I gathered together these strands of blogposts of one of the most enjoyable travel experiences I had. They were all over the place in my blog. I had intended to put them together in one blogpost but never did because I was too occupied with pastoral work. Now that I have retired, I remembered that intention and wanted to remember and re-experience that lovely vacation during this pandemic when we are all stuck here in tiny and humid Singapore.
I hope you will enjoy reading some of the blogposts below and it motivates you to look at some of your old travel photos. Remembering and re-experiencing events is one of the beautiful aspects of our God-given human nature. We were made in the image of God, and memory and imagination are parts of this beautiful package. We should treasure, use and celebrate them as part of our humanity and spirituality.
We packed our backpack for a night’s stay in the Tateyama Hotel. Our main luggage would be forwarded to Toyama by takkyubin, a delivery service. We did not want to tow our bulky, heavy luggage along the Alpine route. That would be too cumbersome. We were taking several modes of transport and doing lots of walking so we travelled light.
The tail end of autumn is still picturesque at the Kurobe dam
Man’s structure and God’s and I very much prefer God’s colours.
Walking along the roadway in such stunning surroundings was awesome
Slapping me with sunblock (Credits: Helen)
From Matsumoto we took train to Shano Omachi and travelled by local bus up the mountain along scenic corridors with trees yellow, brown, and red from autumn’s cold. The bus brought us to Ogizawa. The view at the Kurobe Dam was stunning and stately – the mammoth grey dam structure; the mountains with their multi-colored coat; and the vast blue basin of a lake. Like excited children we scurried about, scanned all around and wowed this and wowed that and went click, click, click.
Let’s go get the cruise tickets (Credits: Ruby)
Catastrophically, I forgot to charge my Olympus Tough TG 3 battery. And the spare charged battery I had on me failed. This had to happen today? A similar thing had happened to me before but my memory is vague about what exactly happened years ago. So now I had to rely on my LG 3 phone camera, which under sunlight showed a black screen. I had to depend on others’ smartphone for pictures. “Hey can take a picture of me and my wife?” I comforted myself, “Well, learn to be fully present and enjoy what you see with your eyes, what you feel, and what you breathe, and what you hear with your ears”. This has always been the problem with taking photos for me. I became so absorbed taking pictures for future viewing that I forgot to bask and enjoy the present.
The jetty were down a long staircase – not suitable for those on wheel chairs (Credits: Ruby)
Excited as the boat glides over the blue still waters.
The slopes were painted in green and brown and orange and yellow.
My wife enjoyed it.
Feeling satisfied after the cruise and before the next fun thing to do. (Credits: Ruby)
The group suddenly dashed towards the cable car station that seemed to be built into the mountain, and my wife and I followed suit. We have to hurry to buy tickets to cruise the beautiful, blue lake. Tickets do get sold out so we rushed there. I notice that whenever we had to bolt here and there, it was because of some form of transport, some schedule we were trying to keep. The Japanese trains and buses were punctual to the millisecond. Thank God we managed to get the tickets. And then it was another scurry down to the boat so that we do not miss the cruise.
The ferry boat was not large but it was comfortable enough. It brought us around the lake and while the breeze brushed your skin with cold air, the surrounding slopes warmed us with their golden, brown and yellow leaves. I like boat rides like these. Short ones. Not those 4 or 5 days’ cruise. Those that bring you from one place to another like a river taxi in Brisbane. Or those that give you a glimpse of river culture like the one in Bangkok or in Ho Chi Minh City. I also remember the one under the blessing of a donor to AGST Alliance students, where we got to enjoy an evening meal, as we cruised around some part of the Chao Phraya River.
