We spent 2 nights in this area and took a train and then a
bus to get there (about 5 hours). What a beautiful little town (and full of
UNESCO sites in the surrounding areas – just what you like Bonnie!). The
transportation in Japan has been great – nice clean trains that run exactly on
time (with bathrooms and snackcarts) and the cutest little buses. It was just
us and the bus driver for the last half hour on the way there and their buses
allow you to change bills if you don’t have exact change.
We did a 16km hike and tried the onsens in our
accommodations. We haven’t gotten up the nerve to visit the public ones and
haven’t needed to since we had them where we were staying. You cannot wear your
bathing suit although the onsens are usually separated by gender (very few mixed
ones in Japan). You wash yourself on a little stool before getting in and my Lonely
Planet book recommends watching others to see how it’s done (although I think I
would feel a bit like a Peeping Tammy) so we’ve stuck with the private ones,
where we just hung a little sign on the door so that no one else came in.
The minshoku and the ryokan that we stayed in included
dinners and breakfasts so we got to try some very interesting things – some of
which we still have no idea what they were! We took lots of pictures so that we
can look them up. There was an American woman staying in the minshoku with us
the first night (she taught English in Japan many years ago so she was very
helpful in identifying the foods or asking the host what it was in Japanese).
Venison sashimi was on the menu that night and actually quite good! Don’t know
when we’ll eat that again.
We have met some well-travelled people already including an Australian
couple who have been to many places and gave us some good tips about the best
spot to see the Great Wall. This American woman I spoke about before has lived in many countries,
including a two year stint in Bhutan and some time in Georgia.
We finally figured out the slipper situation in these
places…take your shoes off in the lobby, put on slippers, walk up to your room,
take them off at the door of your room (you don’t use them on the tatami mats).
When you enter the bathroom, there are bathroom slippers there for you to use
and they stay there. If you want to go outside in your robe, there are other
outside slippers to use. Socks and wearing sandals are also acceptable and they
actually have special socks just for this purpose.
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| Pre-fab bathroom (by Toto) in Kyoto hotel |
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| Loving the robes and slippers everywhere |
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| This system has proved to be very helpful! |
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| Kyoto Station - said to be an 'architectural masterpiece' and we agree |
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| Just off on a field trip! |
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| On the bus we go! |
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| Mike's fans |
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| Higashiyama |
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| Learning how to use a Japanese kanzashi |
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| We'll try to post the video with these guys since pictures don't do this experience justice. |
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| No English on the menu here. It turned out just fine and the bill was okay, thank goodness. |
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| Our minshoku |
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| Yunomine Onsen |
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| Our ryokan |
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| Venison sashimi |
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| Mike has taken to drinking coffee from vending machines |
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| Kumano Kodo trail |
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| Boiling eggs in the hot well |
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| Getting used to these toilets - it's either heated seats or the squatters |
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| Love the sound with volume control |
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| He's working on his flexibility |
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| Pufferfish sake - a one time only thing since it tastes how it sounds |
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| Nice onsen |
