Narita

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The travel day from Takayama to Narita was a long day.  It was a rainy day so I had to walk to the train station in the rain.  I’m glad I brought an umbrella so I was dry, but my suitcase and backpack were not.  If it’s going to rain, I’d rather it be on a travel day.

The first train took me through stunning mountain forests.  It was hard to believe, but the train ride was more beautiful than the bus ride five days before.  I felt much safer than I did on that bus ride also.  The train was a hybrid train.  When the message board wasn’t telling us what the next stop was, it was telling us if the battery or engine was being used.

Then it was back to the bustle of city life.  The train station was busy.  It was a bit jarring to my system and I felt lost in the mix for a while even though I wasn’t lost.

The next train was another shinkensen.  I looked it up on maps while I was on the train.  By car, it would have been a 4.5 hour ride.  By train it was 1.5 hours.  The train would go somewhere between 127 and 186 miles per hour at its fastest.

Then I’m back in Tokyo and I needed to find my way to my hotel near the airport.  I didn’t have a dedicated ticket for this train so I went back to my prepaid city card.  I was wondering when it would run out.  It had run out.  I wasn’t sure how much to add to it so I found a ticket booth with a person instead of a machine hoping I could load it with just enough, but not too much. 

I got to the platform where I thought the train would be.  There was a train there that wasn’t marked and mine wasn’t due to leave yet so I made the decision that it probably wasn’t a good idea to get on that train.  Two more came that had destinations on them that I didn’t recognize so I decided to not get on them either.  A fourth train showed up, also unmarked.  I asked someone “Narita?” and they nodded.  So I got on that train.  I sat down and happened to sit in someone’s ticketed seat.  I moved to another car and once again chose a ticketed seat.  After changing several times I suspected I might have gotten on an express train and not the local.  I probably needed to pay more for the ticket.  So I stood in the area between cars hoping no one official busted me.  I mapped a few things and paid attention to the variable message signs about upcoming stops.  Oh crap, I was on an express train going to the Narita Airport with no stops in the town of Narita.  There was one stop before the airport so I scooted off there and started my navigation over.  This time it was more obvious that I was headed to the town of Narita.  Whew – possible crisis averted!

Walking to my hotel I rejoiced in the fact that I was almost done with walking all over Japan on uneven sidewalks with my suitcase.  I was bummed that shipping my suitcase never worked once when I was hoping it would work each time

After checking into my last tiny hotel, I headed out for dinner.  I found one close by that looked good – they were full and not serving anyone new.  This happened three more times before I found a place that would feed me.  This is a country with restaurants EVERYWHERE.  How do I find so many that won’t serve me?  Do I look menacing?  Are they really that full?  Nothing like having trouble finding food to make you want to go home.

I walked around the shopping street that I had read was a must-see if in Narita.  Most things were closed, but my flight wasn’t until early evening the next day so I knew I’d come back.

After breakfast (last breakfast miso soup), I checked out of the hotel and had them hold my suitcase.  I was too early for the shops, but there was a temple that was supposed to have beautiful gardens so I headed there. 

I passed several restaurants with very long lines outside.  Also outside was an assembly line of cooks, cutting something, skinning it, grilling it and then serving it to-go to the next hungry person in line.  I think this might be eel breakfast for business men?  Like the Japanese version of a breakfast burrito stand.  How do you eat eel on the go?  Later I searched online and found out that Narita is the place to go for grilled eel. 

I spent the rest of the morning wandering around the gardens at the temple, trying not to die from humidity poisoning.  Ok, so that’s not a real thing, but it felt like it was.  The temple and gardens were great.  The shopping street was fun when shops opened.  I bought some souvenirs.  I avoided eating eel, but later thought maybe I should have tried it.  For a girl that doesn’t like fish, there was a 90% chance I would not like it, but I could have been wrong……

Overall, a great trip to Japan, but always happy to go home.  I must still live in the right place!

Shirakawago

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Shirakawago is a farm village where they decided to preserve the heritage of the area and allow tourists to visit and learn.  Our guide told us that about 500 people still live there.  Some businesses had turned to tourism, but some were still farming. 

