Japan Trip 2009 - Day 5

Day 5 was the main course of this Japan trip, the trip for red leaves.
We took the first bus from the Hachinohe train station to the Lake Towada 十和田湖, where we would do hiking along the river 奥入瀬渓流 to the lake side. It is one of the most favorite places to admire the natural red leaves in Japan.
That day was a sunny day and was not hot as it was autumn. There was a path that lead people to the lake side along the river. Along this path, there are different bus stops for people to take on or off in order to start or leave their hiking path. We planned to start the hiking at the first bus stop 石ヶ戸, but was afraid could not finish the whole path on time in order to get the boat and ride across the lake and get the last bus back to Hachinohe. Thus we got down the bus at the second bus stop 馬門岩 of the hiking path.And actually, we did not have enough time to finish the path as we took so much photos on the way to the lake. If anyone want to put this visit as a one day trip, you better get down the bus at the third bus stop instead of the second one. If you planned to stay a night along the lake side, you can start the hiking at the first bus stop.
The river 奥入瀬渓流 is a really gorgeous place. And at that season, though not all leaves were red, but still, I am sure you would press your camera shutter for more than 400 times while walking.We saw a painter, set up his canvas and made his work next to the river. The scene there is very famous. Different seasons would give out different colors, which gives out different feels. You would absolutely shocked when you see it. That was stunning. We, of course, very excited. And thank God that the day was so nice and good for enjoying the scene. Remember the previous day was a rainy day? We were so lucky.

There are several famous visiting site for people to take photos. One of them is called 阿修羅の流. Really nice.It was the beginning of autumn, red leaves are not much. But the area there was so colorful. You could see green, yellow, orange, and red leaves everywhere. I would say that it is a must go place when you are visiting the North East of Japan.But, remember that in winter, the river and hiking path would not be opened as it would be very dangerous because there would be snow and ice everywhere.
At the very beginning, we walked happily and took photos at every steps. However, at half of the path, we found that we were running out of time for the boat. So, we speeded up our steps and also the photo speed. And luckily, we made it. Could get on the boat. The boat took us about an hour to the other side of the lake. On the ride, we could see the whole mountain was covered with orange color. Still, with some green color. Really nice. We took a good rest in the boat as we were exhausted due to the hurrying walk. A very interesting experience and worth to have it.

We planned to take a walked after taking off the boat, but was no time. We had to take the last bus back to Hachinohe. We found that the pier area got so many trees with red leaves, thus, we took some photos and hurry to buy bus tickets.

When back to Hachinohe, it was dark. We found a little restaurant for dinner. The owner was a very nice lady. She knew we were tourists from Hong Kong. She got us a little gift. It was an apple. She said apple is the representative of Aomori. Though she and other staff there could not say English well, we could not say Japanese well neither, they were so friendly and suggested what we could eat. It was a good dinner with the warmth that they gave. A really worthy experience for us. I was thinking such kind of visiting is what we want. Feel people, feel the place and feel the scene.