Holiday Monday!

Monday was a holiday in lieu of the Saturday I had to work. Jimmy and I decided to go on a longer hike and the leaves are just beginning to change so we were hoping the view would be nice. It rained the day before so it was quite a muddy slog going up. Coming down I landed on my bum many of the time and fell into splits a couple as well. James' junior high does the climb every year and it is amazing because it is fairly dangerous. Back home parents would have to sign a mile of paper to allow their kids to go. My elementary school did a shorter climb but it had steeper sections and kids could have been seriously injured. We started the climb around 9:30 and finished at 3 something I think. At the top it is 1300 metre high. It was good to get exercise though I felt it the next day. We stopped at an onsen after to relax our weary muscles. This is the scene for my most embarrassing moment in Japan thus far. I have explained previously that in onsens one bathes in the nude. Well, they generally have an inside and outside pool. The outside is more picturesque often consisting of rocks and plants etc and so it was on my way to this outside oasis that I slid down the stairs feet in the air in all my naked glory! I was on display to all those inside because the windows beside the stairs were floor to ceiling and I received a fairly deep gash on my elbow. Nothing hurts the pride more than making a fool of yourself in the buff.