I had so much trouble booking this tour.  Most tours of this area left from cities other than Takayama.  Most of the ones from Takayama were a full day including a tour of Takayama.  There were two half days that I found.  One didn’t seem bookable and then this one.  I had to book for two people.  So after I booked it through Get-your-guide I informed the tour company that I was just one person.  They said it was ok to only pay for one so I contacted Get-your-guide to get refunded for one person.  After several calls and on-line chats, Get-your-guide cancelled both my reservations and said “Sorry, computer glitch, there’s nothing we can do.  You can book a different tour”.   I tried to book this one again, but it was still for 2 people.  I went directly to the tour company and booked (for 2 people).  They said if more people joined the trip, they would refund one.  That seemed fair.  The day before, I wondered with all that back and forth, where am I supposed to go to start the tour?  My paperwork said the tour started in Shirakawago which was an hour away. I thought I had a conversation about being picked up at my hotel.  I watched my nervous system ramp up with the uncertainty.  I sent them a Whatsapp message and an email.  I tried to calm down.  Trust, just trust.  Stop making drama where it doesn’t need to be.  Of course, I got a response later in the day that they would pick me up at my hotel and there were other people so I would be refunded for one person.  I know better than to worry about stuff like this.

The tour group was me, our guide and a family of 5 from Australia. We left Takayama at 7:30 and got to Shirakawago at about 8:30.  We toured the village and went into a home that had been turned into a museum so you could see what the homes were like.  It was a big home warmed by a central fire that was also used for cooking.  Smaller ceramic containers could be filled with coals to warm other rooms.  The family would live on the bottom floor, the staff would sleep on the second floor in low roofed rooms only big enough to sit upright, but not stand.  The top three floors would be for work.  The top three floors were now used to display farming tools, tools used to make the things they needed, clothing, snow shoes, kitchen wares, and tools used in the silk worm business.  Even standing there looking at it, it was so difficult to imagine that life. 

They have modern amenities now such as electricity, running water, and modern farm tools, but much of the village buildings are the same on the outside as they always were.  I also assume it is no longer the situation where forty people live and work in one house.

The thatched roofs are a special feature of the village.  The guide showed us pictures of the whole village working on thatching a roof.  The roof takes a full day to thatch and needs to be re-done every 30 years.  They also have a village fire suppression system where a siren will go off before the ‘sprinklers’ start.  The fire suppression system will shoot large jets of water into the sky, covering the whole village in water.  There were pictures to see this as a demonstration would not be a good idea.

We ended by walking up to a village overlook.  By the time we walked down, the village was completely covered in tourists.  We were so grateful to have arrived early when there were hardly any people.

After going back to Takayama, I wandered around town some more and went back to the same restaurant for dinner again. This time there was no line, but the staff was the same and the celebration of dinner was the same.  This time I got the beef you grill yourself over a hibachi grill.  It was worth it just for the staff’s description of how to cook.  “Ssshhhh 2 minute, flip, ssshhhh 2 minute, dip, eat, mmmmmm, ssshhhh, ssshhhh, dip, mmmmm.”

Takayama Day 2

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I wanted to do a nighttime food tour, but found none online.  I did find a daytime food tour that went to the morning market and the old town.  I arrived at the train station meeting point early.  Hanging out in the hotel room sounded less fun than wasting a half hour exploring the train station. 

I saw a guy sitting on a bench with an official looking badge on so I asked if he was the guide for the food tour.  He asked if I was Rraine.  “How did you know?”. I was the only one on the tour.  I like tours because you get to meet new people.  I guess I get to meet one new person today.  Later I learned I was the first person to ever take this food tour.  The tour company has done history and walking tours for years, but just decided to add a food tour for the first time.

The first stop was a vendor at the morning market.  He sold espresso in tiny cookie cups.  The inside of the cup was lightly frosted so the frosting would melt into your espresso.  When done, you ate the cup.  Brilliant.

We went to a samurai museum where you could see what the castle in this town would have looked like.  Also displayed were clothing, tools, swords and other artifacts from the samurai times. 

I ate grilled beef on a stick, raw beef sashimi, ramen and finished up the food portion with pudding. 

