Today I Read: Living Value Investing The Story of Cheah Cheng Hye

It has been a while since i read and completed a book in one sitting.

Hence, i really feel the urge to write it down, and i just decided to open Blogger and do so now on a gloomy, cloudy Sunday afternoon, with sounds of thunder outside my window.

Here is the link to the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Living-Value-Investing-Story-Cheah/dp/1623201608

It is not so much a biography as you would expect typically of a book - that tells a story of one person, and how that person is so awesome that you could hardly fit their ego into a book, but this was instead, a book revealing more about the thoughts and value framework that a person truly believed in. The book tells the story of the rise of the company Value Partners from 1993 to 2016, which was really inspiring not only because it reminded me of a rags to riches story, but also because they stuck to the core beliefs of value investing when others use it like a buzzword of sorts.

One of the central tenets of value investing is that of buying low and a by product of doing that is that you have to be contrarian, meaning, you have to be able to go against the crowd, buying things no one else wants or believes in, and that is by nature, a very difficult thing to do. However, if you manage to stick to your beliefs and ride the waves out, what might be resulting is that of a J-Curve, something that was briefly touched in the book as well. What that means is, for the first few years, it might seem that your beliefs are not doing anything much in terms of giving you rewards, but past a certain milestone, that reward will be exponential, a vertical line of sorts.

Something like this, but the picture is really a different context. Credit: Wikipedia

Having worked for close to ten years, i feel that this is something that is close to heart as well. When you first start something, be it working in a company as a rank and file employee or being a startup founder, you generally do not have much to show for, but after riding out the plateau, your growth could be suddenly vertical, and the rewards will suddenly be there.

In this current world, where you hear of cryptocurrencies that were never heard before gaining few thousand percent in a week, it is all the more easier to lose your belief in something such as Value Investing as it is a practice that requires a lot of patience. However, value investing is how my psyche is like and how i feel i want to live my life, therefore i will continue to learn this aspect, even though I am not a Value Investor (Really more of a DCA guy now), i hope to be one one day.

Koyasan 高野山 - Okunoin

Sound of his getas rhythmically hitting the stone path in the crisp morning.

How To Get There

Personally, we took a train there in the early morning to avoid the morning crowds, departing from Nankai Namba station in Osaka and arriving at Koyasan. Some very helpful sources of how to take the train include HyperDia (the minimum one app you need to use for travelling all over Japan) and obviously Google Maps. The only thing about Google Maps is that it will give you the best route but it might not be the best route for YOU (if that even makes sense lol). So, it is up to you to compare prices, check different train schedules with Hyperdia etc, to see which combination of trains appeal to you best. You will get the hang of it after a while so don't worry.

For someone who has never been to Japan before, you might want to learn how to take a train. If not, i swear you will definitely be confused with all the different trains departing on time from each station. But then again, if you miss a train, the next one usually doesn't take too long to arrive, so again, don't worry.

I highly recommend the Koyasan World Heritage Ticket (2860 yen for the regular pass, this is okay, just go for the unreserved cabins of the express trains, there probably won't be a whole lot of people in the early morning), this 2 days pass is also especially useful if you are planning to stay on the mountain for an overnight temple stay.

The few stations to take note of are:

1) Nankai Namba (Departure) - Take the Nankai-Koya Line
2) Hashimoto Station (Transfer to another train here if your train is not direct to Gokurakubashi, it is usually a shorter train so that it goes easier up the mountain path i think? When in doubt, always ask the train driver or someone who looks like they know what they are doing ;) And anyway, there's no real reason a foreigner ends up at Hashimoto without wanting to go to Koyasan, so just look for a person in uniform and gesture wildly while asking KOYASAN? and you will get be able to get some help)
3) Arrive at Gokurakubashi - This is where you take the cable car up
4) Koyasan Station - This is where the cable car trip ends and where you can take a bus to the town itself.

Helpful Links:
https://www.osakastation.com/the-nankai-koya-line-for-koyasan-mount-koya/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4901.html

Okunoin 奥の院

Because the aim of our day trip was to visit the Okunoin, this is where we aim to go after getting on board the bus, one word of advice aka Protip #1, IMPORTANT, if you want to see the best of Okunoin, you should aim to get off at the bus stop labelled 10 (Ichinohashi), on this map.

Cropped map

Alternatively, the bus (and also tour groups) will drive directly to Okunoin-mae whereby the walk into Okunoin to see Kobodashi Gbobyo will be cut short by a lot(?) and you pretty much miss all of the forested beauty. 

However, if you alight earlier at Ichinohashi, you will be rewarded with a most beautiful and zen walk through the forested cemetery.

Really.

No, really.

Kobodashi statue

Beautiful and elaborate tombs with moss growing on them.

Look at the beautiful aged stone torii.

Kobodashi apparently sat on this stone to rest, i'm not sure why people leave coins here though.

I read somewhere that they wear bibs to protect the children. It is a pretty sight nevertheless, a sharp contrast to the forest and stone.

A wishing well? Legend has it that if you look down the well and don't see your reflection, that means you won't live past 3 years, obviously i didn't dare to look.

More bibs.

This is especially interesting because this is a line of Mizumuke Jizo (Water Covered Jizo). Worshippers splash water on the statues to pray for the souls of their departed relatives. P.S. i only realised a no-pictures sign was there after snapping this photo. What irony. :s

Yakult statue!!

I suppose this is built by a company that makes rockets?

Closing thoughts

As someone who lives and work in a city-state, which is you name it - fast-paced, busy, rat-racetracks, i crave quiet (and open) spaces and Okunoin is really a good place to have a most relaxing walk, a place that i dare say, defines the sacred Koyasan experience. I had really looked forward to visiting and i am happy to say it didn't disappoint at all.

Being the place where waiting spirits of the departed are supposedly waiting, coupled with the tall cedar trees that line the stone path, there is a sense of overwhelming peace and a creeping sense of understanding that when we ourselves depart, what is left will not be the nice things we can buy in life, but rather, just a lingering nothingness(?) After all, our existence is only ephemeral, and a walk through the forested Okunoin only seeks to strengthen this particular feeling in myself.

Reader, i hope you enjoy your experience to Okunoin as well! And if you didn't plan on visiting Koyasan before this, hopefully this has changed your mind. :)


Other references:
https://www.japan-experience.com/city-koyasan/okunoin
http://eng.shukubo.net/about.html
http://eng.shukubo.net/upfile/map.pdf