Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Kevin and Joannie on tour
After a good night's sleep we turned up for breakfast 15 minutes early which seemed to throw the hostess into a flurry of activity. Whilst eating breakfast the landlord came doen, Mr Ichiro Yumoto, and he asked why Joan spoke Japanese!
He seemed to like gadgets as in the breakfast room was both a juke box and self-plying piano which he duly turned on.
He was a very kind host, and asked us where we were going, producing English language pamphlets and meticulously marking "must see" attractions. Then we did a group photo before leaving.
We took the Expressway to Matsumoto which was quite pricey and then turned up towards Takayama. The route is famous for being a skyline drive, but it seems that they have constructed a highway literally through the Alps as we spent a lot of time in tunnels. The actual skyline drive bit we missed as the signs showed Takayama as being through a 4370 metre tunnel. There were plenty of hydroelectric dams on the way and we stopped at a soba restaurant overlooking a dam and had a delicious lunch of noodles which you dipped into hot water and soy to heat up. These were served with a portion of mixed mountain mushrooms in batter.
Back on the road, the tunnels continued but then we picked up the signs for Central Takayama. These are not like Town Centre signs at home. They begin about 20 km away!
We stopped briefly to look where our lodgings were and realised that the Sat Nav system in our car can get you straight to the door of anywhere proving you have the telephone number. We tapped in that out Muhyokan and it took us to what looked like an out of town residential area. Eventually we realised that we were right by the hotel and checked in.
We were greeted by a lady in traditional Japanese dress and quickly realised that this was a very traditional Japanese Inn, with rather strict rules on timings etc. The main bathrooms were separated into men and women's, where you share a bath and have to go naked. Neither of us were up for this, so we managed to negotiate a private tub. The water was hot and we could only stay in a few minutes.
As we had eaten a large lunch, we had a few snacks in our room. The walls were paper thin - literally - and consequently somewhat noisy but we still slept well.
He seemed to like gadgets as in the breakfast room was both a juke box and self-plying piano which he duly turned on.
He was a very kind host, and asked us where we were going, producing English language pamphlets and meticulously marking "must see" attractions. Then we did a group photo before leaving.
We took the Expressway to Matsumoto which was quite pricey and then turned up towards Takayama. The route is famous for being a skyline drive, but it seems that they have constructed a highway literally through the Alps as we spent a lot of time in tunnels. The actual skyline drive bit we missed as the signs showed Takayama as being through a 4370 metre tunnel. There were plenty of hydroelectric dams on the way and we stopped at a soba restaurant overlooking a dam and had a delicious lunch of noodles which you dipped into hot water and soy to heat up. These were served with a portion of mixed mountain mushrooms in batter.
Back on the road, the tunnels continued but then we picked up the signs for Central Takayama. These are not like Town Centre signs at home. They begin about 20 km away!
We stopped briefly to look where our lodgings were and realised that the Sat Nav system in our car can get you straight to the door of anywhere proving you have the telephone number. We tapped in that out Muhyokan and it took us to what looked like an out of town residential area. Eventually we realised that we were right by the hotel and checked in.
We were greeted by a lady in traditional Japanese dress and quickly realised that this was a very traditional Japanese Inn, with rather strict rules on timings etc. The main bathrooms were separated into men and women's, where you share a bath and have to go naked. Neither of us were up for this, so we managed to negotiate a private tub. The water was hot and we could only stay in a few minutes.
As we had eaten a large lunch, we had a few snacks in our room. The walls were paper thin - literally - and consequently somewhat noisy but we still slept well.
- comments
Big Sis. Lovely pic of you lunchingxxx