Day Five - Tuesday 16 December 2014

Today was snow monkey day - but first we were served an enormous Western/Japanese breakfast with a variety of strange and interesting foods.
After this we toiled up the hill to the hotel we visited last night. Daniel, a young American man who was brought up in Japan and spoke fluent Japanese, had offered to be our tour guide for the day so we set off with him in the hotel Volvo to the home of the snow monkeys - about 15 minutes away.
We parked in a very low key carpark - more a patch of snow - and began our 1.6 km winding hike to the thermal pools. The path was slippery and muddy and took a great deal of concentration, but the scenery was magnificent. We were walking through a forest of snow-covered trees full of picturesque views but not many handrails.

After what seemed like a long time, and after being passed by a group of little old Japanese men and women striding along, we began to smell sulphur and came across our first thermal springs and our first monkeys.

There were about 50 of them, just running around, chattering to each other, picking tiny scraps of nuts and God knows what else out of the snow to eat and jumping in and out of the water.
The signs said not to go too close to them or stare into their faces but the monkeys ran next to us and around our feet, as if we were inanimate objects. They were totally unafraid and totally uninterested in us.

The ones in the springs were like people relaxing in a pool, chatting to each other, and the babies jumped in and out and splashed their parents and generally behaved like kids at the beach.

Here is a picture of us at the pools, taken by Tour Guide Daniel -

After this, we made our way back along the treacherous path to the car - but very satisfied with our adventure.
Our next stop was the Peace Buddha - an 80 foot high Buddha built to represent peace. It was a copy of a previous Peace Buddha at that site which had been melted down to make bullets during WWII! No irony there.

After this, Daniel took us to lunch at his favourite ramen cafe - and we had the best noodles and gyoza I've had for ages - and it was just a cheap little roadside cafe too.
While we were inside, it started snowing, which was truly amazing! The snow was quite heavy too and lasted most of the rest of the day.
The rest of our tour consisted of a visit to a sake factory, along with some tastings, of course, and then a walk around Shibu Onsen - a town of mineral baths, frequented for centuries by Japanese people for their healthful properties. All of this walk was conducted in the falling snow, which made everything ten times more interesting.
Once the tour was over and we got back to our hotel room, we decided we desperately needed to do some washing. The only place to do that was a local laundromat - which looked quite close on the map but which turned out to be down a confusing set of streets in the snow and darkening afternoon light. It was like a miracle to eventually find the place after twenty minutes of wandering.
The trip back was through fresh snow and we left our own special set of marks.

Day Four - Monday 15 December 2014

This morning we were up bright and early to bid Tokyo goodbye and catch a bullet train to the former Winter Olympic village of Nagano.

We had to squeeze into a local train amidst peak hour traffic to Central Tokyo and then transfer onto our reserved seats on the luxurious bullet train, which travels at 350 km/hour.
The cleaners who hopped on to the train just after it arrived were so polite! They were lined up along the platform, spaced out evenly so as to be in front of a door. They bowed to the train as it arrived and then bowed to us - the waiting passengers - and put up this sign: -

"Just moment please" - although it took more like five minutes.
They, of course, bowed to us once they finished and left the train.

Our first view of snow was intoxicating - but there sure is a lot of it. 

At Nagano, we transferred to another local train, as it turns out aren't staying at the main resort but at the one where the snow monkeys are. Cool!

This one had the seat heater on furnace setting. Our bottoms were on fire!

Outside the countryside started to look like a postcard - snow-covered trees and houses - and even apple orchards with snow on each apple. (Apples which sell for somewhere between $5 and $15 in fruit shops.) Some of the train platforms we passed were carrying a metre of snow!

We had one final train transfer before arriving at the small town of Yudanaka at the end of the line. 

We stepped out into a fairyland of snow (with quite a bit of slush around the taxi rank). 

We slithered and slid down the hill and round the corner to our hotel - the Hotel Tsubakino. 

We have booked into a traditional Japanese room - with sliding doors, futons instead of beds and a small table with a tea set and kimonos and Japanese sandals we can wear if we want to.

We were worried the room would be cold - but it's beautifully heated. Compared to our previous room, it's like a mansion.

When we sat down at the little table at the end of the room, we discovered the tablecloth is an electrically heated blanket - so you can sit with your legs under the table with a warm blanket over them. How luxurious is that!

The temperature here today is 3oC and it drops to about -2oC overnight.

We went for an exploratory walk and there's snow, snow everywhere!

The kids spent the whole time throwing snowballs - and never seemed to tire of it.

For dinner, we had an amazing traditional Japanese meal at a nearby hotel.

It was served by a traditional Japanese lady who spoke practically no English.

We had little burners where we cooked strips of wagyu beef and capsicum and, the most amazing thing was we picked growing mushrooms from a stump on the table and grilled those as well!

Every part of the meal was fresh and carefully prepared - strips of raw salmon and tuna, amazing kinds of tofu and taro and God knows what else. It wasn't all very nice - but certainly was very interesting.

After dinner, back at our hotel, we went up to the 5th floor to the public bath area.
There was no one else there in the women's section and it was absolutely amazing!
A long passageway with bamboo flooring, then through a sliding door a large changing area, then a beauty area with large mirrors and hairdryers and all kinds of lotions. Then through another door into the bathing area. The bath was about 20 foot long and fiendishly hot - but very luxurious.
I could see outside to the snow on the terrace.
A wonderful end to the day.

Day Three - Sunday 14 December 2014

Today we decided to visit central Tokyo - another dozen or so stops along the train line. This was a Sunday and the trains still came every few minutes and were as full as Melbourne peak hour. We managed to get seats this time though. And we discovered the seats are heated! Either that or the little Japanese schoolgirls who were sitting there previously had very warm bottoms. 

