Imagine this rainy day

Imagine driving up a small mountain-road, the rain drumming on your car roof, and the road looking more like a river or almost a waterfall more than a place for cars and wheels. Imagine being in a new country that you have been dreaming about traveling to since you were 10 years old, realizing that the world is not just your hometown, wondering what your life and your looks would be like if you would have been born in a totally different place.

Imagine driving for hours around in the wild nature of Japan, thinking that actually this looks a little bit like home, with the big mountains surrounding the west coast of Norway. Imagine suddenly finding a huge temple within the forest in the middle of the mountain, with a great number of golden statues inside, realizing you are so not in Norway anymore.

Imagine driving a bit further up the hill, stopping by a charming house made with dark wood and looking exactly how you have imagined old houses looking like in Japan's countryside. Walking inside, being greated by an older couple(?) who works there: she serves and he cooks, and they are greeting you with smiles that you understand and Japanese words that you absolutely don't understand after being in the country for 3 days.

And imagine the sight of a "menu" which looks more like a drawing to you, more like a piece of art than a piece of paper offering you different dishes. Feeling so happy that I have a Japanese friend - thank you Mana once again for taking me to amazing places, and for translating the menu for us ;)

And it goes without saying that of course the food is delicious and special. Hot soup with noodles and vegetables in it, and fried fish and vegetables on the side. Drinking many cups of thick green tea (which they just came and filled up for us all the time), sitting on the floor looking out at the autumn colors and the fog swallowing the valley down there by the foot of the mountains. 

Imagine going to a hot spring after this. In the dark, sitting in hot hot naturally hot water outside under a black and foggy sky, having raindrops falling on our heads, imagining the city down by the foot of this mountain where we are now relaxing.
I had a good sleep after this day.

Foto: KMG