Day 2 - 4/27
Around lunchtime, we arrived at our the first hotel of our trip at the top of Mt Koya. We were first greeted by a gorgeous zen garden and, second, by the polite staff who helped us plan out our touristy afternoon atop Mt Koya. We had some decent soba and tempura (and Ross had to be different and ordered curry) and moved on quickly to our temple sightseeing. We toured the impressive Kongobuji temple where we sat through a traditional tea service, took pictures of carefully-crafted rock gardens, and gazed at the ancient, painted, sliding doors. We also walked around the 25m tall Daimon gate, which marks the entrance to the top of Koyasan (Mt Koya). Our tour then finished with a walk through a cedar forest cemetery, filled with moss-covered gravestones, ancient cedar trees, and a serene temple waiting for us at the end of the trail.
Our walk back to our hotel for the evening passed quickly as we thought about the dinner to be served to us. The dinner was the typical ryokan fare, and while it was my first time experiencing in-room meal service, Joe and Ross both agreed the service and food exceeded our expectations. This particular ryokan, however, was unique due to its Buddhist dietary restrictions which disallowed us from having any form of meat with our meal that night. As good as the meal was, I decided that evening that the vegetarian lifestyle is not only not for me, but a pretty poor choice in general. I had to consume a lot of food before I was full, with tofu being our only source of protein. But the food digested well as we soaked in one of the hotel's relaxing outdoor onsens.
The whole day was very relaxing and better than I could have hoped for. Our second day's evening was spent mentally preparing ourselves for next few days on the trail by sleeping well on our futons, letting our muscles relax in the onsen's hot water, and eating better food than anything we could possibly make for ourselves on the trail. The following few days' schedule promised a stark contrast to the luxurious life we were living so far on our trip.
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| The entrance to our hotel. The little character was the Koyasan mascot and you could see him all around the town. |
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| This rock garden greeted us at our hotel. Simply gorgeous. |
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| Joe and I in front of Kongobuji temple. |
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| One of the monks at the temple tending to the plants. |
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| A small pond in the middle of the town. |
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| Daimon gate - the entrance to the summit of Koyasan |
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| Joe and I in front of another one of the temples we visited. |
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| Myself and Ross at another temple |
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| The three adventurers |
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| The cemetery we walked through |
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| The view from our hotel room |
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| Our vegetarian dinner in our hotel room |
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