50 and beyond

At Kamikochi, you see a wide variety of tourists. We saw quite a lot from Thailand and Taiwan (from their language and accents). There were also a lot of local tourists. 

One bunch that stood out for me were the eldery Japanese. They looked in their 70s. Yet, they walked with a brisk gait. Few used hiking poles. Many a times, they would overtake T and me casually, while chit-chatting about this and that. 

Our second day at Kamikochi, I felt more confident and familiar with the terrain. We first made our way from Taisho Pond, to the hotels at the left bank of the river, and then, to the Kappa bridge and to Myojin bridge. 

From there, we decided to go up to a more remote route, to reach the Tokusawa campsite. We wanted to turn back when we encountered a rather large monkey with bright red pendulous balls. But we waited till he deviated into the wild and carried on our way. Three quarters way through, we encountered a group of lively geriatric walkers, all looking like they were in their 70s. Perhaps we will overtake them on our way back, T commented. And that…became my mantra for the rest of the trip. 

Nevermind that the soles of my feet were starting to ache. I trudged on. It was comforting to see fellow trekkers every few hundred meters. And everytime we saw a bear bell, T would ring it vigorously. After all, the last sighting of a brown bear was just the morning before😅

We reached the remote campsite and decided to quickly head back down immediately. We found time for a short break at the next rest stop, and then walked all the way back to the interchange. 

And so, unknowingly (it was only until we were back at our ryokan later that we found out) we had walked 15.3km! No wonder the soles of our feet were aching so badly.

Straight to the onsen we went for our relaxing reward of soaking in a hot spring. But here’s where it started to go awry for me. I was absorbed in enjoying myself and eavesdropping to all the conversations around me, when I realised that I was feeling a little dizzy. So I got out and went to shower again. But the dizziness didn’t stop. I managed to put on my yukata and sat down to blow dry my hair but the feeling got worse. I started to panick. I didn’t want to faint and have naked old women surround me trying to help me. So, I prayed that God would help me avoid an embarrassing situation, and quickly made my way to the resting lobby. I made it without fainting! Thank God T was already there. He got me iced water to drink and bought some chocolate. It took a while to feel better.

After dinner, I declared that I needed to sleep. Nevermind that it was only 7pm. I fell asleep promptly and woke up at 11pm with this excruciating ache from both soles of my feet. The Atome patches I applied before I slept didn’t seem to be working. I kind of whimpered to T and he, still wide awake from his afternoon coffee, kindly squeezed my feet and massaged them for a bit. I took two panadols and then rested my feet up and slept.

By morning, I was back to normal. All that showed of the trekking journey was one blister near the ball of my sole. 

But…I felt a strong sense of triumph! I had surpassed those 70-80 year olds!! 🤪😝