Judith at viewing deck of Kurobedam Resthouse (Credits: Judith)
Stunning view of dam from the deck. (Credits: Judith)
Great view of sky and mountains and valley (Credits: Judith)
Somewhere (I forgot where) where we had the Mt Tateyama in the background (Credits:Ruby)
Roger and Helen in Kurobe cable car (Credits: Ruby)
To me it was, So what? If its Puma helicopter I would remember for life but it will cost me an arm (Credits: Ruby)
Later we climbed like a million steps to a huge viewing deck of the Kurobedam Resthouse. Here we have panoramic views of the dam and surrounding mountains. The people look like brisk colorful ants on the roads, pavements and bridge. Good things end too quickly and we went from there to take the Kurobe cable car that reminded me of the one that brings you up to Victoria Peak. We went from one form of transport to another. I cannot now remember which we took, but it seems to me that after the cable car, we took a ropeway cable car, and then a bus to Murodo. Or something like that. One thing for sure, I am not good at remembering details like these. It is as though I deliberately delete such details from my memory as I do not see any future value in remembering them.
When we reached the Murodo Station we were hungry and a little mean. Mean and hungry. The Japanese are great at minimizing manpower by automation. So instead of a friendly cashier, we stared at a machine with photographs of bowls of ramen of different kinds. You put in the money and you press the button and out comes a piece of paper. You bring the paper to the cooks behind a counter and in a minute you get your steaming bowl of ramen, find a seat, and noisily slurp it all in and bellow oishi. I found it is useful to have a wife. You leave it to her and she figures out the complicated stuff about which button to press, and which is the money slot, so that all you do is eat what she ordered, and complain about why she ordered that. Ha, ha Martin Buber calls this an I-It relationship. He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.
The views were awesome around the volcanic crater lake at Murodo plateau
Is this an active volcano? I wonder
A huge mountain of wagyu beef. The sunset played colours with the mountains
The walk around the Murodo plateau was cool and relaxing. About 2 km and full of stunning scenes
Beautiful reflection on still waters of the crater lake. The mountain has lost its “beefy” look. Looks more like a mountain of gold.
At least we tried! Not much of a jump
The Alpine ptarmigan usually late May to June.(Credits: Helen)
I liked the hotel. It was dated but quite spacious. There was only a short time to rest before a guided tour around the Murodo Plateau (2,450m above sea level). The sight of the Tateyama Mountain Range from there was spectacular, they said. Again how I wished I had my Olympus camera instead of my LG smartphone. I kicked myself again. The tour was all in Japanese. There was a large crowd of hotel guests. Stop talking and let’s go, I said to the guide in my mind. I didn’t understand a word. Once I felt safe and surveyed the route, I broke free and wandered off. We missed his commentary. Probably about how the mountains came about, what happened thousands of years ago, what kind of rocks we were standing on, and the kind of fauna and flora. On the other hand, maybe it was good I didn’t understand Japanese. It allowed me to drift off without feeling any guilt.
Walking around the lake we spotted a rare glimpse of the Alpine ptarmigan which people may get to see sometimes between late May to June. It is referred to as “messenger of God” and it brings happiness to those who see them. We believe God gives “happiness” but we were happy just to be able to see and photograph it in November.
This beef shabu shabbu was a small part of the whole meal of side and main dishes.(Credits: Ruby)
This was the beginning course…..proceed! (Credits: Ruby)
Exclusive dining area for us and with dedicated waiters and with English food commentary (Credits: Helen)
The great and costly feast (Credits: Judith)
Appetiser – I guess (Credits: judith)
Delicious side dishes (Credits: Judith)
Breakfast: I just love those Japanese eggs. My wife said they tasted like the tasty eggs of the 1960s (Credits: Judith)
Then there was this fantastic dinner for which we paid a small fortune, perhaps 3% of Singapore’s GDP. It was worth every cent. It was a meal you only watched on TV and wondered if you would ever be the person inside the TV eating that very mouth-watering, lip-smacking oishi meal. The meal came with a live commentator, a Thai foreign talent who spoke good English and Japanese as well. He explained what we were eating. When the meal was over we had to be rolled back to our rooms.
