The quest for the big Buddha (Part 1)

On Thursday I took a short daytrip to the Boso Peninsula to pay homage to the big Buddha. The guide book tells me to take the subway train to xx stop, go up the short ropeway and find the country's largest Buddha statue down a small set of steps.

1. Train--required 2 transfers and because of getting on wrong train, I had to backtrack twice. I bought a can of coffee from the machine vowing to not give up! Four hours later, I arrived at my destination. I stepped off the train, looked around (assuming I'd see the big Buddha) and found myself on the edge of a small fishing village on the bay. No one (and by no one I mean not a living soul) spoke a word of English in the village. I pointed at my picture of the Buddha and with recognition in their eyes, they pointed and told me in detailed Japanese how to find him.

2. Wandering lost through the village--for the next hour I wandered through the village climbing up and down fairly steep hills looking. It was 90 degrees and 90% humidity and I was SWEATING. And by sweating I do mean so wet that water was running off my jean cuffs. I kept finding villagers, pointing to the picture, and following their detailed plans for my trip.

3. Wild animals--on my last possible path into the woods, I almost stepped on a brown and black snake that was approximately 30 inches long. It raised my heart rate by at least 25% in 1 second. The first thing one notices in the village is the plethora of large brown hawks flying around. I have zero against hawks and thought it was interesting. I then saw a sign in Japanese with a picture of a hawk--I assume a warning that these are blood seeking attack birds. So with hawks flying around my head, snakes moving around my feet, I walked by the 10 foot high by 20 foot long wall of spiderweb covered in spiders looking for Buddha. It was at this point I finally gave up.

4. Tourist--On my way back to the train, I noticed a tour bus and stopped for help. They told me to take the cable car halfway up the mountain and follow the path. They even gave me a map (Japanese maps are not the equivalent of US maps; they are not to scale and not really to shape, but basically just show one what elements are in the general area). I take the cable car up the mountain (the cable car is also known at "the ropeway" from the guidebook). I then have to trek about 500 meters up the mountain on stone steps in the humidity which is finally turning to rain.

5. Goddess of (no) Mercy--I find the Goddess of Mercy. I didn't feel like she had much but took the opportunity to sit in the rain and let my heart rate lower (for about 30 minutes).