There was also sake testing.  In one of the sake sellers, you can put money in a gumball machine and out pops a sake cup and a token.  At another machine, you can get additional tokens.  Then you take the tokens to a bank of pour machines.  Each token pours a sample of sake.  This way you can sample sake to help decide which one you want to buy.  Again, brilliant!

We also went to a memorabilia museum with items from the Showa period (1926 – 1989).  It was like entering an Americana museum from the 1950s and 1960’s, but with a slight Japanese flavor.  It was fun and something I never would have chosen on my own.

After the tour, I decided to go see the samurai castle ruins.  This was not the best decision of the day.  Of course, the castle was at the top of a huge hill.  There were several ruins locations at the top of the hill.  None of the Google maps names matched the park arrow signs.  So I had no idea which trail I wanted to pick to see ruins.  I picked one and hiked up to the false summit at which point I had seen no ruins.  My feet hurt, my back hurt and seeing ruins no longer seemed worth it.  Was I going to continue up just to say I did?  No. I admitted defeat and headed back down.  At least it was a pretty forest hike except for the very loud heavily perfumed French group of 6 that followed me down.

Finally down from the mountain, it was time to do the dinner hunt game.   First I went to the restaurant my hotel had recommended that was closed last night.  There was a sign on the door that said all seats were reserved for the night.  I went to a couple other steak places that were more ‘food on the go’ type places.  The next place I went to had a line out the door of about 20 people. 

I didn’t want to wait, but I also was tired of being told restaurants were closed or needed a reservation.  And a line often means good food.  So I got in line.  Every now and then one of the three wait staff would come out and excitedly call the next person in line like they had won the lottery.  It was a celebration each time a new table became available.  This made me want to eat here even more.  When I got closer to the front one of them came out and put some of our names, party number and where we were from on the list.  Whoo!  Rraine One USA!  A short time later, it was my turn to eat. I was welcomed with cheers.  I had a very delicious steak and a lemon sour.  It was so fun watching the wait staff interact with the guests.  They were so energetic and their joy spread out throughout the room.  It was contagious.  Thank you, other restaurant, for being fully booked.

On the way back to my hotel, I found a foot bath.  Game changer.  We need more foot baths in the world.  It was warm, relaxing, and clean.  I found a coin operated massage chair at my hotel.  It wasn’t as great as the foot bath.

Takayama Day 1

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I had to take a bus to get from Hirayu Onsen to Takayama.  I couldn’t get the ticket ahead of time so I checked out of my hotel after breakfast.  I was a little worried that there wouldn’t be room on the bus, but that worry was completely unfounded.  Most people at the bus station were passing through going to Kamikochi.  As usual, I worried for no reason.  I wondered what was so great about Kamikochi and should I be going there.  Nah, not with all those people.  Anyway, Takayama was a city with a population of about 85,000 people instead of a town of 50 so getting there early would just mean more time to explore.  I have no idea what the population of Hirayu Onsen is, but the whole region is less than 3,000.

I got to my hotel hours before I could check in, but I could store my luggage there.  I asked if there was a place I could get a massage.  The lady at the front desk printed a map for me, apologizing that it was kind of far.  It was a 15 minute walk in a non-tourist area, not really that far.  I always enjoy seeing non-tourist areas too so this was a nice walk.  On my way, I found a coffee shop as there was no coffee with breakfast.  The first coffee shop I went to was full and they had no room for me.  What wonderful thing were they serving that made them so packed?  Less than a block away I found another coffee shop with room for me. 

I was able to make an appointment for a massage at 1:00.  This meant I had over two hours to kill.  I looked at maps and found a couple shrines and a park nearby.  It looked like Takayama Sky Park had good views and it was about a half hour walk.  It was named sky walk so I expected I was in for a climb.  The last ten minutes of the walk, my expectations were fully met and I started to doubt my choice to walk to a park in the sky.  At the top was a nice little park and the views were great.  The breeze and sitting in the shade helped cool off from the climb up.

I watched an older man and his much older father arrive at the park and go stand at the overlook.  The father was all hunched over, but you could tell he was so happy to be at the park.  They walked slowly around the entire park.  I felt I was watching something sacred. 

The rest of the day was dedicated to looking at shrines, massage, a cat cafe, and wandering through shops in the old town.  There were a lot of tourists here, but I didn’t hear much English spoken. 

