Hotel Hotaka Takayama

We travelled from Tokyo on the super high speed clean shiny amazing shikansen trains run by japanese rail who, outside Japan, offer the JR Railpass- a discount pass only available to tourists abroad that offers unlimited travel on the shiansen and train network for 7, 14 or 21 days- invaluable if you want to see as much as possible in a short space of time.<br><br>After arriving at our ryokan in Takayama, Erin ran through the basic ettiquette of the onsens- red curtain ...

... some money on cab fare. Hopefully I can remember to ride on the left side of the street and the other vehicles remember to do the same. I'm also hoping that the rumors of English-speaking guides are true.<br><br>Adjusting my expectations... I had thought I'd zip through the castle and get to Kyoto early. Probably not. Everything takes longer than you think.

... me laver quand meme. <br><br>Demain nous partons pour Hyroshima. Nous aurons plusieurs heures de train a faire. Entre Tokyo et Takayama, ce n'etait que 4 heures mais demain, c'est plus. Je ne sais pas si ce sera avec le train haute vitesse. Je ne vous en ai pas parle mais c'est vraiment fameux ! On ne sent pas la vitesse sauf quand on va aux toilettes. La, il faut se tenir.<br> <br>Je vous reparle bientot.<br><br>Elo xx <br><br>

... for being of the Gassho-zukuri (literally &#8220;praying hands&#8221;)-style of thatched roofs. Built steeply to withstand the heavy snows, the thatching on the roof is an amazing 2-3 ft thick! Several of the buildings are open for exploration and contain artifacts from the period. Fires burned in most fireplaces to help repel insects and preserve the structure, as well as adding period atmosphere. <br><br ...

... reminds me, last night i spend in a former ninja training vilage high in the mountains...<br>when i went to the next city, 3 kms sout, i met a nice family, wich sat down with me and eventually the maybe 50 year old woman invited me to stay in her house...and this more than once...after my experiences in china i said nothing binding, because they dont give a **** there about promises, concept of hounour unknown...they have the face-concept, something slightly different.<br>dont ...

... student.....being that we are soooo far behind, this will be - a picture is worth a thousand words...enjoy the pictures. Your students/children are doing great...we have been sleeping Japanese style on the floor for six nights and are anxious to move on to Hiroshima for real beds and bathrooms in our room. We have been taking the Japanese style baths every night!!...<br> Gosh, hard to believe our trip is almost over!!!

couldn't get to the computer last nite. only have a minute this morning. <br>took a train here yesterday. it's up in the "mountains", which are like big hills. it's really such a neat town. their specialty here is making sake and woodworking. i think i'll get a few real pretty bowls. <br>tim said yesterday on the train "show me the pictures of sedona", he was really missing her and he continues to narrate. as of ...

... were erected. Judging by the pictures I thought they'd make a nice short jaunt, but probably couldn't hold my attention for more than 30 minutes. