Driving on into more villages, and discovering more hidden treasures and power spots of Kunisaki Japan! The next one is my most challenging place to visit! The laughing Buddha carved into the stones on a hill.
The guide didn't follow on this one, and now I know why! The walk up was innocent looking enough, it even came with nice flat stone steps. In the photo was probably the youngest guy in our group walking up. We were quite in front of the group at this point....
After the steps ran out, we were walking on path leading up slightly. It was still a nice walk at this point as the trees shading us was just beautiful, and walking in such a beautiful surrounding was a blessing!
But soon we came to more stone steps, and this time, the stone steps were not as polite as the one before. These stone steps were larger and narrower. At this point some of the older aunties were ahead of us..... talk about stamina! These ladies fear nothing!
Enter thru the stone torii, and we were supposed to be in sacred realm, but I found my personal hell instead. As you can see here, the stone steps were not even from here onwards. So it was more like walking up a stone mountain. Thankfully there were hand railing to help you. Plus, it was such a steep climb!
My climb of terror! While I was climbing it, I was trying not to think about the path coming down. It was so steep going up, I was pretty sure I was going to have trouble coming down. But I was so invested now that I told myself I was gonna make it up there no matter what! Lol. What a dumb idea, right? I have injured myself hiking before, yet I don't seems to learn anything. But I did eventually reached the laughing Buddha, but all I could do was take a photo and concentrate on my breathing. After that I made my way down right away cause I knew it was going to be harder than climbing up here. On my way down, I was just hanging on to dear life on those hand railing as I try to lower myself down. At this point, some of the older ladies were just coming up. Even they were getting a beating from these stone steps. I tried to encourage them with my limited Japanese, but to me, they were all amazing in my eyes already. They really show no fear at all in front of any path before them. They just needed more time to climb this. Not a single of these ladies turned back from the challenge before them.
The peaceful laughing Buddha. I didn't really had time to appreciate it's serenity when I was up there. There was just so much thoughts and fear in my mind when I reach the top. But I am glad I made it up there. After encountering these stone steps, no steps really bother me so much any more when I come across them, except maybe the steps of Old Man of Storr..... but in my defence, it was more due to the lack of time than the lack of courage to walk up those steps :P That, my friend, is for another post when my blogging reach my Scotland Adventure!
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