EDDIEWONG

紅葉/Kouyou basically translates directly to red leaves. Around this time of the year, leaves on some trees turn bright orange (or red) and people would venture out for sightseeing. A few years ago, I went to Kamakura for Kouyou and thought it was rather nice but I never got to go anywhere for Kouyou ever since. So this year, I made an arrangement to go to Takao-san which is 45 mins train ride from Shinjuku.

On nice days, a lot of people would climb Takao-san which is supposedly very easy to climb, even for kids. Between the ground and the peak of Takao-san sits the Yakuo-in Temple and a few souvenir shops and sobu restaurants. I took the cable tram to this mid-way point where I decided to see some Kouyou. Unfortunately, Kouyou didn’t look as if it was in full bloom. And the weather was awful. It was cold, raining (which forced me to leave my Nikon D80 in my bag) and got dark very early (by 4pm!). Because of this, it was tough to take any good pics.

On the way down, I took the cable car. Best part is, there are no friggin’ seatbelts nor safety bars to lock you in! But there is a safety net approx 3-5 meters below leading right to the bottom of the mountain. But still, a 3-5 meter drop isn’t exactly a short distance! And with it being pretty steep, you’d be rolling down the net with the cable car trailing behind you (if the cable car came off too)…