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| Tom with Himeji spread out below |
First of all 'Happy Father's Day' to Matt, or as Tom put it today, 'Happy Man Day'. Matt started the day off with a coloured in picture of shinkansens (not a true reflection of reality, literally every colour was used here) and a goody bag of Dr Yellow goodies (Tom couldn't help himself at the museum shop in Nagoya).
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| Gate amongst the green |
After a very wet, soggy night it dawned grey, dry with a hint of blue sky. Our original plan was to go swimming at Aioi pool, but as the weather was looking good, we decided to go on another trip, we can go swimming at home anytime. The trip was closer to home than of late of course, so we got the local train (humph) to Himeji and then a bus to the Mt. Shosha Ropeway. Last time Matt was here was 19 years ago with Martin.
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| Water dragon |
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| Concentrating hard |
It was quite a long trip on the bus - winding our way through the streets of Himeji to get to the cable car station. Luckily the buses here have air conditioning as it was very hot. We got to the Ropeway and were herded to the cable car very quickly as if it was about to leave meaning we had to shout at Tom to go up the steps quickly, only to have to hang around a while before it left! It was only a 4 minute ride to the top, but what a difference the 500 meters made, it was very green and lush on top and the view of Himeji and the Inland Sea beyond was good. It was a little cooler, but as it rained all of yesterday it was incredibly humid. Even Matt was sweating profusely! Never mind, the scenery and environment was good enough for it not to matter too much.
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| Temple building |
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| Lantern |
At the top of Mt Shosha is Engyoji - a Buddhist temple. We haven't done that much culture whilst here so decided to go for a look around. The path up to it was steep, but Tom was an absolute trooper and walked the whole way, despite the fact he was sweating considerably. There were lots of things to look at on the way: statues of various gods, gates, temple buildings as well as the incredible view. We ended up at Maniden, the main temple building, and very impressive it was too, a huge wooden building nestling up on the hill amongst vegetation of all shades of green. Unfortunately it wasn't the original building - that, as has happened to so many Japanese historical buildings, burned down in 1921. However, it was still very impressive. You had to climb quite steep steps to the top, once again Tom took it all in his stride, and couldn't wait to have a look in the building. I told him he could only do so if he was very quiet (there were pilgrims praying inside), and he kept his word, he was quiet. Every time he has visited a temple including when he was a baby he has been well behaved, must be something to do with the smell of incense and the chanting.
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| Temple doors |
Matt got talking to a couple up there. Tom was wearing one of his new Japanese T-Shirts today which has two big fish on the front and lots of kanji of fish names on the back - it got a lot of attention. Tom carried on being impeccably behaved. We descended the staircase and went to the tea room for lunch - veggie udon soup (with tofu and what looked like pond algae on it) we all ate it up as we were quite hungry at this point. After he finished his noodles, Tom asked us for an ice-cream. At that point, the nice couple Matt had been talking to came up to us again with an ice-cream and pot of fish food for Tom, how generous. So Tom got his wish. He and Matt ate the ice cream, then we went to feed the fish in the pond. We then took advantage of Tom's post lunch energy and carried on up the hill towards a statue of the Buddha.
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| Buddha and giraffes |
We told him he was going to see a big fat man which he got quite excited about, however, when we got there it was a statue of Buddha when he was a young man. He was sat down, with one palm raised up and the other in an 'OK' position (I forget the name for this position). Tom took one look at him and shouted 'Giraffe' which had us in stitches. As I've mentioned before, Tom's favourite telly programme is 'Something Special' with the silly Mr Tumble. It is primarily for handicapped children and teaches sign language, which Tom has been picking up. One episode is set in a safari park and we learnt the sign for giraffe which is very close to Buddha's pose with his raised arm. We reckon the Buddha was a cool dude and would have found Tom's observation as funny as we did.
We thought we would be pushing our luck if we made Tom walk any further from the cable car so we decided to make our way slowly back to the cable car station. The complex provides bamboo walking sticks for anyone who wants to use them, we thought the introduction of one would keep Tom's interest going for the walk home. It worked, he was as happy as Larry all the way back.
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| 3 people with sticks |
We got the cable car back down the mountain and then had a little play in the park down there - a perfect place to cool your feet after a hard walking day - Tom thought so anyway and I think he was right.
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| Cooling down |
We got the bus back to Himeji station, picked up some buns for breakfast tomorrow and then got the local train home (humph!). Tom fell asleep on me in the train, can't really blame him, he walked a long way up and down hills and steps today. He stayed asleep for the whole journey home, then I carried him home still asleep and we put him down on some cushions in the living room and snuck upstairs. We woke him up at 4.30 as he had an important date to keep at Aioi Station. Oh yes, Dr Yellow came zooming through the station again. Matt took him up to see him whilst I made dinner: gyudon.
Then Tom did a poo in the toilet - hurray so we were all very very happy. Then, bath and bed. A really lovely day was had by all.
I have just started packing (no mean feat when there are no lights in the bedrooms). I think we will get it all home (just!). Will find out for sure tomorrow.
Oh and here's a video of me and Tom trying to ring a bell (not very successfully) and Tom getting a wave from a Hikari guard.
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