So this weekend was bank holiday weekend so we thought we would look at going away and staying over a night. I have now met most of my mums colleges, they all seem very nice and they can all be quite funny. So one of them, his name is Richard decided to joins us on our adventure across Japan. We decided on going to Nagano, my mum has already been but not for very long. I say Nagano but it's not really Nagano we went to, Nagano and vicinity.Yudadanka
Yudadanka is under an hour north from Nagano. It's popular for its Onsen street and the Snow monkeys that bathe in the volcanic pools. If you watched the BBC documentary on Japan's wildlife recently then you might have heard of/recognise it.When we arrived we went straight to the monkey park. The monkeys aren't enclosed they are free to come and go as they please, they choose to come back. This means you can get really close to them, it's unreal how close, you have to be careful where you step as they scurry round your feet. One of them took a particular liking to my mums new umbrella, in fact they had a little fight over it. Hilarious. We then went up further to Shiga-kogen to go to the lake and the board walk, however when we got their we realised it was a three hour walk from the end of the bus line and it had started raining. Opps.
Our hotel was on the Onsen street and we had a traditional Japanese room with futons and its own Onsen. In the evening the street was filled with people in robes going to each Onsen. I know the water is all the same but they believe each Onsen is good for a different part of the body. This time I did try however the water stinks of sulphur and it is incredibly hot, I could only poke my foot in and my foot was red for a while after. We all slept well which was good because Richard had planned the day after and we would need our energy.
On our way to the train station we passed a peace shrine, which was a statute of lady towering over Yudadanka. There was also a large bell that a few people were seen hitting with a tree trunk. It was explained that they were praying/wishing, so me and Amy decided to pray for our A levels, we need as much luck as we can get.Obuse
Obuse is in between the two. We had a English leaflet of the region and Richard had made it out plan to do all the 12 things on the leaflet. We had done the 6 already so there were only 6 to go. However it was a particularly hot and humid day, and there was a lot of walking. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what we went to see the heat was somewhat clouding my vision. First we walking about 5 km to a shrine on the outskirts of Obuse which was cute and then we made our way back to the station via the chestnut tree street, in the midday heat.
Nagano
From Obuse we made our way back to Nagano but we stopped of a few stations before so that we could have lunch and visit the Zenkoji Temple. For lunch we had cold soba noodles (buckwheat) and tempura with unlimited supply of water, very refreshing, and it much nicer than it sounds. We then went to the shrine which was very big and grand. It had a long straight road that leads to it. First it had a arch/entrance, then a giant gate (which we climbed up; very steep steps), and then the main temple surrounded by many smaller temples. I really liked it, however I thought that the tourism had slightly spoiled the sanctuary feel.After we walked back to Nagano station and made our way back to Utsunomiya. The following week is quite short as we get the keys on Friday, so stay tuned for more info on that.
Maria xx
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