Since Takayama is in an area known for it’s beef (Hida Beef), I set out on a mission (again) to find a steak.  The first place my hotel recommended was closed.  The second  one required a reservation.  I found a yakiniku place where you could try a variety of different cuts of beef, grilling them yourself.  It was delicious and actually cheaper than the two places I couldn’t go to.

I got hotel pajamas again, although much nicer than the last place.  My hotel also had a public bath which was not sulphur smelling water, so it was much more relaxing for me.

I learned a couple things today.  I learned about sake balls and charred wood. 

I kept seeing this ball that looked like it was made of dead plant material.  It would be hanging over the door of some business.  So, I asked Google about the Japanese dead plant material ball and I actually got an answer.  A sake brewery or merchant will hang a green ball made from cedar leaves over their door to announce the arrival of fresh sake.  As the ball changes from all green in the spring to all brown in the fall, it is like a clock telling you the age of the sake.

On the bus to Takayama, I saw a clip of people burning wood so I clicked on it.  In Japan, they char the surface of the wood before building with it.  The process treats the wood making it water repellent and resistant to insects, rot and fire.

Hirayu Onsen

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When I was looking at Takayama as a possible place to visit, I looked up things to do.  One of the recommendations was to go to the Okahida area where there were a lot of hot springs resorts.  Why not stay a couple nights at a hot springs resort on the way to Takayama instead of doing a day tour from Takayama?  A little more research and I booked a room for two nights in Hirayu Onsen. 

Hirayu Onsen is a small village full of tourist accommodations, an unfriendly visitors center, a decent sized bus station, a couple restaurants and a lot of hot water.  I use the word hotel in this blog, but they are ryokans (guest houses).  There is water running under every street. Sometimes it’s in an open concrete ditch beside the street or in a ditch under the street with grates or pavers over it, and sometimes both.  You can hear it running everywhere, rushing, falling, trickling.  The town has three free foot baths sitting in different parks.  They are shallow pools with hot water to dip your feet in.  I’m sure every hotel has it’s own onsen bath. Most businesses seemed to have a small water feature out front too.

The hotel I wanted to stay at only had family sized rooms available for over $300 a night.  So I booked one in a less fancy hotel that was a little over $100 a night including breakfast and dinner.  My room was huge and overlooked a duck/koi pond.  It definitely wasn’t the high end hotel, but it would be good enough.  The hotel next to mine seemed to span quite an area including buildings on both sides of the street.  Every time I would go to or leave my hotel, there would be people from that hotel just milling around the street in their robes.

The day I arrived, I walked around town.  I went to the visitors center.  The guy at the desk never looked up once even when I stood right in front of him.  I picked up some maps and pamphlets and headed back out.  I found the town nature walk.  After about 15 minutes I decided I could check that of my list of things to do. I went to a gift shop and found the first foot bath.

The cost of my hotel room included dinner and breakfast. All the tables were the traditional tables where you sit on a mat on the floor. There were two dining rooms. In mine there were three single tables and a table for six. Most of the food was already laid out. A guy came over and lit a burner under the plate with beef and a burner under a dish with a white milky substance. He also brought me two different soups. The rest of the food was already on the table. The milky substance was tofu and it thickened as it cooked and then you put it in this delicious sauce. I tried everything except the river fish. Most of it was delicious. Most of it, I wasn’t sure what it was. One guy at the six person table came in, ate and left. Another came in, grabbed something he wanted to eat and left the room with it. The others came in and ate so fast they were done in under two minutes. The other single table guys came in after me and left before me. How did they eat so fast?

After dinner I went to the public bath at my hotel. In my room was a robe and towel for each day. There was also a pajama type top. I put on my robe and slippers to go down to the bath. When I was coming back I saw people in their robes with the pajama type top on top of the robe. Was that what I was supposed to do? I can’t decide if I like public baths or not. I’m thinking I’m not a huge fan.

