Well well, what a weekend. The week just passed moved along without much of note, that is until Friday night when we headed to Berber once again to celebrate (Hong Kong) Tony`s birthday. Before the clubbing began I met Basim, Marina and Basim`s cousin Mohammed in Paiyama. We went to an Izakaiya for dinner and drinks, all paid for by Mohammed I hasten to add. Nicely warmed up we moved back to Paiyama where I introduced myself to the waiting crowd by jumping on a rail, grabbing someone and falling flat on my face. Nice.
In the club the usual banter ensued. Highlights include THAT photo on facebook, Tony being forced to down a bottle of champagne and a hip-hop dance-off to finish the night. I returned home to pack and go to bed. 4.30am... plenty of time.
7.30am my alarm goes off. Still "intoxicated" I manage to pack my suitcase. 3 peanut butter sandwiches, beer, vodka, Fanta and a quilt. Essentials packed we somehow navigated ourselves to the bus that would do the 3 hour journey to Shikoku. The bus journey was sobering at last, as I sat quietly sipping my iced coffee, and listening to Metallica way to loud. Once at the bus terminal we scrambled Supermarket Sweep style around the centre to grab supplies before we headed out to the middle of nowhere to our campsite.
We boarded the next bus, and before long we were working our way around one of the most exciting bus routes in the world. 1 lane and a million hairpin and blind turns, with a mountain on one side and a sheer drop on the other made for some squeaky bum time. The only thing smaller then the margin of error for the driver was our chances of survival of crashing over the side. Still we made it to the campsite, and discovered our box for the weekend.
Our first activity of the weekend was to work our way to the Onsen (traditional Japanese natural spring baths). The walk boasted some impressive views, but meant it took over 1 hour to walk to 3/4 km to the baths.
Once we arrived at the Onsen, we brought our tickets and towels and rode the cable car down several 100 meters to the riverbank and the actual baths. Once there, we split into the sexes, Marc and I one way, Yume, Lilly and Anika the other. Marc and I then proceeded to get but naked before navigating our way down a slippery staircase, which was exposed to the outdoor elements - IT WAS FREEZING, and down to the sulphur heated bath. It was a weird experience, but having the Japanese stare and Marc`s and my you-know-what was slightly unnerving. Not mentioning the guy with the tripod camera taking photos of the baths whilst we where there.
On our way back night had already crept in, and as it was the middle of nowhere, the buses has stopped and there were no streetlights to be seen. Armed with only our phone light, we headed into the darkness before being discovered by a car halfway. To our amazement, a car with 5 Japanese pulled over, emptied bar the driver, and took us back to the campsite before returning to his now stranded friends!
To wind down the evening we drank, ate and were merry. Still, no more details as what happens in the box stays in the box.
Day 2. Having slept in all our clothes and under all possible blankets we awoke and brushed-up before we caught the bus down to a nearby(ish) tourist spot. It turned out to be an ancient vine bridge you could cross, set to the backdrop of the impressive river and waterfall.
After the bridge, we stopped off for some food, which included this local delicacy. Its a whole fish on a stick, grilled slowly outdoors around some hot coals. Very nice it was too.
Back at the campsite the rain had moved in for the night. Still, Marc and I played the men cards and soon had a fire going that lasted a good couple of hours. We enjoyed the fire whilst Marc got red-eyed and proceeded to totally fail.
Having left Anika and Marc in the box, Yume, Lilly and I decided to go for a walk in the cold, dark rain. We worked our way down to the reception where we were invited in by the lonely manager. We google-earthed our homes etc (to which I became all nostalgic over) before we discussed, in Japanese I might add, Communism, Welsh and Japanese linguistics, French philosophy and Boar hunting. All the while we were eating his homemade, and self-hunted, wild Boar and pumpkin soup.
We then moved back to the box.......
Come the morning we packed and headed for the bus, assuming that the weekend was over. Not quite yet as it turned out. We had a 3 hour gap between our buses and exploited this by grabbing some food and attending a small village festival just down the road. Before we knew it we were on stage with lots of old Japanese women and having an awesome time.
The long bus back was not so interesting as we had to sit separately and my MP3 ran out of battery after only 20 minutes. Still, what an absolute legend of a weekend. God bless Japan and its numerous 3 day weekends!
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