriate Kanji for the place that we wanted to go, but not the pronunciation. I saw a stop for “Onogawa” and saw that the last kanji, “kawa” was corret. The first kanji was the word for fish, and it is sometimes pronounced “uo.” Uo/ono, close enough, right? So, I asked a lady what time and stop for the bus leaving for Onogawa. Get this – she accidentally told us the stop and time to the right location, “Ayukawa” (??? – “Ayu”??? How many pronunciations do each Kanji have?!?) . I went off to try to find an ATM, having no money. When I came back, (unsuccessful), I found the lady trying to tell Brett, (who knows zero Japanese) that she made a mistake, that the bus to “Onogawa” leaves an hour later. So we thought we had to wait for an hour, but the bus pulled up, and there was a big arrow on the side pointing to the name of the city in Kanji that we wanted to go. Score!

The bus ride was about an hour and a half long. It was a good sign of things to come, getting progressively farther away from all things train and touristy, and getting closer to un-visited fishing village type places. (Ayukawa is actually a whaling town). When we got there it was blazing hot, and I had no money. I found out where the nearest post office was, and we made a short trip to the post office, where I got an ATM and some money. On the way back, we ran into some freaky looking mannequins. We had some Ramen and icecream for lunch, then headed on a ferry out to Kinkasan.

[Freaky mannequin]

[Brett filming an Eel infront of a restaurant. His camera is waterproof.]

The boat ride was great. They have no rules here… we got to go up on the balcony on top, even though part of it had no fence. There’s no way we could do that in the states, but here they just expect you to use your head. The boat went fast which meant it was incredibly windy. On that very hot day, it felt great. Furthermore, as we neared the island we scared two flying fish out of the water. I couldn’t believe I just saw flying fish. They are so weird… their fins are gigantic, and they are really blue. I’m surprised the Japanese don’t eat them, cause I haven’t seen any in the markets. Seem they’d like something with that sort of novelty. The thing I have learned is, never question the Japanese taste in food. It is beyond western understanding.

[Top deck]

 

We got to the dock, and found to our great delight there was only one paved road on the island, and it was about a mile long. While Brett and I were looking over the edge of the dock into the blue-like-food-coloring water at the hundreds of sea urchins, all the people who didn’t want to be bold and adventurous (all 5 of them) clambered onto the bus, to go up to the temple on the island. Brett and I went over to a map of Kinkasan to chart our rout. We wanted to climb the peak, and then hike the perimeter back to the dock. A lady gave us a paper map, and a man told us that the last boat back left at 4:10. It was already almost 12:00, and this only gave us about 4 hours. We busted up the (very steep) road to the temple, and on the way ran into a heard of deer.

[Even the adults have spots]

The deer were tame, and lying under twisty, ancient looking trees, on grass that looked mowed. I guess it was, but by the deer. Birds and cicadas in the background, huge, deep green and red cedars. The photos don’t really describe how strangely idyllic the place felt. There were no power-lines, other than the single paved road w/no cars, no sign of humans.

Kept going, and found the Temple. Deer were wandering around on the temple grounds, and I heard this resonating boom, almost too low to be heard. Found the source of the sound – a young lady in a red and white robe was hitting a drum bigger than any I had ever seen before. I wanted to grab a mallet and whack it to, but it probably had some religious significance.

Brett and I wandered around for about half hour or so, then found the trail head. Along the way, we saw another small temple, and a grove of bamboo. I immediately challenged Brett to climb the bamboo, thinking I was going to show him up because I’m pretty decent at climbing things. This was a mistake – the guys a monkey. In addition to being a dang good rock climber, I guess he can handle bamboo pretty well. Further increasing my embarrassment, I was wearing pants and couldn’t imitate him because my flexibility was reduced to zero. (Couldn’t do the “frog.”) Sigh.

[Some weird plant]

We kept going up, and up, and up. Pretty steep for a small island… the place looked amazing. It was like a huge garden, and nobody was there. We came to a little grove w/some statues. There I discovered one of the oddities of the island. While Brett was changing into his swim-shorts, these very odd looking bugs started swarming to my skin. They didn’t bite, but they really liked to crawl around on me. Because they were flat, they looked kind of like Ticks, but had wings. On closer inspection, they appeared to be squat, flat little wasp-like things, with a sharp pointy mouth. And, weirder yet, they crawled sideways. They were very alarming looking, and I spent all my time swatting and trying to get them off me until Brett said he hadn’t even noticed them. They didn’t seem to bite, so I guess they were alright. maybe they just wanted the salt on our skin. Whatever. Anyway, for the rest of the time here, if you were in the shade, these weird little things would land on you.

We kept going up until we hit a ridge, with an incredible view. Once again, I was dumbfounded, I apologize for the pics. Don’t do it justice. Maybe Paula could do it, not me. At any rate, I set the camera up for me and Brett, and took a photo, when the most horrible thing that could have happened happened. The battery died. WHY???!?! I thought it was CHARGED!! NOOOOO. This was truly the saddest event of the day, because we hadn’t seen anything yet, but hopefully Brett will mail me some of his photos, and I will post them.