Did you know that ducks wake up at 4:30am and start quacking loudly? I know that now. Breakfast was a similar experience to dinner in that the food was all laid out and most of it was mysterious. There was a goo on a leaf and a lady lit the burner below that plate. When the goo started to bubble because it was so hot, I took it and the burnt leaf off the plate. No, I was not supposed to do that. The lady shook her head and indicated that it was to remain on the burner. The leaf burnt to a crisp and the goo was stuck completely to it. I don’t get it. I think one of the first things I’m going to do when I get home is get an American breakfast. Although, I’m not completely against miso soup with breakfast.

On the map I got at the tourism place, there was a thing listed that had something to do with turtles. When I googled it I got one hit that Japanese make some product from soft shelled turtles (suppon). I got another hit that showed pink flowering trees. The translation was turtle nursery. So my first adventure for the day was to find out if this was a place where they raised turtles, sold products made from turtles or had a tree nursery somehow named after the soft shelled turtle. I was hoping for trees. It was trees! A grove of white and pink flowering trees. This is what I imagine it looked like all over Japan during cherry blossom season (which I just missed). I’m not sure why these were in full bloom, but they were a sight to see. The shades of pink ranged from white to baby pale pink to a slightly darker shade of pink. And when the breeze picked up, tiny petals fluttered on the breeze. They slowly drifted down to the ground, so graceful and soft. It was like some fairy tale movie. The building next to the trees had a tiny store in the front of a huge building. Inside were products I couldn’t identify. I didn’t stay long to look. Suppon is supposed to be very healthy and is used in stew for cancer patients as well as a supplement in Chinese medicine. I didn’t see any actual turtles.

I walked by the local ski resort. It looked to be about two runs in size. It was on the way to a waterfall. The waterfall was pretty, but the hike up to it was not in the shade so I was very hot when I got there. There was no cooling off in the waterfall as it was not accessible for close up inspection and the river below it was unfriendly. Another sightseeing stop in the general area was Big Tree, Onezuko. I found where I think the path went to get to Onezuko and it was straight up a narrow side sloping trail that could have used stairs. I did not want to come back down that. I was still hot from the waterfall walk so up didn’t look fabulous either. There would be no big tree for me.

Dinner was in a different area of the hotel tonight. I had a room to myself with a tall table and regular sized chair. It was a different assortment of mysteries. It was a different type of tofu still cooked over a flame. The beef tonight was cooked on the same leaf as I had for breakfast. I hope you are not supposed to eat the leaf. There was no way that was happening. All I could think of was “You’ve heard of Elf on a Shelf, now there’s Beef on a Leaf.” There was a different river fish tonight. It was the same “no way” from me, though.

After dinner I went to the public bath at the hotel I had wanted to stay at, but couldn’t justify the price. There were seven or eight outdoor pools and they were so clean. It felt like you were out in the forest instead out under the awning of the roof. I enjoyed this onsen much more than the one at my hotel. I was real glad I paid $8 to enjoy a new onsen.  Public baths were back on the thumbs up list.

Travel Day

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I got to the Ueda train station early, mostly because I didn’t know what else to do and partly because I hoped to see a shinkansen zip through the station without stopping.  When I was in Ueda in 2019, this happened. I’m not sure if I wrote about it then, but it was such a terrifying and wonderful experience.

After a couple shinkensen came and went, I heard an announcement.  It didn’t come with the same chime before it that seemed to announce a train arrival.  And it was never repeated in English.  Then I heard the gates to the platform click.  They were already closed, but this sounded like a “just to be sure” locking of the gates.  Then the roar came.  I stood up to get a better view, but couldn’t get my feet to move closer.  I felt the air change ahead of the train and it felt like the wind tried to carry me with it as the train sped by.  My heart stopped.  I’m sure because after the shinkansen went through, my heart hurt.  I had trouble catching my breath.  Of course, there was no way to do a video of it.  It all happened too fast and I was immobilized from instinctual fear..  I wonder how fast it was going.  I’m sure it slows down a little to go through a station?  They need a digital display that reports the speed.  It did happen a second time.  This time I got a video which of course is nowhere near as dynamic as the real thing.  I didn’t go up to the gate for fear the train might take my phone. 

I was on the first train for one stop.  It took 15 minutes to travel what would have taken one hour by car.  You do the math.

