Heading home, a week earlier than planned! Sayōnara

While we were waiting at the hospital one of the kind doctors logged me into his wifi so that I could find somewhere to stay.  I found a convenient hotel, near the station, but not far from the hospital, and since our time at the hospital we have been staying here. 

We have been occupying ourselves with solving problems!  The first of course was to make sure that Neil was as comfortable as he could be, which is why I chose this hotel because it is Western style.  In his condition it would be very difficult to get off a Japanese style bed on the floor. 

The view from the top floor

The corridor - I love the patterns

The next problem was how to get our bags from where they had been left.  After several long conversations with the hotel staff, via google translate, I managed to organise for our bags to be, firstly packed, then transported to our hotel.  If I had gone by bus to pick them up I would have had a 4 ½ hour bus ride, then had to stay overnight as there was no return bus till the next day.  It would have meant that Neil would have had to be alone without any help, and though he might have been glad of not seeing me for a while, it probably was not a good idea!   I was glad also that I wasn’t faced with what would have been a very windy bus trip – I could well have been quite green on arrival. 

Most of the time here has been fairly sedentary after all the activity of the first week.  We had a little bit of walking around the streets yesterday, just to stretch our legs, but after a while Neil lagged and we would have to rest.  Today has been spent sitting at the hospital for hours waiting to get enough pain killers to get Neil home as pain free as possible. 

A bus queue

A bike parking station!

A lovely garden we passed

Tomorrow we head home, though it is a longer journey than originally planned.  We will overnight in Hong Kong and arrive home on Thursday night.  One of our goals was achieved on this trip – we have both become dual pilgrims, but the second leg we planned to walk wasn’t to be, nor was the sightseeing of Koyosan, Kyoto, or Osaka.  That will have to wait for another time.

We cannot fault the assistance we have had from the locals.  People bend over backwards to help us, and though many of the conversations this week have been through google translate, somehow we have managed to make ourselves understood, and understand. 

At the start, with our hostess

On the Kumano Kodo we have stayed in wonderful local homes and B & B style accommodation.  The food at these places was very regional and very tasty – much more so than the last few days.  The scenery was spectacular, and the little villages a delight.  The Nakahechi route of the Kumano Kodo is, apart form the Japanese, peopled with Australians, not the ocker ones thank goodness, along with a sprinkling of other nationalities.  By far the commonest thing to do is to have bags transported, with very few people carrying their full packs. 

The path though is one of the hardest I have done.  What makes it hard is the steepness of the steps / stairs, the protruding tree roots, and the stones paving the path.  The stones are very slippery, partly because of their surface and sometimes when damp that affects they are even more slippery, but also because of the steep angle of the path.  Added to that is the steep drops off from the path.  It would be easy (as Neil discovered) to trip and fall off the path, so extreme care needs to be taken.  That said though – it is a wonderful journey and well worth the hardships.

Nonaka

Till next journey, whenever and wherever it may be - Sayōnara 

Day 6 & 7 - exploring Nachisan, Katsuura, and Shingu

This is really a rest day, as will be tomorrow,  although we have wandered quite a few kilometres most of it was without packs – a treat!.

We awoke to the rattling wind, but the rain appeared to have stopped fortunately.  By the time we had finished breakfast and set out to see Nachisan the wind had abated, until, when we left at around 11 am, it had returned to the calm we have become used to.  We even had a glimpse of sunshine a few times.  Thus far on this trip there has only been one day when we have resorted to wearing our fleeces, and that was because we weren’t walking and were damp from the rain.

Nachisan

As I was hunting in the dark last night for my hotel I saw the Nachi Falls floodlit in different colours and today I can see them in all their glory.  It is the tallest uninterrupted waterfall in Japan with a drop of 133 metres (there are others higher, but the fall is broken).  High above the fall itself there appears to be a swing bridge – not something I would want to traverse.

Nachisan is built on a hillside and wherever you go there are steps, some quite steep.  The shrine is at the top of the village and so of course we headed up stairs first thing as per usual.  I traversed the stairs crab like – the only way I could do so with my knee.  At the top of the village overlooking the valley far below, and looking out to the Pacific Ocean, with its storm tossed waves,  is the Seiganto-ji Temple, a Buddist Temple.  Next to it is the Kumano Nachi Taisha Shinto Shrine and further along is the Three Tiered Pagoda.  Quite a sight.

The three tiered pagoda, Nachisan

After a coffee stop we picked up our packs from the hotel and headed, by bus, to the seaside village of Katsuura.  It is, essentially, a fishing port – blue fin tuna – but also has some interesting geological formations, including hot springs.  This makes it not only a fishing port, but a tourist destination for the healing waters of the hot springs.  It is famous for its fish market held every day – except Saturday, the only day we were there!  We enjoyed wandering the streets, which are amazingly quiet, like so many of the villages we have visited.  The thing we have noticed about all the villages we have visited is how quiet they are of an evening.  The night I couldn’t find my hotel, for example, I only managed to find one person out on the streets to ask directions from, and it has been the same in every village thus far.  5.00 o’clock and everyone is off home.

Katsuura Harbour

Streets in Katsuura

A foot bath in Katsuura

Because we arrived in Katsuura mid morning we were able to drop our packs at our absolutely delightful hotel, and head off to see Shingu, where there were other important shrines for the Kumano Kodo.  We caught the train, which follows the coast, down and were struck by the rough seas still pounding in from the storm the night before, and the number of sea walls that were to protect the village from smallish inundations.

