Yoshino

This part of the itinerary was the most challenging one. I thought Shirakawago is the hardest but it's not. Today, we ran into a lot of difficulties going to Yoshino but I guess it was part of the adventure.

From Shin Osaka we went to Tennoji Station and there walked to Osaka-Abenobashi Station. We did see the Yoshino train there but our QR codes for the Kintetsu Pass is not working. The person at the train station informed us we need to buy a special train ticket for that  direct YOSHINO train. But of course we did not so we ended up lining to the rapid train, and that the start of our funny but messed up itinerary. If only we know that the direct YOSHINO train would be better, we would have taken that instead..Lol. But anyways, here's to the long and funny ride.

While we are awaiting for the train to roll, a lot of passengers are still coming in. Later, we heard an announcement but since it was Japanese we could not understand it. Then some passengers went out and transferred to the other cars. We were seated at the rear end . 2nd to the last car. Not sure what was happening, we just shrugged it off. Then the train started and then about 30mins or so in the journey, another announcement was made, some passengers started moving to the front cars while the train is in motion. This time, we got a little curious and somehow began questioning what the hell was going on. Then finally, the announcement in English. We were told that the train will separate and that passengers going to Yoshino should transfer to the front cars as the last 2 cars will disengage upon arriving at a particular station. I forgot the name of the station though to document it.

My friend and I decided we cannot transfer while the train is moving since the people are already cramped up and has blocked the way. So our plan was to get out of the car upon arriving at that station, and ran to the front. It will be faster that way rather than going through a lot of people inside the train. We ran 4 cars just to get to the front, we were catching our breath. We entered the car and was finding a spot we can stand, I excused myself while walking inside the train but a "KAREN" lashed out on me. She said "SUMIMASEN, there that's the word you should say. " I was stunned, I might have bumped her a little but I did say excuse me and sorry in English. She is a foreigner, she might be living in Japan for awhile but she just had this air. Anyway, my friend told me we transfer to another spot instead of engaging to that kind.

The rest of the trip to Yoshino is not so great as we were in standing position for at least 45mins or so. The train was rapid at first then after we transferred to the front car, the train become somehow a local train. We stop every now and then. I thought we could perhaps sit down in the middle of the ride but no, seems like everybody is heading to Yoshino. It's the peak of Sakura in there so people are flocking the area since it's a mountain of 30, 000 Cherry Blossom Trees.

Finally, arrived at Yoshino! It was a little over at 10AM. 

Mount Yoshino is not a  free standing mountain, Yoshinoyama is a north-facing mountain slope. It is divided into four areas: the Shimo Senbon (lower 1000 trees) at the base of the mountain, Naka Senbon (middle 1000 trees), Kami Senbon (upper 1000 trees) and Oku Senbon (inner 1000 trees) at the top of the mountain.

We chose the ropeway going up to Shimo Senbon bypassing the ascent since there are also lot of people doing the hike, it definitely will slow us down and of course, we want to reserve our energy at the top. The ropeway is the oldest in Japan and it's very evident. My friend even asked me if it is safe and I said well we can find it out. 

It's really intimidating at first, but I did enjoy it even if it's kinda giving final destination vibes plus the view you get from the top is really cool.

We decided to take our lunch first before exploring. We chose the first restaurant we saw, I don't know if we were just hungry or just tired of all the standing that we just want to sit.

At 11:15AM we are all done with our lunch and is exploring the town area.

cool vendor

time for a pic

• Kinpusenji Temple

 

           

Some snapshots along the way:

weeping Cherry Blossom Tree

I don't know but for some reason the things I listed to do here were just forgotten during our trip. Like we just went with the flow of the people, so we literally just walked with them and go whatever our feet and eyes take us.

We just hiked up and later did we realize it was a little dangerous as it was high up and there is not a railing you can hold on to just to get to the top. This is our view after ascending to that dangerous steep:

Had to pose with the thousands of Cherry Blossom Trees

Elderly couple hanging out at the picnic area

We decided not to take the earlier route as it was more dangerous going down due to gravity. We took the cemetery instead.

taking a selfie to check if someone will tag along..lol

This ended our Yoshino Trip. We never had to enjoy more of the sightseeing because we failed to visit the other temples, forgot to eat the salmon wrapped in leaves. I think we left Yoshino at 2:14pm.