Takaosan

The trip was a direct one hour ride from Shinjuku station to Takaosanguchi, it only cost 320yen one way a good deal for the long ride out there. The forecast for this day was suppose to be 40% chance of rain, lucky for me when I arrived there was no sign of rain to be had.

This weekend was a long weekend in Japan and the place was packed with tonnes of couples, groups and kids everywhere. I was happy to hear that we didn't have to cue for a ticket and we would be able to start our hike right away.

During our steady pace upwards we stopped to see the little shrines that were places along the path. Japanese people made sure to pray to each one as they passed them by. Also, I thought it was quite interesting that every person that passed you in the opposite direction would make the effort to acknowledge you by saying hi.

I really enjoyed all the tree routes. I was told that this path we had chosen was the same path that the monks took when they came to Takaosan to train.

The following were the best pictures that I took at the summit, I kind of thought that we would have gone a little higher but this view was pretty amazing. I did however feel a little left out that I didn't have an onigiri packed in my bag for the break we took at the top.Everyone had one, good ol' calories.

The climb down was very fun since there was temples along the way, the forgiveness wheel and fortune tellers. We didn't end up going to the all you can eat and drink place since it was so full, maybe next time. From there you can climb all the way back down or you can take tram/chairlift. The yellow tram is in a track and goes down at a very steep incline! Strange I have never ridden in anything like this before and it only took 5 minutes to get back down. :D