[I guess I need to get in the sun more. Brett is part Lebanese (John!!), doesn't worry about that, he said]

 

Anyway, no pic’s, but the adventures are yet to come so hang on. After this, and several words that I probably shouldn’t have said, we kept climbing. We hit the top, finally, and found a place where we could get an almost 270 degree panorama of the entire coastline around the area. The “mountain,” though only 1500 ft, was quite a bit higher than the other islands in the area, and the view we had was incredibly amazing. So angry that my camera wasn’t working, I heated the battery up w/my breath and my hand, set the focus on manual, turned the camera on and managed to get one more shot out of it. (a stop underexposed, but I tried to fix that digitally).

[Last shot before the batter finally bit it for good]

We looked at the map, and our watches. By this time we had about 2.5 hours left. Once we got down to the beach on the other side of the island, the hike around the rest of the perimeter was supposed to take about 3 hours (so the map said). We decided we could do it if we hurried, so we dashed along the ridge for a ways, then took a left down the slope to the other side of the island. This trail was not maintained and was overgrown. It didn’t help that Brett said we might be running through some poison oak (we weren’t, turns out). We slowed down when we got into an old cedar forest that was dark and cool. There were frogs everywhere. “Gosh… so many frogs around, you’d think we’d have spotted a snake by now,” I say confused. Normally, where there’s one, there’s the other. 30 seconds later, I freeze – in the path ahead of me is the darned hugest snake I’ve seen in Japan yet. It’s head was raised off the ground, and it was staring at me. Ok ok, so it’s not like it was as thick as my arm or anything, but it was way bigger than that Aodaisho I caught earlier. This was fat, and probably over 6 feet long. Without thinking I go into hunt mode, and start pounding the ground with my left hand to distract him, while trying to pin him with my right. Brett, having grown up around Copperheads and Rattlesnakes, is kind of scared of them, so he just stands back and films this with his digital cam. Eventually, I get the snake, and once he calms down, let him crawl around on my arms. After a bunch of pictures (Brett’s cam), and my excitement, we lose 20 minutes or so. Wanting to show a Japanese person what cool things they get to live around all the time, I take him with us for the next half hour or so, then decide to let him go by the trail.

On my way down the mountain, I feel a prick under my sandal strap. I figure I got a small thorn or piece of cedar under there, and assume it will just work its way out. 10 minutes later, it is still there. I look under the strap, and lo and behold, there’s a leech stuck to my foot! I try to pull it off, but it just sort of squirms and doesn’t want to let go. It smears a lot of blood around though. It doesn’t hurt, but it has a very prick feeling. I always thought you wouldn’t be able to feel leeches. Someone forgot to tell this one. I tell Brett I need the salt, but he can’t seem to find it. After emptying the contents of his pack, he pulls out a small sack, and starts dumping the contents on the leech. We watch as the thing writhes and detaches, spouting blood. This is kind of gross. I wipe the blood off, and theirs a weird little incision on my skin where it was attached, and it turns dark purple. My very first leech!!

We keep going. We see the beech, and it is breath-takingly gorgeous and blue. But, it is below us on a cliff. Crap! Brett, who is used to doing free-climbing and also is wearing shoes, (turns out, wouldn’t have mattered if he didn’t. He didn’t wear shoes until he was 16, and the soles of his feet are tough), so he is determined to get down there. We find the best rout, and he expertly skitters down the ridge, on the pine needles. I don’t fair so well. The problem is, if you lose control here, you fall off a bunch of rocks. And… I lost control. I reached out and grabbed for a small tree, which probably saved me a broken something. However, the tree had sharp bark, and I ended up getting cuts on my palm and fingertips. Sucks, could have been worse though. We get to the edge of the cliff, which isn’t high at this point, and scramble down to the beech. The water looks so great… I get in, and scrub off my legs which are all red from the grass allergies. If the place wasn’t so gorgeous, this would have sucked so bad. But seriously, it was so gorgeous it was worth every bit. Brett wants to get into the water too, and takes off his shoes. Rocks in the water are large, round and smooth, (probably average radius of about 1 1/2 feet or so). The rocks from the cliff are sharp, and not nice to climb on. Here I find out that his feet are like iron. We have to climb around another cliff, to get to the next beach over, and we do so. Brett leads, and climbs around like a pro. Once again, the other beach is amazing. There are all sorts of strange isopod-like creatures dashing around the rocks, and in the water crabs are running around. We hang out here for a while, then decide to keep going around. We keep going, until we run into a rock wall that we have no idea how to climb. It’s not that it’s all that high, probably not much more than 10 feet or so, it’s that there are no obvious holds in reach. Furthermore, if you fall, you fall onto a bunch of semi-barnacle encrusted rocks the size of a beach balls. I try to get up, and can’t. It’s probably impossible for me to make it up. I offer to spot him while he climbs up to the first hold. We do that, and he makes it up, but he can’t pull me up from the top, so I guess I really have to do this by myself.

