A purist's laments!

In an effort to spin some yarn.

Well, as starters, here's a pic of my first Halloween getup which is not even remotely Halloween in character!! Sorry for my lame non-efforts, but what I wanted to achieve was psychedelic 70s Afro style with blings and all. Kind of like fusion, as I am too poor and could not afford to be a purist. I am a purist by heart but what am I to do? Not exactly entertaining, boys and girls, but here you go.



Wait, saw the bling?

I wish I know how to spin some serious yarn, kick some serious derriére. Having morphed into a girl of few written words, all I could do is to bombard you readers with molto pictures. As I have read somewhere, "If you can't blind them with knowledge, baffle them with bullshit". I WISH I could bullshit more and baffle YOU. What used to be so easy, I am losing grip.

Well, like I have said, here are some to blind you. Get your Raybans! The glare, the glare!!!



Oops, it was very rude of me to not give you an introduction of what are about to come. Again... I have skipped grammar class, this time for Mt Hiei which is situated northeast of Kyoto with the labmates.

Err.. I don't exactly have "lab" labmates. I am allergic to "lab" labs. They are my colleagues, and we love having a good time and outings once in a while.

It was a four hour climb to the peak, a nice hike punctuated by little stops to examine tree species (the botanist in us!) and chocolate breaks.


One of the most interesting spots that I found myself liking is this cedar forest (which are actually plantations of cedar for construction purposes but are now slowly abandoned as extracting timber from japanese forests are more expensive than importing them from the third world timber-producing countries, for example MY country). Its not naturally occuring, but its very japanese, minimalistic and organized. Well as a consolation for myself, I will still call it a cedar forest though it is technically a plantation. Need some romance and illusion here.

One cannot always afford to be a purist under such circumstances.


The hike further up also revealed slopes with leaves slowly turning red.... Ahh.. the purist in me was immediately soothed.


Halfway up, the gridiron layout of Kyoto city could be seen.




Well, I hope this photo gives you an impression that it is high. Just deception. Just doing some magic tricks.






Further up, a field with wild grass enveloping the whole slope, dancing to the gentle breeze. Don't want to all poetic here (and I am really bad at being that) but it was a beautiful feeling. A simple but captivating sight.

The peak offered good views towards Lake Biwa, biggest lake in Japan and also Ohara, a nice place with temples and rice fields. The view was absolutely beautiful, mountains, lakes, all shades of mysterious blue. But the sad part of the story is that the peak has been levelled to build a huge parking lot, capable of occupying at least 10 buses, 30-40 cars and of course, a specially built so-called "botanical garden" that charges an arm and a leg.

Aren't untouched nature the ultimate botanical garden that none of the human creations could rival? Its hard to be a purist here. Tourism has a big market in Japan and nowhere is spared.


Well, boys and girls, here's what I can do best to spare you the sight of railings and bus stops and kitschy "botanical gardens" and buses and parking lots and tarmac and restaurant and automatic drink dispensers.

The secret? Just squint hard. Well I did.. and I became happy.



The descent was pleasant, walking among temples with more than 1000 years of history which I have yet to discover in detail.





There's nothing like a zen garden to end the day, peacefully.


p.s. Again.... about the greatest adventure (to date), I will work on it soon enough! Please please please do wait.