I took the ferry off of Naoshima Island, going south to Takamatsu. This ferry ride took an hour. I fell asleep in the nice, air conditioned main area of the ferry, on a cushioned bench. I picked up the rental car and off I went. Driving through hills bothers my neck and shoulders so I quickly gave up getting out of the car to take shots along the drive.
Before heading to my ryokan, I decided to stop first at the nearest rope bridge. Iya valley is known for these rope bridges. This was by far the more touristy destination, as it is easy to get to. No one knows for sure why the rope bridges were initially constructed. One possibility is that it was a way for a fallen clan to cut off enemies that were pursuing.
While walking across, there was an old lady nearby that kept moaning out of fear. It was quite irritating. Here I am, dealing with my own fear of heights, and this lady doesn't quit moaning!
Afterwards, I went down two separate paths and jumped across rocks in the stream, looking for shots to take good pictures. I also found a nice waterfall.
On my way back to the parking lot, I saw a Kirin beer can. They are one of the companies that have a tomb in the Okunoin graveyard.
To reach the ryokan, I had to take an incredibly winding, single lane road, down a long path. The view from the place is incredible.
A lot of the driving in the area is single laned, with mirrors showing around bends. In these areas, there are very few cars. If you run into one though, you either have to back up into a wider area, or hope they back up.
There were only two guests staying, a French woman that spoke English, and a Japanese woman that spoke just a little. It was nice to be able to speak English with someone. After the French woman left, I spoke with one of the workers and the Japanese guest about my trip, the places I had been, my blog, and spoke a little Japanese. It was good fun.
I left early the next morning. A few minutes into the drive, I realized that I had forgotten my umbrella. It started to sprinkle. The roads are so winding though, that I didn't want to turn around. It was painful enough as it was.
First on today's agenda is a monorail ride almost all the way into the middle of the island. It was a little over an hour of incredibly windy, one laned roads. I passed a few life sized dolls on the way, and remembered something I had read about the area. I decided to investigate further, on the way back.
The rain stopped when I had reached the monorail. I was the only one there. It was about twenty dollars. The car and track reminded me of a dinky carnival rollercoaster. I was worried that it would be a super short ride. It ended up taking a bit over an hour. The ride started at 800 meters and peaked at 1350 meters. It was very vertical and just kept going. The seat back adjusted depending on the incline, so you were never leaning backwards. It was a nice ride through the forest. Even at the top, you couldn't see much of the mountains because of all of the trees. It never rained during the entire hour, luckily.
Fifteen minutes away was Tsurugi mountain, the furthest I would get from my ryokan for the day. When I arrived, it started drizzling. I opted to take the sky lift to cover a large part of the descent. As I go on the lift, I began to have doubts. About fifteen seconds in, I reached, and realized that I left my hat on the bench near the ticket booth. The drizzle turned into rain. I started to get soaked. I was only a few feet off the ground and for half of a second, I considered jumping off and running back. Then, I considered the fact that Japan is a very rule oriented society and wouldn't appreciate that too much.
My first concern was to protect my electronics. I walk around with a ziplock bag to keep all change in. I quickly put my wallet, phone, my pocket wifi, and my keys into the ziplock My camera immediately went under my shirt, and then, joined the rest in the ziplock bag. I was completely drenched after the long, long ride to the top. They were nice enough to call down for my hat and my hat was sent up to me. Then, I asked to borrow a plastic bag, which they were happy to give me. Luckily, my shoes are waterproof, so my feet stayed dry.
Here was the view from the bench outside of the top of the chair lift.
I tried to give the rain time to stop, but it didn't seem to be happening. With all the electronics in bags, attached to my hip by a carabiner, I decided to just go. It was a forty minute hike directly up to the top. I would have preferred a longer route, but with the rain, direct was the only way I'd do it. Taking pictures would be too risky with that much water coming down, so I didn't take any. At the top, I was soaked again, so I ran into a tiny restaurant. It was pretty cool at the top of the mountain, so getting into a warm indoor area was nice. I had shiitake mushroom udon noodle soup.
After eating, I attempted to leave, but it was absolutely pouring outside. I sat back down. I started to worry a bit about how I'd get down the mountain. A few minutes later, however, I decided to just do it anyway. I walked outside and it all of a sudden wasn't raining anymore. There was just a light mist. A mixture of drizzle and just watery air, going a bit sideways. I went up to the first observation deck, but only saw a cloud.
I followed the paths. I saw a couple, but they disappeared into the clouds, and I never saw them again. The peak showed 1955 meters.
I began my descent down the mountain. The rain didn't really pick up, so I alternated putting my camera in my pocket and pulling it out to take quick pictures.
The lift up didn't bother me too much when it came to heights. The way down was much, much worse. At the bottom, the rain appeared to stop. The next destination was only fifteen minutes away.
This set of rope bridges, being much deeper into Iya valley, was supposed to have less tourists. This, combined with the rain, left the place empty. By now the rain had stopped, and it would remain that way for the rest of the day. I had the rope bridges all to myself. This place had two bridges and one cart that was pulled across by rope. The cart was particularly terrifying to me due to how it swayed. I quickly pulled myself across.
Right near the ryokan is a little museum that I wanted to check out. On the way there, I kept an eye out for the dolls. I saw a building alongside of the road, on my way back, that seemed to have a lot inside, and people were there. I stopped to have a look.
They greeted me and invited me to take pictures. Then, I took pictures while driving home. I looked it up again online. According to what I read, a woman needed a scarecrow, and so made a life sized doll that was a replica of her father. Then, she continued to make new dolls to replace the people that left the village. In any case, it is creepy and weird, and so I liked it.
I missed the closing of the museum by ten minutes. I might stop by on my way out tomorrow.
At dinner tonight, there was a French family of six. The two kids, likely in their mid to late 20s, spoke decent English. It was a good dinner.
I am a little worried about the possibility of rain over the next two days, as I will be doing a significant amount of biking. I stopped at a 7-11, in hopes of finding garbage bags, to cover my backpacks. I was unable to find any.
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