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The first half of today was a tedious endurance test of our sanity and patience, as we endured over 5 and a half hours of transit time, and 3 train changes, to get from Nagano to Takayama.
Japan is blessed with countless vast and rugged mountain ranges, unfortunately one of the biggest runs almost vertically between the location we started in, Nagano, and the location we needed to get to, Takayama, in the Hida region.
Some buses can make the direct journey over the mountains. Unfortunately trains cant, and are therefore restricted to a path around the mountain ranges. From Nagano to Takayama we had the option of heading north, via Naoetsu and Toyama, and coming into Takayama via the northern line, or heading south from Nagano, via Shinkansen to Nagoya, before heading north via a local Hida line to arrive at Takayama from the south.
Both options work out at roughly the same travel time. The journey via Nagoya is longer, but almost as fast since a good portion of it is via Shinkansen. I chose the route to the north, even though it had 3 train changes, because we'd not seen the northern areas of Japan before, and I was guessing that the scenery would be prettier than the southern route.
We certainly weren't disappointed with the views on the train ride. The first train left Nagano heading north through Apple City Nakano, along almost the same path the monkey park bus took. We slowly climbed into the mountains, and were greeted with some of the most picturesque snow covered scenery imaginable. Village after village, seemingly snowed in under the meters of snow they'd apparently recently received.
90 minutes and a relatively pleasant train ride later, we arrived at Naoetsu station, a small but relatively busy station in Joetsu, a coastal town north west of Nagano. With the last train ride so easy, we expected this one to be the same, but when a full train pulled into the station we knew we were in for an unpleasant 2nd leg to the trip.
The girls found seats, while I took the suitcases and went and stood in doorway the end of the carriage. While a seat would have been nice, this actually suited me fine because it gave me great views out of the train doors, and the doorway sections of the carriage aren't heated like the seating areas, so I was cool.
The second leg of the journey, scenery wise, was quite forgettable. While the track largely followed the coastline, the beaches were largely just unattractive long stretches of dull rocks, grey sand and windblown swell.
One thing I did find very interesting, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one on the train that did, was that on many of the beaches there were rows and rows of what appeared to be concrete caltrops, which if I'm not mistaken are leftover anti tank and anti landing craft devices which would have been deployed along these very same beaches during world war 2 to slow down any invading hostile forces attempting to land. It would seem that these have been re-purposed on many of these same beaches as innocent breakwalls.
With 70 minutes of standing up over with, we arrived at Toyama, and onto the last train change. Since the train left from Toyama we were easily able to get seats, and settled in for another picturesque 90 minute trip through the mountains of the nothern Hida region, and onto Takayama.
I've seen pictures of Takayama in mid winter, blanketed in thick snow. Not this time. Like Nagano before it we found the occasional pile of snow on the ground, and that was about it. It would seem that they've had a decent coverage of snow at some point in the last week, but no more on the weather radar predicted for the near future. On the contrary, there is heavy rain predicted for tomorrow morning, so any snow that is lying around will wash away. No matter. While it is a little disappointing, we had some good snow days at the monkey park and, unexpectedly at Miyajima, so it isn't all bad news.
We know our way fairly well around Takayama by now, so we found our way to the Ryokan without a problem. We were warmly greeted by the elderly husband and wife who run the establishment, and made to feel right at home. They didn't even need to check our names. I guess there probably aren't too many other Australian couples with 3 kids staying with them at the moment.
We were invited in, and as always in a ryokan you feel like you're invading somebody's home, but that is part of the charm. The husband tried to take my suitcase off me and lift it, and I'm fairly certain it almost killed him. He exclaimed something in painful Japanese which I'm pretty sure contained a swear word, and noted the heaviness of my suitcase. I assured him I was right to carry it to my room, but that didn't stop him persistently trying to help for the entire way there.
