Going the other way

 

I mentioned that I found another hiking trail in Another path. I went the other way from the last one, following the map at the bottom of the steps.

I came across the "bench with no view." This bench was falling apart and didn't look much like a bench anymore. There definitely was no view to speak of. The path forked off where the bench was, a wider path and a narrow path. Of course, I went down the wider path, waving my walking stick around so I won't walk into spider webs. Some of those strands are invisible. I did walk into a couple of strands. Ugh!

What I didn't expect was for the wider path to end up as a dead end. There was a steel tower for power lines at the end of the path. I couldn't find another path so I turned around and went down the narrow path. As I was going through the clearly unbeaten narrow path, dodging spider webs and swarms of mosquitoes, I was thinking how boring the path was. No view, no river, just an endless wall of bamboo. But, the path wasn't as boring as I thought. It turned into a fucking obstacle course.

I find myself at a sign saying "hiking road" at the bottom of the steps I just climbed down. The steps had rusted steel plates that were either there for support, or to trip up unsuspecting hikers. I ended up at a clearing (?) overgrown with weeds as tall as I am. I lost the trail at the clearing. I saw the vegetable garden that was on the map and fortunately, there was a lady tending her garden. I asked her where the trail was. She was kind enough to hack her way through the overgrown brush to show me. She said that the local farmers used to take care of the trail but those people aren't around anymore, so that's why the trail got overgrown. We finally found where the trail picked up again. I thanked the kind lady and parted ways.

It was from here where the path turned into an obstacle course. I had to hack my way through the overgrown brush and go under or climb over fallen trees. I finally merged onto a newer trail and made my way down the steps. It looks like I ended up on the other side of the trail I started on and in a residential area. Left leads me back to the park where I left my scooter, and right leads me to the train station. Naturally, I went left. There was an "American country store" that sold antiques and country crafts near the park entrance. The store was closed so I didn't get to browse around, but maybe I'll take a look the next time I'm in the neighborhood.

A bunch of stairs was waiting for me at the entrance. I saw an even longer flight of stairs at the top of the first flight. Fuck me. After climbing the first flight of stairs, I saw a path off to the left so I went that way instead of climbing up a bunch of stairs. I ended up hacking my way through another overgrown path. I could find my way only through the brush by the markers that were placed before the path got overgrown. I finally found some steps that weren't overgrown and made my way back to the park.

After the hike, I decided to treat myself to a huge ice cream cone. The flavor du jour was milk tea. Earl Grey is usually used and it was pretty good.

I can now say that I didn't spend the entire weekend sitting on my ass doing nothing. I did go out for some sun and fresh air.

How was your weekend?