Nature calls
We were packed into buses that could seat about 50 people, maximum. Then we were ferried up to regions so foggy my brother says it reminded him of the old Silent Hill video games, with mist monsters jumping to chomp at your health bar.
Lastly, when we got to the place, our tour driver encouraged us to eat our lunch outside—five degrees Celsius weather—to maximize our experience instead of going back in to look for food in the packed, indoor restos. And yet, when we looked at the scenery of the Alpine mountain route hidden somewhere in central Japan, I couldn’t help feeling that all of that was worth it.
I’ve been raised a city boy for all my life, and I have no doubt that I will continue to be a city boy at heart no matter what. I’m the type of guy who would choose a day trip to a museum instead of a nature trail.
The call of the wild was never that strong for me even as a kid; I used to hole myself up in my grandparents’ library reading The Adventures of Tintin instead of going out and sweating like other kids.
This probably makes me a difficult camper to deal with on trips because half the time we tour a forest or garden, my thoughts are already on what we will have for dinner—much to the chagrin of my photo-taking parents.
This recent trip of ours, however, has made me reconsider my take on nature. Something tugged at my heartstrings even as I stood on top of the mountain, the beauty of early autumn all around me.
For once in my life, I was not thinking about that ramen place near the hotel I was just dying to try and took the time to calm my mind and just take it in. It’s ironic that sometimes we take vacations but then fill up our days with so much activities that our normal workdays look mundane in comparison. And then we stumble back to work even more tired and wonder why.
What it boiled down to was me learning the art of partying hard and working hard. Even during times when I would convince myself to take a break, the itch of being unproductive would always gnaw at me, and I’d find something—anything!—to do to scratch that itch.
It was only up there on the mountain where I really relaxed and took my time with my family to snap photos without feeling guilty about missing some imaginary cutoff or deadline. Suffice it to say that I needed that.
So, whereas I won’t be shedding my bookworm existence anytime soon, I can assure you the next time nature calls, I’m game to answer it. After all, I’m already one with nature, maaaan.