We were given a tour of the ryokan, which is a fantastically retro old establishment, and I'm sure it is set up deliberately to give off exactly that appeal. After the short tour we were shown to our room, or I should say rooms, because it appears that we have been given the entire top floor of the ryokan to ourselves. Our room is comprised of a large living room, and 2 separate bedrooms. It would appear that each of these rooms could be let separately if required, but I'm guessing it is the slow season, so we've been given all of them to give us space, which is nice.
Almost immediately upon arriving in the room we were led through a traditional green tea welcome ceremony with genuine green tea and small wheat biscuits, both of which are just unimaginably awful. I politely sipped my tea, secretly hoping that it wouldn't strip the tastebuds off my tongue.
Then it was time for the yakuta ceremony, where the hostess enthusiastically ran away and returned with traditional Japanese pyjamas for the girls and us. She helped each of the girls get dressed into their pyjamas, at 3:30pm in the afternoon, before we'd had a chance to even have lunch. While she was dressing the girls I was trying to think of the most polite way to decline in Japanese if she offered to dress me in Japanese pyjamas, but thankfully it never came up. Helping the girls with their yakata was a lovely gesture, and the girls, especially Isabelle loved it, but as soon as she left they changed back into their normal clothes so that we could go for a walk to get something small to eat to last us until dinner time.
Out on the street we walked across the river, and through some of the traditional houses in the preservation area. Returning to the river, which still had some snow on the ground the girls were able to have a play in the snow as we walked beside the river. Then returning to the main set of shops we browsed through some of the shops that were still open, and got a bite to eat, returning to the ryokan an hour or so later to wait for dinner.
Since we had plenty of time before dinner, and it was doubtful we'd want to afterwards, we went down to the bathhouse to have an onsen, or hot spring bath. This ryokan, unlike most, allows you to lock the doors to have a private bath, so for the first time I was able to take a bath with the girls, instead of having to go to separate male and female bathing areas.
The onsen was much like I remember them to be. Initially relaxing, but after about 5 minutes of soaking, simply too damn hot.
We must be strange, because some people can get in an onsen bath for 20 or 30 minutes without a problem, and call it the most relaxing thing in the world. Personally, after 5 minutes I've had enough, and after 10 minutes I'm starting to get a headache. Don't get me wrong, it's a great experience, and I really enjoy it, but i enjoy 5 to 10 minutes of it, not an hour.
After we were out of the bath, after a short wait we were summoned to dinner. When we sat down, all manner of interesting dishes began arriving, most of which I was even able to identify.
On the menu we had lobster tail, hida beef hot pot, grade A hida beef steak, tempura prawns and vegetables, miso soup, rice, pickles, a variety of different sashimi, a separate dish of steamed fish and vegetables, strawberries for desert, and a bunch of other items that I couldn't identify.
The kids meals were similar, with tempura, sashimi, lobster, etc, but instead of the hida beef hot pot they received a hamburger dish instead, which I admit was pretty delicious. I'm always a little disappointed that I can't order a kids meal for myself.
The beef was fantastic. Literally melt in your mouth soft. The lobster tails were fantastic, and I ended up having 5 of them since nobody else wanted them. Similarly the tempura prawns all came to me, which was wonderful. As with any traditional Japanese meal, there are a few curiosities. For example it was Charlotte who was the first one of us to question why, among our salad, there proudly sat a yellow wet-the-bed flower? Why was there a deliberately battered and fried leaf among the tempura? And why the hell does locally brewed Hida sake taste so much like cough syrup?
I had other questions too, like "when will our hostess leave the room so that I can add the sashimi to the boiling stock and cook it?". Yes, I know it's really bad to cook sashimi fish, but I'm not a massive sashimi fan, and I was hungry. I did successfully cook and enjoy my sashimi fish, even if I did set my chopstick on fire in the process. All told the meal was fantastic, and everyone went away very full. After we'd eaten it looked like a bomb had exploded on the dining table, due to the number of dishes. Still, I'm sure they've seen worse. Probably.
With our beds magically layed out by the time we returned to our room, everyone turned in for an early night. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow, especially if the prediction of heavy rain is accurate. I wanted to go and see the morning market, but I'll wait and see how I feel when the alarm goes off in the morning before making any promises.
