Tag: Travel Japan

Travel Days

On By rrainefioreIn Japan, UncategorizedLeave a comment

After the first workshop that I came to Japan for, we took a taxi to Ueda and checked in to our hotel.  There is a laundromat near by that I used last year.  I should have gone there, but I didn’t.  I decided to do laundry at the hotel.  The girls went for a walkabout around town.

As I was loading the washer, I looked down at my dirty shoes.  They were a pretty mint green a week ago.  Now they were brown.  I took them off and threw them in the washer – what could go wrong?  I contacted Rika to see if she wanted to go to dinner with us since she was also staying the night in Ueda.  She contacted the host of the guesthouse in Bessho Onsen and got a restaurant recommendation.  We aren’t even staying at the guesthouse anymore and Rumi is on it!

I moved my laundry to the dryer and texted the girls to meet me back at the hotel in 20 minutes.  When the dryer load was complete I opened the door and a puff of white snow filled the air.  It went everywhere.  I looked around panicking a little hoping to find a broom or something I could clean the snow up with.  Nothing.  As the snow settled, at least it blended in with the floor.  No one else was there, thank god.  I must have washed a kleenex by accident and it disintegrated into a million pieces.  I pulled my sopping wet clothes (covered in snow) out of the dryer.  I went back to my room barefoot and the girls helped me hang my clothes so they wouldn’t get funky during dinner

After dinner, I slinked off in the rain to the laundromat near by and dried my clothes.  Wish I had just gone here first.  Oh well, what else was I going to do tonight?

The next morning we walked around the Ueda Castle after breakfast, then checked out of the hotel and got on our train to Tokyo.  My suitcase handle broke – ugh. 

There was a craft store Peggy wanted to go to in Tokyo (recommended by Rumi, of course).  Once in Tokyo Station we successfully navigated to a luggage storage place.  It took some standing around in the middle of a throng of people trying to get our bearings, moving to another area, standing around, making another educated guess on where to go, taking an elevator, and sending me out as a forward look out to decide which way to go, but we found it fairly quickly.  Once our luggage was stored, Peggy and I marked our location on maps and took photos so we knew we could be reunited with our luggage later.

We took another train to the craft store.  It was huge and had lots of fun things.  I bought some origami paper and some tape to fix my suitcase.  Why did I buy origami paper?  I already have a bunch at home I am not using.  Dumb. 

After, we were hungry, but feeling the need to be on our way pretty soon.  We opted for McDonald’s, mostly to see how different it was than in the US and because it would be quick.  It was different, but not huge differences.  They bring your food to you.  I had a chicken sandwich that was ok and an orange fizzy drink that tried to kill me instantly with sugar.  Sally got a happy meal with no toy.  That’s not happy.  I did manage to finish my sandwich before the drink took my life force away.

We successfully retrieved our luggage.  We found a ticket counter for the next train we wanted to take and Sally and I bought tickets.  The guy asked 157? And we said yes.  After getting the tickets I realized, 157 was the time.  Shit, we have less than 10 minutes to get to the platform.  I turned to the other girls and said “It’s go time”.  Look for signs for platform 14.  We found it in perfect timing just as the train was arriving.

Once in Odawara, Peggy navigated us out of the train station to the bus stop.  There were people everywhere and the name of the bus we got on didn’t match the characters on my phone.  Google maps was giving me nothing in English so I couldn’t even ask, “do you go to —-?”. Peggy tried to show our destination to a bus attendant type person and they pointed to the bus everyone was getting on.   We crammed on with our suitcases and held on for dear life. 

There was a parade just finishing up in Odawara so the streets were packed with people on vacation for Golden Week as well as floats returning to wherever they came from.  It was fun to watch.  We sat in a lot of traffic.  The mountains around us got steeper and the jungle denser as we left Odawara. 

The next town, I had researched possibly staying there, but we didn’t book before hotel prices went up.  When we passed through, it appeared to only have one thin road lined with shops.  There were so many people, they could barely walk.  The hotel I had liked was way up a giant hillside.  I couldn’t imagine how we would have even gotten up there.  Maybe it was better we didn’t stay in this town.

Each area we went through looked similar – steep mountains around and nowhere to walk.  We finally got to our bus stop and had to walk single-file on the side of the road.  There was no sidewalk here.  A couple blocks later we found our hotel, had a welcome drink and some “sweets” made out of beans.  So many things are made of beans here.  Bean sweets – I’ll eat them, but not my first choice.  Even my pillow has beans in it – why?

We asked the hotel to help us try to make a dinner reservation.  They called a couple places that were all booked up for two nights (Golden Week).  We decided to eat at the hotel.  The public bath at the hotel was nice after dinner. 

Takayama Day 1

On By rrainefioreIn TravelLeave a comment

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.

Travel Day

On By rrainefioreIn TravelLeave a comment

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.

Another Night in Ueda

On By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

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.