Sunday, July 10, 2011

Scenery 101: Horaiji

Hiking, a great hobby particularly in Japan.
Starting from base camp, we hiked up a stone step trail through a 1,000 year old cedar forest. It seems that Japan has a bountiful supply of 1,000 year old cedar forests....

1,000 year old cedar forest



Sights included beautiful flowers, quintessential Japanese stone lanterns, rare mythical creatures and weird creepy looking things that must have been created for the sheer purpose of luring tourists to snap some photos... and then to walk into the nearby giftshop.



Base camp
Macro shots make flowers look prettier in photos than in real life
A fine example of an unused stone lantern


Creepy looking thing
Artistic flower shot
Mythical baby on a mythical bird






"What a lovely day it must have been for a hike, I wish I was there too," you sigh wistfully, as you shiver miserably in your cold London flat, refusing to switch on the central heating on the false premise that a London summer is meant to be warm and sunny.

Indeed, it was a splendid hike.
Take, for example these two photos taken at an identical spot.

Mountain dew mist













Floating clouds



















The first, mist from the mountain dew rising in the early hours of dawn when our hike first began.
The second, the appearance of clouds floating under the morning sun when we returned to this base camp.

Beautiful, except it was actually pouring with rain. And it is a known fact that
1) Rain + Stone Steps = Slippery Surface ; and
2) Slippery Surface + Mountaintop Hike = Higher Probability of Certain Death from Slipping and Falling to One's Death

Literally in the clouds. Fog so thick you can't see the trees behind this one
If you look carefully, you will see the raindrops. Oh wait, resolution on blog pictures are not that great.
Another artistic photo in the rain


But alas, the hike went somewhat smoothly, and it sure beats sitting in a cold London flat. =P

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