Our first destination was the Imperial Palace - which was rather a disappointment. You can only go into the Palace grounds one day a year - 23 December - the Emperor's  birthday. Instead we wandered around the outer gardens - very impressive but not quite what we were expecting. We gazed at some nice walls and gates and moats and the odd bridge. 

It was pretty cold but very sunny and it seemed some kind of fun run was in progress. Heaps and heaps of joggers everywhere and people in green jackets labelled "Palace Cycling Staff" cycling around. Not sure exactly what they were doing but they lived up to their name and cycled a lot. 

After this Jane went off to get her hair cut and the rest of us went back to Shinjuku to a real Japanese restaurant. 

We had bento box lunches - beautiful presentation, great service but I wasn't entirely sure what I was eating most of the time and can't say I really enjoyed it. It was certainly an experience though. 

We stopped off in the afternoon at a Coffee Art cafe called "Coffee Prince" - staffed by trendy boy band lookalikes, but very polite ones who still bowed to us when we left.
It was up on the 3rd floor of a building, as are lots of shops. As space is at a premium, lots of stores are on upper floors and advertise at ground level as 2F or 3F.  Took me a while to work out that meant 2nd Floor and 3rd Floor. 

I had a tapioca bubble tea and so did John - and the bubble tea art was quite impressive.

For dinner, I'm sorry to say, we hopped on a train and went back to Shinjuku to the Italian restaurant. 

It was excellent food. Pasta, pizza, octopus and mushrooms in garlic butter, fried yams (possibly not so Italian), Caesar salad, garlic bread and a glass of chianti. Delicious!

Day Two - Saturday 13 December 2014

We woke pretty early and went down to breakfast in the hotel cafe.

A charming little Japanese lady served us a breakfast of salad with mayonnaise, and eggs and bacon. Very Japanese!

We set out in the crisp morning air and caught the train back to Shinjuku. The train system is phenomenal! Trains every few minutes. Saturday morning and people everywhere. Lots of school kids too - apparently Saturday morning cram school is common in Japan.
We spent the day wandering around the shops in Shinjuku and a nearby trendy area called Harajuku (just a short train ride away).
We split into two groups in the afternoon and Jim & I went up to the Observatory on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building.  Three Buddhist monks in saffron robes accompanied us on the trip down so we thought if anything happened, we'd die peacefully.
The view of Tokyo from up there is amazing. It's a bloody big city, that's for sure!
We all met up again at the hotel but Jim and John went back to Shinjuku by train to look at watches and had dinner at the top floor of a major department store - where all the best restaurants are.
Jane and I went for a stroll near the hotel and visited a bizarre and rather sad pet store.
There was a dog grooming salon with 5 dogs being clipped and primped - and apparently this operates all day every day. Who would have thought there were so many unkempt dogs in this city!

There was also a lamb in a box dressed in Christmas gear, a chinchilla in what looked like a teapot, a hedgehog, a squirrel and a bizarre nude cat.

We ate at a little restaurant with a machine at the door with pictures of all the food on offer.  You paid your money, pressed the appropriate picture and a little ticket popped out which you are then supposed to give to the waitress. 

I ordered more by guesswork than real knowledge. Everything is in Japanese with only the odd words in English. And I find most people only speak a few words of English - unless it's in a hotel or at a station. 

Still, it's amazing how much you can communicate by sign language - and everyone is unfailingly polite. 

Station staff and waiting staff often bow to you. I've decided I rather like it. I wonder if we could introduce it in Australia?

I found I had ordered some kind of dumplings and a rice and egg dish for dinner.  Both perfectly acceptable. 

When the boys returned, it turns out they had found an excellent little Italian restaurant in Shinjuku, which they raved about. 

Day One - Friday 12 December 2014

Well, after what seemed like a long journey we finally arrived in Tokyo.

We boarded a fabulously comfortable train from the airport which took us to a major

station close to our destination - Shinjuku. 

Then we had to swap to a domestic train, fighting through peak hour traffic with two enormous suitcases. 

We had a bit of excitement when the kids went one direction and we went another but thank God we ended up on the same platform. 

The train system is a miracle here. The first train that came along was too full and we waited all of three minutes for the next one. 

We managed to squeeze in without too much trouble and four minutes later we arrived at our station -  Shinokobu.

We staggered out of the station, probably looking like typically dazed tourists, consulting Jim's preprinted book of maps, but soon realised the hotel was less than five minutes walk away. 

Shinokobu is just a small suburb of Tokyo but it's streets are full of neon lights, noise and people, people everywhere. 

There's nothing like a bit of nightlife to perk you up. 

All thoughts of going straight to bed disappeared instantly.

Our hotel, the Tokyo Plaza, is rather small and a little old - but rather sweet. 

The room, however, is tiny - absolutely minuscule. It contains two double beds, a bedside table and a coffee table and a TV.  Once our two suitcases were installed there's not much room to move around!

With four adults, we are very snug!

The best place of all is the bathroom. It's like something in a plane or a boat - where space is at a premium. 

You have to step up to get in and the toilet is right next to the sink which is right next to the shower. 

In fact, the sink and the shower use the same taps so you can either wash your hands or have a shower - but not both. 

I suppose you rarely want to do both at once, so it hardly matters. 

Anyone over six foot would hit their head in the bathroom ceiling - so thank God none of us are too tall.

The toilet is very high tech though - with a seat warmer and spray settings to clean your derrière. 

After an average dinner at a local Korean restaurant, we went back to our room to our tiny beds with pillows stuffed with what seems like bamboo - and went straight to sleep.

Japan & Hong Kong - 12 - 23 December 2014

Japan & Hong Kong Holiday

12 - 23 December 2014