Malaise takes her prey
The bright city of stars calls
Join spring’s sunny dream
The bright city of stars calls
Join spring’s sunny dream
Ken has finally succumbed to the perils of eating too much.
He awoke this morning feeling decidedly dodgy. However, he did need to leave the room to shower in the onsen. A quick shower, a quick dip in the hot spring waters and back to our room.
I sat alone for the final feast of the tour, leaving Ken to nap. It was another feast of many little plates. This was a very good breakfast. The piece of salmon was the best we have had, then there was miso mushrooms in the cooker, a big pot of miso just for me bubbling on the fire, salad, stems and veges, young potato purée (a bit slimy), pickles, salted plum, sashimi scallop with wasabi, spinach, onion, daikon, yoghurt combined with non-alcoholic sake (really good), an onsen egg, a big dish of rice and a pot of tea. Excellent.
We were not ready to leave this beautiful place. You really could stay longer and just relax. But we were on the move and headed back to the city. It was a glorious day after overnight rain. Our bus ride took about 90 minutes, arriving at Matsumoto Station. We had planned on exploring but, with Ken not the best, decided to get an earlier train to Tokyo.
We said goodbye to our new friends. It is very strange; we have spent 5 days in very close quarters and will never see them again.
Our Walk Japan Tour has been outstanding. Being in the stunning countryside of the Gifu region has been such a treat. The fresh air and vibrant green trees nourish your soul.
The food has been monumental - both in quality and quantity. We have eaten regional dishes with the freshest of ingredients. Most of it is prepared simply and is vegetable based, so therefore probably not as gluttonous as it looked and felt. But, there was a lot!
Our travel companions have been a fun group of easy to get along with people. We have shared a lot of laughs and a lot of meals. Unfortunately, most of the venues could not seat us all at one table, so we ended up being a little separated.
Our tour guide and her trainee are both lovely people. However, there have been times when we have had no clue what we are eating (on our food tour) or what protocols we should be following in very traditional settings. Kate, the journalist in our group writing a story on this tour, has had a lot of experience in Japan in writing and researching. She has been a fantastic source of information for us. But not every tour will have a Kate.
The onsens were so good. We have been to a public one at a station stop, an in room private one, a hotel shared one and finally, the spa inn where we had multiple choices of private and shared. It really is a relaxing and rest resting experience.
Train tickets booked, iced coffee purchased and we were soon on the direct express to Shinjuku Station, the area where we will be staying. This train travelled at around 120km an hour. I caught up on yesterday’s writing, Ken mostly slept,
Three hours later and we could see the iconic Tokyo city with big buildings covered in billboards. It is exciting to be in a big city again.
We got off, followed instructions carefully, stopped and checked and made it out of the station at the right place and were soon checking into our hotel. Another digital check in, but I’m onto it now and we were soon up in our tiny room. The hotel is really nice and the room is well appointed. We rearranged to make the most of our 12 square metres and fit our suitcases. This will be great.
Ken had another nap, I put on some washing in the coin machine just near our room and was soon ready to get out and explore. We hit the streets and fell into the cacophony of noise and the flashing neons on all the shops. There were crowds of people moving in all directions as evening fell.
They were on their way home, on their way out and just everywhere. We stopped at one of the bread shops where Ken had a scone and I had a sweet corn bun, hoping that a bit of food would settle his stomach. We kept walking until I had worn him out and we made our way back to the hotel.
Ken went back to bed and I went and checked out the onsen. We are lucky to have one in this hotel. We have really enjoyed the experience. This hotel is quite large so the demand for the onsen space will be greater. I have been given an extra key card to let me in to the women’s onsen. There is no information given here about the rules and traditions of the onsen. (As I am an expert now,) I was a bit horrified to notice how quickly some of the women were observing the washing part of the ritual. You are expected to sit on the stool - standing is not accepted - and soap your entire body. Not wave a shower hose about a bit. After seeing that, I made sure I soaped when I got out too. The water was a perfect 41c and, as it is on the 18th floor, there are views across the city. It is a bit hard to see because the glass is steamed up, but the outside area will have great vision. It was a bit windy and busy in that section today. There is also a lounge area on this floor with spectacular views.
Ken was still sleeping so I popped to the 711 across the road for supplies and found myself some dinner. How different this is to what we have been eating for the last few days. I bought a few things for Ken, but can’t tempt him. We watched the footy, I read and blogged and our first night in Tokyo was very quiet. All ready for tomorrow….
jillmac
2024-05-17
I hope Ken's feeling better now. It's a shame to be getting crook with busy Tokyo to explore.