Paragliding Camping Extravaganza

In mid-May, several friends did paragliding off a nearby mountain for a Cambodian kids' charity.  They were scheduled to jump on a Saturday, and so organized a camping trip in the cabins on the mountain.  The wind was blowing the wrong direction, so it had to be pushed to Sunday morning.  I embarrassingly slept through the jumping (it was finished by 9 AM), but we had a great time around a big campfire, which is something that doesn't happen much in Japan.

We also got some incredible views of the Kanazawa area.  The newly planted and flooded rice fields made a striking sight in the sunset; reminded me more of aerial photos of New Orleans after Katrina than anything else.

The landing target.

The wind kicked up and curtailed the paragliding until later in the afternoon, but one of the instructors went up and was carried high up.  This looks like maybe the most exhilarating thing ever, and I'm definitely going to try to go later this summer.