The next day we woke early and aunty and uncle were up already preparing dinner. Also the night before the cat home and ate. His name is Tora! Uncle Kazumi had to leave for work so we said our good byes to him. Since we woke really early there was a lot of time to talk. Uncle George gave me some money to spend in Osaka or at home. He also talked about how he is going to retire the farm after this year because he is getting old (89) I would have retired way before him! Haha. Around 8:00 am the taxi came to pick us up. It was raining that morning so all out bags and suitcases got wet. We said our good byes... I knew that I might never see him again. It makes me wonder why I never visited him earlier in life. One day I would like to go back to that area. I was so sad to leave. Two days wasn't enough...
On our way back to Hiroshima it was quite a bit longer because the taxi dropped us off at the nearest train station which was 20 mins away from uncles house. We caught our first train back home which we were supposed to transfer once and be headed to Hiroshima straight but come to find out that that train wasn't coming till around 3 in the afternoon. We asked around and luckily we found a route and train that would take us back. We transferred maybe three times total to get back to Hiroshima with at least 30 min rides on each train.
When we got back to Hiroshima we dropped our bags off at the hotel and went to search for the gym I wanted to climb at. Luckily it was one stop away in Yokogawa prefecture and just a five minute walk down the road and down a side street. We got lost a little but we found it just as it was opening. When we got there the owner was vacuuming and tidying up a little. A lady came and checked me in a filled out the paper work with me. For $22 it got me a card membership which I think is good for a day, shoes, and a chalk bag. In the back there was a changing room where I changed and got out of warm clothes. She explained how the routes worked and how difficult each color was. Lots of the routes were any feet and they were graded by color with black being the easiest and pink being the most difficult. The first floor of the gym had an over hanging feature or cave like feature and a pillar. There were lots of different angles in the wall as well. I also remember seeing pictures of a different wall so I asked if there was an upstairs. She pointed me up a metal staircase where they had a huge over hanging wall and some work out boards. It was big for such a small area since they had two floors. The lady was really nice and talked with me a lot. She was interested in Hawaii and what the climbing was like over there. I also sent a few routes in the mid color section (yellow). After about three hours I was beat and headed back home solo because my mom went back already. I picked up a cool shirt as well from the gym. We eventually met up with the group and headed out to eat dinner.
At dinner we caught up with what was happening with the group and what they did.
March 28
The next morning we had to leave early and catch the Shinkansen back to Osaka. We grabbed some bentos and made our long journey back to the hotel in Osaka. When we arrived we dropped some bags off and headed to Nara park and visited the Todaiji temple which is the largest wooden structure in Japan. It housed a gold statue of buddah and various other relics. The Sakura was in full bloom and it wasn't a bad day of weather besides the constant rain. We also fed deer and saw the pagoda in the park. We ventured into a small town and found small gifts here and there. They are known for there hand woven hand towels. I bought a few and we also ate at a little shop with chicken Katsu donburi. We spent all day there and headed back to Osaka again where we ate dinner underground. The group was tired because of all the traveling we did that day but little did they know that the next day was the day we were gonna do most of the walking.
First floor at PB Climbing Gym.
Cave like feature with a pillar. Sent a few routes under here.
Check in desk at PB climbing
2nd floor of PB climbing gym. Retired husband and wife working on an overhanging problem.
Here is the owner of PB Climbing gym, Mr. Sasaki showing some moves on a hold.
Front door entrance at PB Climbing
First night back and eating sushi with the rest of the group. Eric had whale Katsu!
In the Nara Park watching people get attacked by deer. These deer were more lively than the ones in Miyajima!
Getting a deers perspective on life in Nara.
Todaiji Temple is the largest wooden structure in Japan.
Todaiji housed many large buddah statues.
Walking around Naramachi which is a small town near Nara.
Sakura in full bloom in front of Todaiji temple.
Climbing at another gym for the first time was another experience for sure. Finding the place was a little hard but talking with the owner and his wife made it feel like I was at my home gym. They were very helpful and was really interested in where I was from and what the climbing scene was like back in Hawaii.
Nara park was cool with all the deer roaming around. I especially liked this part of the trip because it was one of the first days that we went to go see things from historic Japan. Even though it rained on and off it wasn't too bad, definitely not like Hawaii. If I ever got the chance I would go back here to look again.
Kyoto is up next! Stay tuned!
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