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Sunday, May 23, 2010

GW Day 2 Hitachi, Koriyama

Day 2 of Golden Week pics~

We got up and headed for Fukuroda Falls (袋田の滝), north of Ibaraki in Daigo town. This waterfall is ranked number 3 in Japan. In winter, the water freees and is apparently quite a sight.

Driving on the way to the Fukuroda Falls.




Koinobori (carp streamers) fluttering in the wind.

Sightseeing spots in Ibaraki.

We parked quite a distance away from the falls as there were only 2 or is it 3 carparks with free parking. Since it was GW and there were loads of people, we had to park at the one which was furthest away.




We could take an elevator up to look at the waterfall at eye level.


View from the bottom of the waterfall.




Rainbow!




Suspension bridge

View from the suspension bridge.




We saw this sign that pointed upwards which said 20mins, and I remembered that my colleague who came here 2 years ago mentioned that we could climb up to see the view from the top of the waterfall. So, what was there to lose since it is just 20mins? So we started climbing the stairs....

which went on forever.

And I really mean FOREVER.

The start of a very er... memorable climb. Lol.

The stairs at the start.

After the metal stairs came the stairs made of rock, which were steep, uneven, narrow and sometimes broken. Let me tell you that climbing stairs is no joke.


View of the waterfall at some point of the climb.



Well, we reached a fork that went 2 ways and we decided to go straight up instead of turning left. We thought that well, we could go left as we came back down. Well, this decision kind of sealed our fate for the next 2hrs...
The stairs went all the way up to the mountain. It came to a point where we were like, it's too late to turn back.
Since we didn't know how long it would take, it was like climbing with no destination in sight. We kept asking the people coming back down, how much longer it would take.



No, the stairs continue after this short rocky path.

FINALLY. The top.

And the view? Er... not much actually. It took us 1hr and 45 mins to get up to the top by stairs. Coming back down was faster. About 50mins?
Imagine climbing stairs. Not a slope, nor dirt path. STAIRS. ALL THE WAY. From the bottom of the mountain to the top.
Oh, did I mention that we were wearing flats? And my flats were not comfortable at all.
I knew I was going to be in pain the next day.
And guess what? Just as we started our way back down, Li Yan tripped and sprained her ankle.

The view from the left fork, which is the top of the waterfall.

On the way down, people started asking us how long it would take them to get to the top of the waterfall or to the top of the mountain. Lol.

Back down.

We climbed half of this route. It was good that we chose to come down the same way we went up. If we went down the other way, it would have been much longer.

With our tired feet, we made our way back to the car and drove to Koriyama for the night.




~ { 12:46 AM }
reflections @ 12:46 AM