I had 45 minutes to get to my second train.  When planning the trip, I left time in between just to be safe.  Two trains were listed on the electronic board for platform 6.  Mine was the second listed.  A train sat at the platform so I assumed it was the first listed on the board.  That train left and the next train came earlier than I expected mine to come.  I stared at it.  There was no station name or train name on it in English.  I stared at it and decided to not get on it.  A third train came in.  A European couple was standing near me and he asked if this train was the one that went to Matsumoto.  I replied “I hope”.  Most of the cars were empty.  This was great since the seats looked smaller than my suitcase.  As car 4 rolled up, it was completely full.  Crap, my ticket is for car 4.  The sign on the side of the car said car 4 Shinano 8.  I felt pretty sure this was the right train.  I stood aside to let people out.  They kept coming out.  I’d peek around the corner, more people.  More people.  I looked to the other end of the car.  It also had a solid line of people coming out.  It was like the clown car I remembered from when I was a kid.  More people came out than could possibly have fit in the car.  Now I was concerned.  Would the train leave before I could get on it?  When I finally got on, Car 4 was empty except for me, the couple going to Matsumoto and 4 other people.  Whew – my suitcase could have a seat of its own. 

A little more than an hour later I was in Matsumoto.  First order of business: lunch.  Second: coffee.  Third: bus station.  I searched for a restaurant and found the cutest coffeehouse that also had sandwiches.  Score!  Goals 1 and 2 together.  The coffee shop looked like something I would expect to see in Europe.  The china was ornate and gilded.  Grand desserts in foggy metal cups came out.  Was it dry ice or just super cold?  Large coffees and small coffee came out.  Small open face sandwiches came out.  The proportion of dessert to sandwich was way off.  I had a ham and cheese sandwich and thought of ordering the dessert, but didn’t.  I had ordered a cinnamon coffee.  It was cinnamon and orange.  I hadn’t expected the orange, but it was a lovely combination.

The bus station was across the street from the train station and two blocks from the coffee shop.  I had my ticket on my phone so I went past the ticket office and straight to the bus platforms.  There were 10 platforms.  There was a timetable on the wall.  None of the timetables showed my bus. I didn’t feel like playing the game of “pick any number between 1 and 10”.  So I went to the ticket office and asked.  Platform 7. 

Whoa, this was a bus ride to remember.  The road was so narrow with tons of twists and turns as it climbed into the mountains.  The road was not wide enough for two buses (in my opinion), but we passed many other buses and large vehicles anyway.  At some blind curves our bus would just stop and wait for other vehicles to pass before making the turn.  At a couple places he stopped even though he couldn’t see around the curve in the road.  When the big vehicles had passed he continued.  I wondered if he had some sort of large vehicle radar that told him when he could go.  Through every tunnel I could have touched the wall if I could stick my arm out the window.  The bus was just as close to every guardrail and every other vehicle as well – just an arms length away.  The guardrail looked completely insufficient for how steep the drop offs were.  Yes, I had my seatbelt on for the whole trip. 

Most of the way the road followed a river.  At the bottom it was wide and dark green.  It got wilder, spicier, and full of whitewater as we kept going up.  Many places the river was dammed creating blue mountain lakes.  There were also more tunnels than I could count.  After each tunnel was a breathtaking view of the river, a lake or waterfalls.  The mountainsides were covered in every shade of green that exists.  The forest was dense with no hint that anything other than forest, water and us existed.  It was a stunning , beautiful, terrifying drive and I had the best/worst seat in the bus – front row where I could see out the front of the bus and left side window where I could peer down every drop off into a river or lake.  There were still pockets of snow up high and I was very glad I wasn’t doing this drive in winter.

Sorry for bus window glare in some of my pictures, but it was the best I could do.

Adventures in Laundry

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Today was laundry day.  I went to a laundromat instead of doing laundry at the hotel.  It was too early to check into the hotel so I thought I’d take my chances at a laundromat.

All the machines looked super large and the pictures above the machines showed the number of blankets each machine would take.  So maybe people only use this for large items they can’t do at home.  Still, I was there and I probably looked silly toting my suitcase around anyway.  Might as well do laundry there. 

I put my translation app on camera mode and tried to figure out how it all worked.  All the machines were combo washer dryers.  This is technology I am skeptical about, but here we go.

