6 hours in 3 days...

Sleep, that is...cumulative. I feel blessed that I'm assembling coherant sentences. 2 days ago I traveled about 8 hours on local trains to Hiroshima, then took a 5 hour night bus back to wander the temples and streets of Kyoto, canceled my last wwoof host and had a lot of trouble booking a hostel, decided not to worry about it and went to Mt. Kurama (where reiki was developed), met a very kind Japanese woman at the onsen (mmmmmm, Japanese hot springs....) who drove me to her house in Yokohama...they predicted it would be a 6 hour drive, but we stopped off at Mt. Fuji to watch the sunrise (phenomenal, btw. Until dawn, she was shrouded by clouds, then as the morning sun warmed the atmosphere, the clouds parted and Fuji's immense shadowy profile emerged overhead. Gradually, the light poured through enough to illuminate the volcano's flanks and show the reddish green hues of her summer/autumn flanks. We snapped a few pictures, exclaimed 'sugoi' again and again under our breath, commented on the cold, and as soon as it came through, the clouds closed again and the miracle was hidden again), we arrived at her house at about 7am, 12 hours later...wow. Her mom is a reflexology healer! She fed us a yummie vegetarian breakfast of raddish and greens soup, tomato and salad, soft-boiled eggs, bread, and amazing Japanese peaches for dessert. I told them I was hoping to go to a kimono shop for a souvenier and she said her friend just closed a kimono shop and she gave me about $300-500 worth of silk! whoa, mama!! It's been an amazing few days. Today, I went to see the biggest Buddha in Japan and came up to Nikko, though it was dark here when I arrived. I'm off the beaten path up in some woods near a stream, for sure. And a 5 minute walk brought me to a delicious little onsen in the forest with $4 admission for as long as you want (one visit) to soak in a hot indoor pool or a hot outdoor pool nestled in a tiny Japanese garden alternating with cold showers. Yummie!! I soaked about 2 hours and walked home in a refreshing light drizzle with a goofy grin on my face. Tomorrow morning, it looks like I'll be the only one in the daily morning yoga class led by the Buddhist Monk Vegan Chef. I missed the $18 zen vegan dinner tonight, which was one of the main reasons I came, but oh well. I wasn't ready to leave Kamakura this morning in time to get here for it anyway. Tomorrow, I head for the World Heritage Park to see scale models of the world's great wonders. I also hope to get in a waterfall hike and maybe swim? Then back to Saitama to my first wwoof farm to sort through my stuff and say good bye to my friends there.

I should be home 8/30. See y'all soon!