Hiking around Minō park (箕面公園)

Japan

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December, 15 th 2018

Ryan, Erek, Kim and me met each other at the hostel’s lobby and went to Umeda together. I might never mentioned, but in Japan it is important to be in time and during my stay in Japan it became very important to me and yet I have never been late. Until todayWhen we arrived at the meeting point at Ōsaka station, Lee and two other guys were already waiting. We needed to go to Hankyu Umeda (there are at least three different station at Ōsaka station) and I wasn’t able to handle to get to the platform. I defiantly have to think about how to improve time management. Another issue I haven’t expected was that nearly everybody needed to buy a ticket (I by myself are using a so called IC card, which you can charge and then just enter). It also took a lot of time. So like last week we couldn’t catch the train we were supposed to take. Actually this is not that big issue compared to Germany, because the trains are running more often and this time nobody was heading to Minō directly and was forced to wait for us. When we arrived at Minō another girl, Erika wrote me she would be late and it would be more that 40 minutes. So, we couldn’t wait for her and started hiking. Minō park is famous for its waterfall and lots of tourists are going there. Luckily it was off season, so it was quiet and calm. When I chose the trail it was important for me not to walk on the tourists ways, so it was quite difficult to find a trail. That one I chose was much too long and didn’t include the waterfall, but at least there were still some shortcuts to the waterfall. The perfect trail to get more experience for further hikes. My concept is different than Sam’s in Düsseldorf. While he precisely leads the group along the given trail I intentionally raw planned to have to opportunity to include other peoples ideas. We hiked along the touristic route to a temple and left this road climbing lots of stairs. On top we were sweaty, but gifted by an amazing view over Osaka. The trail guided us further into the woods and we had to climb even more until we got to a mountain road, which was not cruised. As I said the trail was planned raw and also the gps track was not coming from a secure source. We were slower I expected and I struggled with the gps. We climbed up a mountain again and hiked literally back. On top we found a perfect rest place for having lunch and enjoyed. The only problem about winter is you can’t enjoy breaks like in summer. Soon you stop moving, it gets pretty cold. So we continued hiking und to my surprise I realised we walked in a circle. Soon we left the street and climbed up many stairs again. From there on the trail was just amazing. We hiked on the ridge in a beautiful wood scenery. It was quiet and calmness and happiness flooded my body. This was exactly the reason I was going for hikes. The trail guided us up and down and with every stair my body was challenging I got more satisfied with myself. This was exactly what this hiking event was supposed to be. Unfortunately barrier tapes blocked our way. Due to heavy damages of the trail it was forbidden to pass. In this situation I felt kind of helpless. On one hand I usually trust myself and take a try. But this time I was with a group and felt kind of responsibility. I also don’t wanted to violence Japanese laws. Kim just went on and the others agreed. In this moment I was extremely happy that this this concept is different than that one in Düsseldorf. It worked out perfect. From there on the trail was amazing. It was a little bit damaged, but there was no reason for keeping out. It was already late, so we decided to take the next shortcut to the waterfalls. This was the moment I realised how important is it to have a fluent speaker. The shortcut’s way was blocked by a chain and there was a sign I couldn’t read. I wouldn’t have crossed it, but the sign only said no parking. So we continued. And then Erek screamed. There was a monkey. We sneaked to them, while the monkey didn’t seem to take care about us. We arrived a wooden house and saw more of them. Everybody was excited, even the locals. And then. We passed a corner and saw a huge population of Japanese maquaqes. They looked at us. Calm. Peacefully. We saw big ones, small ones and even babies. Some started grooming each other. Both groups, we and the monkeys met each other peacefully and respectfully. I cannot understand why people keep them in Zoos, they don’t belong there. And it is so easy to watch and learn from them. They belong exactly there. How can you pay respect to creatures while treating them in a cage. We should meet them on eye level. It was a short, but amazing visit. We continued and arrived at a street which guided us to the waterfall, where we met Erika, who had have a extremely long journey in the end. As expected the waterfall was not that amazing (maybe due to the season, autumn chaining is already over). Anyway it was a nice place to end up the hike and enjoy the moment together. We headed back to station, the road going there was extremely beautiful. Before the station there was a hot bath for feet and we all went in to put our feet into the hot water. It was just amazing. Once my feet were inside I forgot about anything. I could have last there for hours. Obviously we all enjoyed a lot. After a while we finally went back to station.