Missed exams and a green weekend (18th-20th May)

The week after Golden Week was as expected not very exciting, and nothing unusual happened on the weekend either. I spent the sunny Saturday in the park, playing badminton, lying in the grass, and enjoying the warmth. Sunday, on the other hand, was rainy, so the Udon Festival of the Japanese students who live in the dorm here to help and entertain us came just at the right time. So on Sunday, we made Udon (thick noodles for Japanese noodle soup) ourselves, then ate them, and afterwards a battle plan for the next weekends was made. So the following weekend was supposed to take place in Wakayama, we were going to Mount Koya and the south coast. But before that, we had to get through one more week of university before we could leave on Friday morning. The first midterm exams for Japanese took place on Wednesday and Thursday, which I skipped without a guilty conscience since I didn't need the grade anyway. So I went with a friend who did the same to Minoo on Wednesday, a nature park near Osaka, and we walked past trees, temples, and rivers in beautiful weather, very happy with our decision not to sit in an irrelevant exam completely clueless. Minoo is really a very beautiful place, the path of which ended at a medium-sized waterfall. Despite the beautiful weather, not many people were out and about, which was probably due to the day of the week. On the way back, we discovered a viewpoint from which we could overlook Osaka.

On Friday, at 7 am, our trip to Wakayama finally started. There were five of us and our first stop was Koya-san, a mountain where a huge temple complex with numerous sub-temples and ryokans (Japanese guesthouses) can be found. In addition to these temples, of which we visited some but not all, we walked around the small town, which was essentially very sleepy and relatively empty. We discovered an extensive area with two pagodas and other temples, adorned with stone lanterns and the surrounding trees, on our way to the west gate, the entrance/exit to the Koya area. There we went hiking in the forest, discovered gigantic ants and centipedes, but unfortunately no monkeys as announced on a sign at the plateau. After this hike, we went to the main attraction of Koya-san (san = mountain): a gigantic cemetery with over 20,000 graves, some of which are very old and adorned with sculptures, gates, stone pillars with ball- and crown-shaped elements, and lanterns. At the end of the path that led through the cemetery, we reached a magnificent temple filled with golden lanterns on the ceilings, and everywhere magnificent decorations in the form of golden flowers and pictures were attached, but unfortunately photography was not allowed. Then we went back to the town of Wakayama, where we took the bus to our accommodation. We were very positively surprised by our choice, it was an inexpensive ryokan, but we didn't miss anything. We had a large, elongated room available with tatami mats, a table about 20 cm high, and corresponding chairs without legs, a sea view, and paper sliding doors. So super Japanese and we were quite enthusiastic, especially since the owner was just super accommodating. There were even yukatas (Japanese bathrobes) and our own onsen (hot spring), even though it looked like a small whirlpool, but we were happy. Only the first night on the futon was a bit strange because it was relatively hard. We had booked breakfast for a small amount and it was also very Japanese. In many small bowls, each of us had rice, tofu cubes with sauce, an egg, two gray balls that tasted sweet, dried seeds (...?), miso soup, a bite of salad, and two small fish that sizzled on a table grill. When I saw this combination, I was afraid that the plain rice would be the best part, but it was really delicious! Even though I had some difficulty using chopsticks to open the two (complete!) fish and remove the meat from the bones. I'm actually more into sweet things in the morning, and fish is not my thing, especially not in the morning at half past seven! But afterwards, I was quite full and satisfied, and with fresh energy, we could start the next leg of the journey.

Our next destination was the Nachi Waterfall in the south of Wakayama, so the train ride took some time. From the train window, we could admire the wooded, sinusoidal mountains on the left side and the sea on the right side. We were very lucky with the weather, as we drove from the gray clouds into the sun, so we could admire the famous pagoda and the waterfall in the best light. The red pagoda was also the first one I've ever seen that you could actually enter. From there, we had a view of the forest, the sea, a temple, and the waterfall, which made quite a noise and which we visited next. Then we took the bus back to the train station so that we could take the local train to our second accommodation. We were pretty late because we had to check in at the latest at half past 6 and we had difficulties with the train and bus schedules since they do not run regularly, so we took a taxi in Japan for the first time and we arrived at the second ryokan just in time. The lady who received us didn't speak a word of English, so she held up a few cards with prepared sentences for us, which was cute. After everything was settled, she said goodbye effusively and left us alone in the small house. We were in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rice fields, meadows, and the sea, and I really enjoyed it. It was great to get a taste of rural life and so we rode through the sleepy settlement on the bicycles of the guesthouse in mild evening temperatures, pleasant cool sea breeze in my face and through my hair, and orange-red sunset light. I had tremendous feelings of happiness in that moment and a bit of the feeling of being in Göttingen returned, as it was the first time I had ridden a bike since I arrived in Osaka. We bought dinner at the konbini (24-hour mini-supermarket), consisting of rice, meat, and vegetables, as well as two bottles of wine, and rode to the coast, where we wanted to enjoy the beautiful panorama during dinner and were able to admire an incredible sunset. We sat there for a long time, finished off the two bottles of wine, and threw stones into the water. When it was pitch black, we returned to the ryokan and went to sleep soon after, as we wanted to leave at 7 am the next day to hike the famous Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail, at least a part of it. In this ryokan, the futons were softer than in the first guesthouse, and I slept very well.

On Sunday, we first took the train to the next larger town, Shingu, and from there took the bus up the mountain, where a stage of the Kumano Kodo is located. From the bus window, you can see a huge riverbed which is currently only about a quarter full. The water is light blue and therefore looks very Caribbean. When we arrived at the plateau, we walked through the largest torii gate I have ever seen onto the pilgrimage trail, which went up a rather steep slope. Our destination was an onsen where we relaxed in hot water for an hour and a half and I spoke broken Japanese and with hands and feet with a Japanese woman who had no knowledge of English. That was very funny, and I was happy that I understood at least about a third of what she told me before we went back the same way. We would have liked to see more of the Kumano Kodo, but since we had to catch the last subway in Osaka and the return trip was very long, we were not granted that this time. But the train ride was the most beautiful one I've ever had. Again, we traveled along the coast, where the water hit the rocks, and through small villages with classic Japanese architecture in the midst of forests and rice fields. When we arrived in Osaka, it was already dark, and since the tracks partly run on high bridges, there was a fantastic view of the city, which I have come to love. The train windows are also super clean here, which in my opinion greatly enhances the travel experience. Considering that the Japanese are so small, there was an incredible amount of legroom and overall a lot of space. It was already after 11 pm when we sprinted to catch the last subway, and again we were very lucky and caught it just in time. It was an incredibly great weekend because I am also very enthusiastic about nature, and the group was quite funny, but the transportation costs ate up all my money, the train rides and also the bus rides were incredibly expensive, so now I will probably only eat rice and noodles for the week since we will be heading to Tokyo in two days... (spoiler alert: shortly after publishing this post, we went to a curry restaurant...)