Crap.

My flexibility is severely limited by my pants. I am considering just taking them off, to climb this, and probably should have. And now I am be-wildered at how this happened. We had gone to far along the beach that there wasn’t enough time to backtrack, and but there was no other way out. I really had to make this, and because of that I entered a completely different, ultra-determined, “whatever it takes” state of mind. I grabbed the only hold I could find, braced myself with my knee, and just sort of claw my way up to the first real hold. “Uh dude… don’t fall…” Brett calls down. yeah. In a minute I’m at the top. But my hands and both legs have a lot of blood on them. I look down and find that I cut them up pretty good on the way up. Brett on the other hand, wasn’t bleeding anywhere. He’s pretty ok on the rocks. Next beech over, I wash off, and find yet another cliff we have to climb, to keep working our way around the beech. Only, this time the cliffs are sheer, and out of our league. We decide that we need to climb back up to the path instead. There’s a little outcropping with a scramble at the base, but if we make it up there’s a ridge that we can use to get back up to the trail. But it sucks because if you fall off into a channel that water is gushing in and out of. But if you fall of the right cliff, you fall onto bunch of rocks back down on the beech. A tree divides the ridge – left or right. If you take the left, you have to bulldoze your way through a bunch of dry needly branches, but the way is flat. If you go right, it slopes off steeply towards the cliff, but you don’t have to plow your way though the branches. I take the right, and just sort of grab onto some saplings to keep from sliding off. Actually, in retrospect this was probably the most dangerous part, because it was the only place with a fall that would have likely been lethal. But, I was careful and it was ok. Brett took the left, and I heard him moaning as he plowed his way though the branches.

When we got to the top, Brett took off like a monkey through the forest, I don’t know how he does it. When I caught up with him we were at the trail around the perimeter. I look down at my watch. We have about an hour and a half. I look at where we are on the map. It says we have about a 150 minute walk. Rats. But it turns out Brett and I tag team pretty well in this regard – I wouldn’t be able to make it up the cliffs w/out watching him, but he wouldn’t be able to hold the pace around the island w/out me leading. I set off running, and he holds on for as long as he can. At this point I suggest we run the downhills and walk the uphills. We set off, and see much more of this incredible island. I wish that we did not have to run around it like this and could take more time. WE HAVEN’T SEEN MONKEY’S YET. Brett keeps praying to see a monkey. He hopes it can use sign language. I ask him if he knows sign language. He says “no, but if God made a monkey talk to us in sign language, I’m sure he could make me understand him.” Cicadas keep landing on me. “I’M NOT A TREE.” I don’t realize that Brett hasn’t seen a Cicada before, and I throw them off me without showing them to him.

20 minutes left. We are on the correct side of the island, but the dock is not in view. I tell him we need to run the rest of the way. We start running. We are pretty beat up, and his knee is hurting. With 10 minutes to spare, we see the dock. I run on ahead, and talk to the boat’s men. We have no idea where are tickets are. The man tells me not to worry about it, but says to make sure to use his boat if we come back, and winks. Rad.

We are so beat up. We climb in the boat, exhausted, cut up, dusty, looking like we just ran a race. The boats men are all chuckling when they look at us, while the few other tourists that embark on the boat look at us like we are really weird. Except the kid. He just looks curious. Once in Ayukawa, we grab some icecream, souvenirs for the sensei’s. The bus doesn’t leave for an hour. We get some ice cream. Mine is mango flavored, Brett’s is banana. Mine is good, he’s not to keen on his. There’s a whaling boat. It’s huge. On the docks is a girl about our age. “That looks like a cool girl” Brett remarks. “Why?” I ask. “You know, just a cool local fishing girl.” “Yeah, totally.” Maybe we should have bought her some mango flavored ice cream.

We just sort of chill at the bus stop, get on, and make our way back. The bus driver drives faster this time. The sun sets. There’s like 5 giggling high school girls behind us, but even they somehow manage shut up looking at the sunset. The bus is riding along the top of a pine covered slope. The land is actually an outcropping, and even though the sun is setting in the west, we are watching it set over water, reflecting off the top. This has been an incredible day. We get to Ishinomaki and take the line down to Sendai Station. Once in Sendai station, I figure we should try to find the Mexican restaurant I heard about. I ask some people, they tell me to try the restaurant complex 2 floors down. We find a Spanish restaurant… well, who knows, maybe they have no idea what Mexican food is, and think it’s Spanish food.

We are all dusty and dirty, and exhausted. The place looks like a stylish bar. I can’t say I really recommend the place, to be honest the service was terrible, and I think it might have something to do with our appearance. But, at any rate, we parted in very good spirits.

I wanted to see him off last night, and told him I’d meet at the bus stop. Unfortunately, when I got there, nobody was there. I am still not sure if I just had the wrong time, or what, but that really sucks. At any rate, we had a good time hanging out on Monday. Totally cool guy, really loves God, and really knows how to have an adventure. Hope to run into him again.

~ by timu on August 8, 2007.