Step 1 – put laundry in machine, close door and remember machine number. Check.  I shut the machine door and the central control (my name for it) started talking to me in Japanese.

Step 2 – go to central control machine, select “English”, put in machine number – machine will flash green so you can be sure you have the right machine.  Green flash – check.

Step 3 – select “wash and dry”, put money in and receive change. 

Crap, machine took coins or 1,000 yen bills.  My laundry would be 1,300 yen and I had 900 in coins or a 2,000 bill.  Another lady was in the laundromat.  I show her the 2,000 bill and pointed at the machine.  It took a minute but she understood.  She ran out to her car and came back with two 1,000 bills to make change.  I was grateful.  Step 3 – check.

After successfully paying, my machine started to spin.  I’m pretty sureOh shit – I forgot the laundry detergent.  The door was locked tighter than a safe at the bank.  I peered in and there were suds.  Did this automatically provide soap too?  I hope so.  I suppose clothes washed in just water are still cleaner than clothes not washed at all?  And I suppose I could wash them again at the hotel if this was a $9 experience just for my blog.

Later I did the math.  I feel this was very expensive coin laundry.  Maybe I should have used the laundry at the hotel.  Too late, the laundry is no longer mine until central control releases it.

Central Control

I heard a 5 second song and then the door of my machine clicked.  My laundry was dry and smelled clean!

Another Night in Ueda

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I decided to stay one night in Ueda since I wasn’t sure how I was going to get from the retreat center to Ueda or what time.  I didn’t want to have to rush to meet my train or miss it because my timing was off.  It would take me two trains and a bus to get from Ueda to Hirayu Onsen.  I was able to come back to Ueda with my teacher and friend by taxi.  I also got to have lunch with them before they departed to Tokyo and I departed to laundry

After doing laundry, I was only slightly early to check in to my hotel.  I was able to check in early.  I booked a massage for 6:40pm so I had over three hours to kill.  Sara and Michael had headed off to get ice cream when I left them so I still had ice cream running around in my brain.  I mapped ice cream and picked a location nearby.  It was a restaurant that served a lot of things.  Ice cream was not one of them.  They had shaved ice.  Close enough.  I got a mulberry milk ice.  The menu advertised it was high in antioxidants. I’ll take my toxic sugar with a side of antioxidants please. They cancel each other out, right?  It was stupid sized and delicious.

Then what?  I went to the art museum because the internet told me they had a great shop with things from local artists.  Lots of things, but nothing I wanted.  Since I was shopping now, where else coukd I go?  I went to two other gift shops.  They were full of boxed snacks.  When Japanese travel they buy these as gifts, either as a memento of where they traveled to or as a gift to others from their home town.  I think it’s a great gift idea, but I don’t have room in my suitcase for boxed mystery food.  One box had a picture of a green grape, another of an apple.  I was pretty sure both of them probably were sweet and might resemble the flavor of that fruit.  The rest of the boxes and bags were a complete mystery.  The rest of the things in the shops were sake, samurai themed toys, other toys, trinkets, t-shirts and hats.  There was a huge samurai theme since the Ueda Castle nearby dates back to this times of samurais.

After my massage, I went in search of steak.  I had seen several on my wander around town.  I went to two steak places that had people eating in them, but they told me they were closed.  It was a little before 8:00pm.  Even restaurants in Granby are open past 8:00.  I went to a Korean BBQ place.  Every item I would want was for a minimum of two people.  I gave up the hope of steak.  My next goal was to find a place that would serve me any food. 

I went to the street near the train station where I ate the last time I was in Ueda.  Two more restaurants were full of people, but closed.  I still have emergencheese in my suitcase, but I’m pretty sure I should throw that away, not eat it.  I think I’ll go to bed without dinner before eating emergencheese.  The last restaurant on the street welcomed me in and even fished an English menu out of the back somewhere.  No steak.  So, I chose a cabbage and pork omelet.  I never would have put those three things together on my own, but it was good once I scraped the dried fish flakes off the top.

End of Class

On By rrainefioreIn TravelLeave a comment

The class was great.  I feel so honored that I was able to attend.

