Shangri-La, Summer 2010

I'm at Komatsu Airport an hour and a half early. Its a teeeeny weeeeny airport (kinda like me) so that when you enter the building you are already checking in and when you go up the stairs you are already going through security and when you exit security you are in line and boarding the plane! But if you take one step to the left or the right you can avoid the boarding, sit down and gaze out on my beautiful mountains in Shangri-La and watch them slowly fade into darkness.

The weekend was fantastic! We cycled deep in the mountains all day Saturday after saving a woodsman who had collapsed on the side of the road and was suffering serious heat stroke. We rode all day Sunday in our Saturday riding place. We saw a ton of wild animals, big and small.

On the way home we visited Kamishii and saw that the house in which Mayu and I lived in for the last six years was unlived in and falling/rotting into disrepair. It was a pitiful jungle of despair.

We visited our old friends at the previous house and chatted them until they were smiling and laughing. I gave them some Tokyo gifts and in exchange received two huge boxes of freshly-dug (that afternoon) potatoes as well as about 50 onions, two giant heads of cabbage, a dozen or more cucumbers and a bunch of fresh eggplant! Wow! Talk about country friendliness!!

Then Sunday night out we went for a night run enjoying the cooler humidity and the heightened tension that goes with only seeing where the bike lamps light up. We lay on a bridge over a river in the middle of nowhere and gazed at the stars for 45 minutes as the heat from the concrete warmed and dried our soaking wet bodis.

Today we rode along the sea in the forest and then along the cliffs (met two gorgeous sisters and their family from Tokyo and chatted them until they were smiling and laughing). We stopped at our favourite coffee cabin by the sea and chatted the owner (as usual) until he was smiling and laughing.

We napped in the mountains, got lots of sun, enjoyed the heat, humidity and the sun. Saturday was the official end of the rainy season so the weather was hot, clear and perfect the entire three days.

We even went hiking in the mountains Sunday!

Talk about the perfect weekend in Shangri-La.

Now I am heading back to the concrete jungle, laden with omiyage for my coworkers and preparing to put on the monkey suit for days of sitting at the computer reading, typing, and more.
Over the next week or two I'll upload the myriad of photos of scenery that most of you will know because I have been shooting this scenery for 20 years. I NEVER get tired of it. NEVER!!! Also I will work on the video I took and probably end up processing and uploading five or six videos to my YouTube channel (some only in Japanese this time). That is going to take some time considering my busy Tokyo life, but I'll get it done.

It amazes me how Hokuriku and I speak the same soul language... Even the humidity which is way higher than tokyo just feels right.

Max and I had a three day weekend that felt just like any other extended weeknd as if I was still living here. And in a big way... I still am. Something tells me I'll be back...

I love you!!