Japan is blessed with countless vast and rugged mountain ranges, unfortunately one of the biggest runs almost vertically between the location we started in, Nagano, and the location we needed to get to, Takayama, in the Hida region.
Some buses can make the direct journey over the mountains. Unfortunately trains cant, and are therefore restricted to a path around the mountain ranges. From Nagano to Takayama we had the option of heading north, via Naoetsu and Toyama, and coming into Takayama via the northern line, or heading south from Nagano, via Shinkansen to Nagoya, before heading north via a local Hida line to arrive at Takayama from the south.
Both options work out at roughly the same travel time. The journey via Nagoya is longer, but almost as fast since a good portion of it is via Shinkansen. I chose the route to the north, even though it had 3 train changes, because we'd not seen the northern areas of Japan before, and I was guessing that the scenery would be prettier than the southern route.
We certainly weren't disappointed with the views on the train ride. The first train left Nagano heading north through Apple City Nakano, along almost the same path the monkey park bus took. We slowly climbed into the mountains, and were greeted with some of the most picturesque snow covered scenery imaginable. Village after village, seemingly snowed in under the meters of snow they'd apparently recently received.
90 minutes and a relatively pleasant train ride later, we arrived at Naoetsu station, a small but relatively busy station in Joetsu, a coastal town north west of Nagano. With the last train ride so easy, we expected this one to be the same, but when a full train pulled into the station we knew we were in for an unpleasant 2nd leg to the trip.
The girls found seats, while I took the suitcases and went and stood in doorway the end of the carriage. While a seat would have been nice, this actually suited me fine because it gave me great views out of the train doors, and the doorway sections of the carriage aren't heated like the seating areas, so I was cool.
The second leg of the journey, scenery wise, was quite forgettable. While the track largely followed the coastline, the beaches were largely just unattractive long stretches of dull rocks, grey sand and windblown swell.
One thing I did find very interesting, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one on the train that did, was that on many of the beaches there were rows and rows of what appeared to be concrete caltrops, which if I'm not mistaken are leftover anti tank and anti landing craft devices which would have been deployed along these very same beaches during world war 2 to slow down any invading hostile forces attempting to land. It would seem that these have been re-purposed on many of these same beaches as innocent breakwalls.
With 70 minutes of standing up over with, we arrived at Toyama, and onto the last train change. Since the train left from Toyama we were easily able to get seats, and settled in for another picturesque 90 minute trip through the mountains of the nothern Hida region, and onto Takayama.
I've seen pictures of Takayama in mid winter, blanketed in thick snow. Not this time. Like Nagano before it we found the occasional pile of snow on the ground, and that was about it. It would seem that they've had a decent coverage of snow at some point in the last week, but no more on the weather radar predicted for the near future. On the contrary, there is heavy rain predicted for tomorrow morning, so any snow that is lying around will wash away. No matter. While it is a little disappointing, we had some good snow days at the monkey park and, unexpectedly at Miyajima, so it isn't all bad news.
We know our way fairly well around Takayama by now, so we found our way to the Ryokan without a problem. We were warmly greeted by the elderly husband and wife who run the establishment, and made to feel right at home. They didn't even need to check our names. I guess there probably aren't too many other Australian couples with 3 kids staying with them at the moment.
We were invited in, and as always in a ryokan you feel like you're invading somebody's home, but that is part of the charm. The husband tried to take my suitcase off me and lift it, and I'm fairly certain it almost killed him. He exclaimed something in painful Japanese which I'm pretty sure contained a swear word, and noted the heaviness of my suitcase. I assured him I was right to carry it to my room, but that didn't stop him persistently trying to help for the entire way there.
We were given a tour of the ryokan, which is a fantastically retro old establishment, and I'm sure it is set up deliberately to give off exactly that appeal. After the short tour we were shown to our room, or I should say rooms, because it appears that we have been given the entire top floor of the ryokan to ourselves. Our room is comprised of a large living room, and 2 separate bedrooms. It would appear that each of these rooms could be let separately if required, but I'm guessing it is the slow season, so we've been given all of them to give us space, which is nice.