The students have all gone home.  Only three of us and some staff remain.  I sit on my porch by myself drinking in the sounds of the forest, not a human sound to be heard.  Birds are chirping – at least 4 or 5 different calls from different directions.  One, I can tell he is flying by as he sings.  All the birds have high pitched sweet songs so I imagine them as small birds.

The breeze randomly changes from light to storm-like back to almost still.  The leaves sound like thousands of small pieces of paper rustling in the breeze.  There is the constant twack as leaves or twigs fall and hit other leaves and branches on their way down to the forest floor.  Then a large wind kicks up and all the branches stand at attention instead of drooping down.  The soft rustle turns to a louder roar becoming one solid sound like a distant train instead of a thousand smaller sounds. 

The whole pattern repeats.  Then the chirps of insects start to join the chorus as the sun starts its slow retreat.  Even though the sun is not gone yet, the temperature drops to needing long sleeves.  But I’m too enchanted to go get a different shirt.  The smells of dinner cooking start to show up with the bigger breezes.  I half expect to see elves or forest fairies.

Tomorrow I go back to the bustle of cities, trains, hotels and laundry.  Today I imagine this is what life was before cities, trains, hotels and laundry.

Tea House

On By rrainefioreIn TravelLeave a comment

The first day of class was the day they would take their final exam.  This meant I had the day to myself unless I wanted to take the exam.  I’ve already taken the exam twice, once for my class and once with the class behind mine.  I chose a day to myself instead of taking a test.

My teacher gave me the lowdown on where I could hike in the area.  Most of it was walking on a small one-lane road, not actual hiking, but all the routes sounded wonderful.  One option was going to a nearby tea house.  That sounded perfect – a little walking in the mountains, some tea and then a walk back.  I headed out for my walk a little before the tea house opened so I could get there after it opened, have time for tea and get back to the retreat center for lunch.

The one lane road took me past an azalea farm.  Most of the plants had flowered, but there were plenty still in bloom.  Then it went through a little village of about 6-10 houses.  The village was quiet.  I didn’t see anyone out and about.  Every turn of the road offered me a different view of the mountains.  I missed the cherry blossoms, but now all the tree foliage was full and every shade of green was present at the same time.  The leaves were fluttering in the breeze.  There is a delicate quality to the leaves that felt so different from Colorado.  It’s hard to put my finger on it.  Aspen leaves flutter and feel small and delicate.  These leaves almost had another dimension to them, a different level of delicate.  They seemed more intricate in detail.  Obviously, there was more variety of trees and leaves.  They also felt artistically placed.  Each branch had a graceful flow and direction as if a team of artists had chosen the exact angle the branch would arc at, the perfect number of leaves and the orchestrated placement of those leaves on the branch.  It looked like art informed nature, but I could see perfectly why Japanese art is so beautiful – it mimics the perfection of nature.

The road gradually climbed, twisted and turned until another village came into view.  There, a few buildings into town was the tea house with an open sign.

I was the only guest there.  They seated me and gave me a menu.  I ordered a strawberry ice cream thing and a homemade ginger ale.  As I waited, I flipped through my emails.  My friend emailed me to tell me she had called them to let them know I was coming.  How sweet.

The ginger ale was what we would call ginger beer and it was the best I have ever tasted.   I couldn’t be happier with my choice.  The ice cream was good too – strawberry sorbet, vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries, mint and a thick cream.  The cream made the dessert, it was slightly sweet and made your lips feel smooth and creamy.

Next I went in search of Nogura No Meoto Dosojin as it was supposed to be across the street.  It was a shrine of a man and woman that is supposed to bring good fortune for married couples, fertility, and maybe other good things I can’t remember.  I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for so I walked right by it.  At some point, I gave up, turned around and went back the way I came.  Then I saw the rock carved with a man and woman on it.  I was expecting something bigger.  Hopefully, I got some luck or a blessing.

The walk back was the same way I had come and it was just as beautiful.  Even though there were no cherry blossoms (maybe one tree), there were many other flowers along the way if you looked.  I always love the smell of pine when hiking in Colorado.  No pine smell here.  No earth smell.  The air felt lighter and crisper.  Every few moments I would pick up a sweet smell, almost like candy.  Was it the flowers?  Was it the trees?  It would go away as fast as it had appeared.  A few minutes down the road, it would appear again.