Jess and I hopped on the flight at Melbourne airport optimistically and made it uneventfully to Hong Kong for our connecting flight to Osaka. We did nearly miss that flight because we became momentarily slightly obsessed with the “noodle bar” in the Cathay Pacific Lounge which didn’t open until 10.45. Our flight left at 10 and we were fooled by the absence of announcement that it was not ready to board. Of course, that was quite wrong; they’re just too classy to have announcements in the Lounge and the Cathay Pacific flight attendants looked utterly stricken when we finally rushed up.
Anyhoot, upon arrival at Osaka airport, Jess paused for a quick pitstop/opportunity to be completely baffled by the toilet and I considered how we should get to the office where we could swap our JR voucher for a rail pass.
We made it to the glass walled enclave and I managed to ask “Do you speak English” in Japanese to which they answer “Chotto” (a little). We proceeded to communicate in half English/half Japanese (although a lot more English as I displayed how bad my Japanese was). They expressed some amazement that we wanted to go to Koyasan. I questioned that myself as a quick jaunt straight to Kyoto looked mighty appealing: there were numerous trains direct to Kyoto, some even express. The way to Koyasan seemed insanely complicated. At best, it was five different changes.
But Jess and I didn’t want it easy. After convincing them that we were serious about Koyasan, they relented and gave us a reserved ticket in the first class carriage. It was swish. We rocketed by industrial country side and a driving range (pictured).
We made it to Tennoji and then had to get a train to Shinimamiya. Alas, it was there that our JR pass ran out and we had to resort to another transaction in cobbled together Japanese. Of course they were super helpful and gave us tickets to Koyasan – they even labelled them in biro in English so we knew which one was for which part of the journey.
With still several train changes to go, we turned to the nearest vending machine for encouragement and selected a coffee + cinnamon in a can. I was hoping for iced coffee but here’s a tip: if it has a red label, it’s hot. And boy was it hot. So weird to get hot coffee out of a machine. Jess drank it and held onto it as we boarded the train due to the complete absence of rubbish bins which persisted for the entire journey.
The next train took us to Hachimoto. Even though the train line we were on appeared to go straight on to Gokurakubashi (our last stop before Koyasan), we had been told we had to swap in Hachimoto. This news was confusing and stressful. We took the hat wearing station attendants at face value though and discovered that the particular train we were on didn’t go the full distance. A swap from our train to the train on the other side of the platform worked a charm and we were on our way. Only another two linguistically challenging mode shifts to make before Koyasan…
The train delivered us to the Gokurakubashi cablecar which was handily served by about 40 steps which quashed any notion I had that I’d packed light.
The cable car had everything you’d expect from a cable car, quaint seats, a hat wearing driver, amazing sights of beautiful Japanese countryside and a sensation of remote but present danger whenever one paused to look at the modest cable separating us from certain death. The station at the top gave us our ninth and last exciting transport choice in 24 hours – a bus.
We were exhausted by this stage, so when the bus dude asked us where we were staying and we told him it was the IchiJo-In, we were grateful to hear that it was only five bus stops away. He showed us on the map where it was located and told us that after the bus stop, we should get off, walk to the lights and turn right.