The Kumano Hayatama Taisha shrine in Shingu was, to me, very orange.  I will let the pictures tell he tale.  Lots of people, but very respectful. We visited another shrine too, Kamikura-Jinja - but I only went as far as the Torii gate as the steps were too steep for me and the state of my knee.  Neil climbed the whole 538 of them and got wonderful views of the city.  The steps are so steep, especially near the beginning, that on the way down he passed a young Japanese woman going up them on all fours – it was the only way she could climb them! They are made of field stones and are irregular in size, making negotiating them very difficult.  Each year in February 2,000 men run down them carrying flaming torches – this is the fire festival called Oto Matsuri.

The Torii gate at Shingu

After a day of exploring we returned to our hotel before going out for dinner.  It was a wonderful place to stay.  For starters we had a western style room so no making our own beds on the floor, we could use the washing machine on the roof for free, and as a greeting we were given orange juice.  Tis was a lovely was to start our stay, but then we were also given a voucher for a special sweet bean soup, also for free, and the next morning we had plenty of refills with coffee and toast.  We can recommend this hotel to anyone.

Our hotel - Hotel Charmant

The next morning we returned to Hongu Taisha, which we had visited a few days earlier.  It was here, at the tourist office, that we obtained our Dual Pilgrim certificate and pin.  We then went to the temple and registered as a pilgrim and we given the Taiko drumming ceremony.  The same monk who had driven us across to our accommodation at Yunomine a few days earlier also took us through the Taiko drumming.

The largest shrine gate in the world.  Made of steel, it stands 33m tall, 42m wide, and weighs 172 tons.

 The 158 steps leading up to the Hongu Taisha temple

The taiko drum, and our helpful monk

10,735 kilometres to Santiago de Compostela!

After that we returned to the guest house and got ready for the next days adventures – which you should have already read about in the earlier post.

27th October, and a ride, unfortunately, in a medivac helicopter!

I will return to the days we spent exploring Nachisan, Katsuura, and Shingu in the next post, but I need to update on our current situation first.

Well today was the day that we were going to start the Kohechi route.  However my knee is still sore, and so Neil decided that he would set off alone, and would most likely make good progress without having to wait for me all the time.  We had to have breakfast at the same time even though I was not going to check out for another 2 ½ hours, and after that Neil set off for the start of the steep climb.  By catching the 7.10 bus he could save about 1 ½ of walking, over territory we had already walked,  which would take the pressure off him to hurry and give him plenty of time to get to the hotel before dark.

It wasn’t to be though.  I spent the morning in Hongu being entertained by a car rally that had arrived from Koyasan (our destination in 4 days) and caught the bus out to Hotel Subaru.  As I suspected I couldn’t check in immediately but they let me leave my bag (it was heavy as I was carrying some of Neil’s gear to make it lighter for him), and sat outside having a picnic lunch, before heading down to the river crossing.  Which is where the path comes down off the mountain.

I was delighted that I didn’t have to cross the swing bridge.  I am not very good on them at the best of times, but I didn’t like the look, or the feel, when I ventured onto it for a few metres, and just breathed a sigh of relief that this was one obstacle that I would not have to face.  I decided that after check-in I would try and time it that I would return to get a photo of Neil crossing it.  By my calculations I had about ½ hour before setting off to do that when I heard sirens outside.  They were on the road, and though I had a fleeting thought of “I hope Neil is OK”, I carried on pottering around.

Ten minutes later the phone rang in my room – the poor girl couldn’t understand me, nor I her, and so  next thing there was a knock on the door.  She said about “my friend Neil” and so I followed her, expecting him to be waiting to be shown the room, the sort of polite thing to do here.  Arriving at the desk it was a man in uniform that I met – not Neil, giving instructions for me to “come follow, come”.  I followed him out the door, not before being stopped to take off my indoor slippers for outdoor ones, and being greeted by a possie of people gathered around an ambulance, and a medivac helicopter on the grass, and seeing Neil on a stretcher in the ambulance.

He had slipped on some stones, tripped, and fallen about 3 metes down a bank, coming to land against a tree stump.  The sight was blood all over his head, drips going into him and various cuffs for medical checks.  After some time and much discussion it was decided to take him, by helicopter, to hospital.  Between the hotel staff and the medical staff it was decided that our luggage should stay at the hotel and that I should go with them in the helicopter.  It was a first time in a helicopter for both Neil and I, but I got to see the view, he didn’t, as he was lying flat on his back.  The nurse instructed me to look into the distance, presumably so I didn’t get sick.

We spent a few hours in Nara University Hospital, in the city of Kasihara.   At the time of writing I had absolutely no idea where that might be, and had to sit waiting in the reception room for Neil to have a battery of tests.  He has three cracked ribs and compound vertebrae (C12), along with 6 stitches in his head.  We booked a room in a hotel not far from the hospital and very close to the station.  Neil is wearing a back brace and is in quite a lot of pain.  I am not sure that we have enough pain killers to get him home and so may have to go to the hospital for more later.

12 hours later I have managed, through a lengthy conversation using google translate, to get our bags transferred from where they are at Totsekawa Onsen to this hotel.  If I had gone personally to get them I would have had to stay the night and leave Neil here without any help. It would be a 4 hour bus trip, and there would be no return buses till the next day.  We have reserved another night in this hotel, and once our bags arrive will then sort out a change in flight reservation.  Neil had as comfortable a sleep as is possible under the circumstances, and we have been out to have brekky.  We are now trying to work out what we can do to amuse ourselves for the day without too much effort.

As I said – the next post will be going back to the parts I have missed out telling you about.