That night we also went for a slide show which was again in Japanese. One day they would need to have a Chinese interpreter, because so many more tourists come to Japan from China. That would not have made a difference to me because my Mandarin is only slightly better than my Japanese. My Japanese vocabulary is limited to harikatogozaimas, Suzuki, Yamaha, Toyota, Sony, Hitachi, Mitsubishi and oishi. My Mandarin is just a fraction better. So I dozed off during the presentation. I was strategically seated behind to do this. In addition, the lights were all off during the slide show. I think I saw some blurred spots of light and heard a droning voice that went weaker and weaker like a distant undertone. I was more interested in what came after that: stargazing.
We went up to the rooftop of the hotel and there we had before us a cosmic blackest of black blanket hung up in the sky with bright dots of different sizes forming patterns and lines that clearly indicate that there is a Creator up there who loves putting up Christmas lights for people to enjoy when they were down, and find their way when they got lost. Having my camera here would make no difference. I did not kick myself this time. I wondered what kind of professional SLR camera would be needed to take great pictures of the night sky. I think $10,000 cameras. Or even more costly ones. It was so cold nobody stayed there for too long. I lasted a good ten minutes I think. “Good night stars in the sky. Good night God. This was such a great day”.
It was a vacation I looked forward to with some anticipation. I had enjoyed my first Japan trip to Kyushu island two years ago. This one was on the main island of Honshu. This was a tour from Nagoya through the famous Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine route to Toyama and Kanazawa and back. Most of us were from the hiking group.
Arrived at Nagoya airport in the early morning
It was a night flight, and for me this meant a sleepless flight, a movie night. I admire those (like my wife) who could sleep despite cramped and upright space. I caught a Korean movie titled, Canola, a grandmother- grandchild story about the transforming power of unconditional love. And surprise, surprise: I did sleep.
Roger, Simon, Tan and me: the men in the group waiting for the bus to the city
When was I going to feel more relaxed, more like I was on vacation? Close to the date of departure, there was the rush to get work done. There was the anxiety of packing right for this mixed hiking and sightseeing jaunt. Even after landing in Nagoya in the early morning, I had to remind myself, I am in Japan. I am on vacation. I had to tell my soul: You are in Nagoya.
Group photos: this group loved group photos. Group photos at airports, at every new place we went, every grand scenery and memorable building. Click, click. 1, 2, 3. Click, click. Good thing I brought my tough and handy Olympus TG3 camera. Bright LCD screen, unlike phone camera screens that darken under the sun. The ladies wore colourful jackets, blouses, shoes and they enlivened the photos. The men were unremarkable. The ladies knew how to pose in a variety of ways; the men stood like they would for the class photograph. Click, click. 1,2,3. Click, click.
The hotel we stayed in was Sanco Inn, a ten minute walk from where the airport bus dropped us off. We could not check in until 3 p.m. so we left our luggage there (this would be standard procedure) and went out to look for lunch. There was a nearby eatery and straightaway we faced our first fun challenge of getting our orders and requests across. Separate bills please. They could not grasp it. They brought beer! Separate receipts. They got it finally. Receipto. Receipto. But the idea of separate receipto for each couple is foreign to them. So we adapted, we adjusted, we learned. The food was oishii. The yen was stronger than two years ago so the prices we paid were similar to what you would pay for Japanese food in Singapore. However, you felt satisfied, you felt better parting with your yen because of the freshness and the quality and authentic taste of what you had.
Surveying the shopping area near the hotel
Ruby and Salome
Helen and Salome at the 100 yen shop
Tan and Kenny practising patience outside the 100 yen shop
Judith feeling bored
What did you have for dinner? Japanese. Oishii.
We spent several hours walking around their shopping area in cool temperatures and under a grey sky that threatened to drizzle. Nothing much in this area near the hotel. Except the 100 yen shop. Where the ladies spent considerable time surveying and bought few things. Singaporeans are experienced strategic shoppers. They did not want to lug around all the things they bought. They would buy later, near the end of the jaunt.
Tan and Nellie waiting for their food.
That night we packed for two days of hiking. We had to pack for an overnight stay in the mountain. Stuffed what we needed in the backpack. The rest of the luggage would be sent over by takkyubin to Ace Inn Hotel in Matsumoto.