Almost immediately upon arriving in the room we were led through a traditional green tea welcome ceremony with genuine green tea and small wheat biscuits, both of which are just unimaginably awful. I politely sipped my tea, secretly hoping that it wouldn't strip the tastebuds off my tongue.
Then it was time for the yakuta ceremony, where the hostess enthusiastically ran away and returned with traditional Japanese pyjamas for the girls and us. She helped each of the girls get dressed into their pyjamas, at 3:30pm in the afternoon, before we'd had a chance to even have lunch. While she was dressing the girls I was trying to think of the most polite way to decline in Japanese if she offered to dress me in Japanese pyjamas, but thankfully it never came up. Helping the girls with their yakata was a lovely gesture, and the girls, especially Isabelle loved it, but as soon as she left they changed back into their normal clothes so that we could go for a walk to get something small to eat to last us until dinner time.
Out on the street we walked across the river, and through some of the traditional houses in the preservation area. Returning to the river, which still had some snow on the ground the girls were able to have a play in the snow as we walked beside the river. Then returning to the main set of shops we browsed through some of the shops that were still open, and got a bite to eat, returning to the ryokan an hour or so later to wait for dinner.
Since we had plenty of time before dinner, and it was doubtful we'd want to afterwards, we went down to the bathhouse to have an onsen, or hot spring bath. This ryokan, unlike most, allows you to lock the doors to have a private bath, so for the first time I was able to take a bath with the girls, instead of having to go to separate male and female bathing areas.
The onsen was much like I remember them to be. Initially relaxing, but after about 5 minutes of soaking, simply too damn hot.
We must be strange, because some people can get in an onsen bath for 20 or 30 minutes without a problem, and call it the most relaxing thing in the world. Personally, after 5 minutes I've had enough, and after 10 minutes I'm starting to get a headache. Don't get me wrong, it's a great experience, and I really enjoy it, but i enjoy 5 to 10 minutes of it, not an hour.
After we were out of the bath, after a short wait we were summoned to dinner. When we sat down, all manner of interesting dishes began arriving, most of which I was even able to identify.
On the menu we had lobster tail, hida beef hot pot, grade A hida beef steak, tempura prawns and vegetables, miso soup, rice, pickles, a variety of different sashimi, a separate dish of steamed fish and vegetables, strawberries for desert, and a bunch of other items that I couldn't identify.
The kids meals were similar, with tempura, sashimi, lobster, etc, but instead of the hida beef hot pot they received a hamburger dish instead, which I admit was pretty delicious. I'm always a little disappointed that I can't order a kids meal for myself.
The beef was fantastic. Literally melt in your mouth soft. The lobster tails were fantastic, and I ended up having 5 of them since nobody else wanted them. Similarly the tempura prawns all came to me, which was wonderful. As with any traditional Japanese meal, there are a few curiosities. For example it was Charlotte who was the first one of us to question why, among our salad, there proudly sat a yellow wet-the-bed flower? Why was there a deliberately battered and fried leaf among the tempura? And why the hell does locally brewed Hida sake taste so much like cough syrup?
I had other questions too, like "when will our hostess leave the room so that I can add the sashimi to the boiling stock and cook it?". Yes, I know it's really bad to cook sashimi fish, but I'm not a massive sashimi fan, and I was hungry. I did successfully cook and enjoy my sashimi fish, even if I did set my chopstick on fire in the process. All told the meal was fantastic, and everyone went away very full. After we'd eaten it looked like a bomb had exploded on the dining table, due to the number of dishes. Still, I'm sure they've seen worse. Probably.
With our beds magically layed out by the time we returned to our room, everyone turned in for an early night. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow, especially if the prediction of heavy rain is accurate. I wanted to go and see the morning market, but I'll wait and see how I feel when the alarm goes off in the morning before making any promises.
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