Day 13 - Jeju Island

Day 12 was a "Sea Day" and this day on Jeju Island off the southern tip of South Korea was a truncated day.  Korean officials delayed our arrival by an hour, so it turned out to be a pretty short day, indeed.  I was hoping to hike up to the top of Mt. Hallasan, the volcano that apparently dominates the Island (I say apparently because I'm not sure that I actually ever saw it).  But, forces were against me, both time and weather.  It would have been pushing it to make it to the top given our scheduled time, let alone the time that remained after the delayed docking, and on top of that, it was a very cloudy and pretty windy day as the island was experiencing some "weather" from a typhoon that was approaching Japan at that time.  In any case, I thought it would be good to see some Korean wilderness, and continued with the plan, anticipating an early turnaround.  It turned out not to be the most scenic of hikes, and yet was a very busy trail, and didn't offer terribly stunning views because of the weather.  Still, a good stretch of the legs...

A typical stretch of the trail with stairs and stones.

Another example of the nature of the trail...a bit ankle-twisty.

Sara Oreum crater full of recent rainwater.

View from the top of Sara Oreum

Autumn colours occasionally visible through as the clouds moved by.

The clearest view I ever got towards Mt. Hallasan.

Autumn colours on the way down.

A wee creek bed.

Looking back to what I hiked up.  I'm not sure if that is Sara Oreum or Mt. Hallasan...that could be Sara Oreum to the left, in which case: doh!

 This was pretty much the end of the trip.  The ship got into Incheon the next day and I headed to the airport.  It was a bit truncated, but still an awesome trip.  I'd go back to Japan in a heartbeat, there is so much to enjoy and see there.  The cultural aesthetic is fantastic and permeates the food, architecture, gardens, writing, art, every thing.  Friendly people and beautiful sights, what more could one ask for?

Bonus Material:  a video of the clouds whipping past the top of Sara Oreum.

Day 11 - Osaka/Kyoto 2

Another truncated day, as the ship was leaving before dinner time.  So, I mono-goaled it again, and took the train into Kyoto in search of Fushimi-Inari Temple.  This turned out to be a great choice for a last sight in Japan, as I was on the edge of getting Templed-out, but this place is like a Temple of Temples.  In fact, it is a whole small mountain turned into a network of Temples connected by pathways.  The two main paths from the base of the mountain are each covered by a series of red gates spaced about a meter apart, for their entire length!  And red gates are definitely the major theme here.  Among the many offerings you can purchase are red gates ranging in size from about 6" high to about 18", the latter costing over $100CAD.  Also, foxes..foxes are a theme, too.  It was a brilliant place.

The first gate, and the temple.

The temple, with two guardians.

Another form of prayer/offering...

Mini-gate offerings.

Nice details.

Here starteth the path...

 So, I headed up the mountain on the gate-covered path, but it was pretty crowded.  It split into two smaller paths at one point, and then rejoined before continuing up the mountain.

Here it splits into two paths with smaller gates.

Surreal.

Instragrammed goodness...

I headed off on an un-gate-covered trail which looked like it offered a bit more wilderness, and circled around the side of the mountain before reuniting with the gate path at the top.  It went through a lot of bamboo forest that had been and was being actively forested.  Also, there were smaller (but not small) shrines every 100m or so along this secondary path, as well as those off the gate-covered path, making for dozens of shrines up there.

Edge of a bamboo forest.

Second growth bamboo, i reckon.  A lot of them are marked with numbers signifying something (one assumes)

The path to bamboo

One of the "hidden" shrines.

More bamboo.

Bamboo ceiling.

Another foxy shrine.

Stay!  Good boy.

Then I reunited with the main path, got a bit of a view of Kyoto, and headed back down...

There it is...back on track.

Heading down.

More thematic offerings.

Another interesting totem.

View over Kyoto.

Day 10 - Osaka/Kyoto Day 1

We only had a part day here and since the ship was in Osaka travel in each direction to/from Kyoto was over an hour, so I focussed on one thing, one very important thing: Monkey Park Iwatayama.  This is a park I was told about that overlooks Kyoto and has wild monkeys in it that you can feed through mesh-covered windows.  It is on the western edge of town where the suburbs run into the hills, so the setting was quite excellent in and of itself.

I took the train to Arishayama and walked through some greenspace, and along a delightful river flowing out of the hills to the Monkey Park gate.  After that it is a 30 minute hike up a 100% grade climb to get to the monkey-feeding house which is, of course, where all the action is.  There and a little swimming pool next to it....

More manhole cover street art.

Mine!

Hangin' out for food.

Nummers.

Contemplating the peanut.

This guy moonlights as a male model.

Action shot.

Just keep swimming...

Trying not to be seen.

I gotcha, buddy.

Here, pull my finger! Bwaa-ha-haaa!!!

As wet as a wet monkey.

Now for some thievery.

 After descending from the Monkey Park I headed further up the river where a series of signs promised the "greatest view" of Kyoto. After the 12th sign I started to fear the worst..they were overselling it.  What I found was pretty nice, but probably not the greatest view of Kyoto.  This was a small temple up another long flight of steep stairs.  They were pumping pretty hard for donations..maybe because they were far off the beaten track in their up-river setting.  Anyhoo, it was quite delightful and peaceful.

Further up the river.

Something told me the path to the Temple might be steep.

View from the top.  Pretty decent, but the greatest..?

On the way back to the subway.

Another horror, this one as big as my thumb.

Sun was a-settin', boats were tied up...