It was the second time my eyes opened for the day when I decided it was time to take things easy for a while, that and it was time to change the alarm tone in my iPod touch. Maramba is great and all, but when all it does is represent waking up at 4am you get sick of it pretty quickly. The weather had finally taken a turn for the better and as I went about my morning chores (cleaning up and around the tent) the sun warmed my back and illuminated the entire area with a cheerful glow.
I took my morning coffee and donut along with my trusty laptop to a hot spring foot bath just a stones throw from my campsite and sat down. Days of writing had yet to be done and I was ready and raring to do it.
Small groups of people came and went taking little notice of the foreigner typing furiously away at a laptop. One man did take a little notice of the fact that a black cable ran from my computer to an outlet hidden around the side of the bath. He was the caretaker of the place but found what I was doing relatively amusing. With a toothless mouth his Japanese was slightly difficult to understand but we still had a short and interesting conversation. Hot springs all over Japan are losing their native customers but gaining loads of foreign tourists mainly from China and Korean, at least so he said (about the same as my experiences so far).
Writing wherever it’s convenient has become almost a second nature to me (as I sit on a wooden stump next to a misty lake typing) and it’s kind of fun. It’s not to difficult to ignore the incredulous stares of those who pass by since I’m focused on my screen and the scenery when I do look up is usually quite pleasing (even if it’s raining). It is definitely a change from sitting in an artificially lit office breathing in loads of dust with nothing to look at but white walls and my coworkers.
I humped out 2 posts, stood up to stretch and could not help but marvel at how a bit of sun can change how a lake looks. The grey waters of the previous day now glazed azure and above the far shore rose Mt. Yotei, or as it is sometimes referred to as Ezo Fuji. Mt. Yotei is referred to as such in deference to the old name of the island where I now stood and its similarity to the Mt. Fuji on the main island. So many things around Japan have interesting little facts about them.
My goal for the day was a town across the lake, not that far. I’d spent the last couple days viewing the island and sunrise from this angle to I thought it would be good to get a different take on it. I knew it was only a 30 minute bus ride to there and figured it would be no problem catching a quick ride.
As I waited my mind turned over the idea of just walking. I pulled out the map and used my finger to approximate distances figuring it was just about 10 kilometers, maybe a little more. Then I stopped dead in my tracks. ‘Hadn’t you learned my lesson from the previous day?’ my thighs screamed at me. Shaking my head I once again stuck out my thumb once again. Once burnt twice shy. Turned out that was good choice because I found out from the man who did stop a few minutes later that it was actually 17 kilometers.
The last two nights I had been at Lake Toya hot spring town but now I stood in Lake Toya. It wasn’t much but it had a convenience store, hot spring, and campgrounds so I was happy. My mind was still firmly set on taking it easy and as I slowly set up my tent on a grassy knoll overlooking the lake everything felt right.
I should mention that the convenience store was about 2km from my campsite which made getting dinner a bit interesting, but that came later.
As the shadows of the mountains stationed behind began to get longer and the sky took on the pinkish blue hue of sunset I decided it was time to head to the hot spring for a nice soak before my 2km hike to get dinner.
Standing I noticed a car pulling in. An middle aged man sporting a grey speckled pony tail stepped out and waved hello. ‘Mind if I set up next to you’ he pointed to a spot about 20 meters from my tent. ‘No worries’ I smiled back. This could be interesting I thought to myself heading to the life giving waters that were up a steep hill behind the site (and with an awesome view of the entire area).
It was dark by the time I got back and my neighbor was sitting on one of those high backed folding camp chairs next to a cheerily burning fire. I smiled and walked up, dinner sitting in my backpack waiting to be eaten.
I won’t bore you with the details of the conversation, but it’s the kind that two men have when they are alone with a crackling fire under an umbrella of brightly shining stars. He offered me a seat shortly after I walked up and as I munched on my dinner we talked. Turned out he was a cigar fan like me (but more so) and so I as I offered him one of my beloved Romeo and Julietas he in return he offered some of his Cohibas. To those of you who don’t know anything about the wonders of cigars both of those brands are good quality, Cuban, and slightly pricey.
This is living, I thought to myself as I sat there. Getting out, meeting people, having experiences like the one I was in the middle of. It was absolutely stunning how a series of choices, random chance, and openness could lead to a singularly unique moment such as this one. If I would have done just one thing differently the outcome of the day could have been completely different, but then again that experience would have been just as unique (but maybe not as good).
We talked and talked about this and that gently puffing on our cigars, fire cackling wildly sending out embers that worked to conquer the surrounding grass and luckily failed. However, even the warm embrace of the fire couldn’t keep out the creeping chill of night for long and so as the fireworks across the lake faded into nothing we bid ado and headed to our respective tents.
After sprinting through some 2, 3000 kilometers in a couple of weeks this slowing down felt good but I had to chuckle as I once again set my alarm for 4am. Some things don’t change.
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