onsen ikou

yesterday had a dream about going to a trade fair with some russians -- i forget what i had to trade with, but i traded with a soviet for, what i thought were, some shards of sputnik; but through the alchemy of dreams it changed into some sort of flame proof blanket. i unraveled the blanket thinking that there might be diamonds inside, but found none.

the morning i walked into the mountains with a litre of water and one perfectly ripe banana; found a nice swimming spot by the miyanoura river (miyanoura is the town i am in), hung out in the cool, limpid water for a bit. for the most part the rivers here, especially closer to the mountains, is totally fine to drink; although, i swear it tastes a bit of algae. hiked for about 3 hours, got a bit into the mountain trails which lead to the old growth forests and mountain summits. the weathers perfect right now, warm and sunny, blustery and cool.

went in on the trail for about 30-40 mins before hunger impelled me to turn back. got home a lot more exhausted than i thought i was (maybe i had some sun stroke?), ate bunch and passed out watching the old samurai shows they always play in the early afternoons.

later on went swimming with ashley in the river; the water is still pretty head numbingly cold in some parts. the water is so clear you can see all the fish swimming about. old guys in a nearby guest house building kept sticking their heads out to shout random stuff at us. ashley was wearing her wet suit and i think they were amused by that -- or they might have been simply amused by a white person in a river.

after dinner we went out to the hira uchi kai chu onsen in the south of the island. probably the most "natural" onsen ive been to, no buildings, onsen is just a few pools where rocks have been kind of cemented together where sulfurous geothermic water seeps. the onsen is submerged under the sea except for a few hours around the low tide when the ocean recesses to reveal the pools. we got there just a a bit after the ocean went down so the pool was still luke warm in some parts. the scene was intense, the ocean crashing against rocks nearby lit by a bright gibbous moon. once in a while i would stand on a rock, naked with arms akimbo, surveying the infinite ocean, the pin pricks of stars, the almost orbicular moon and its silverly reflection in the ocean.

i've been to a few onsens in my life, but this was probably the best.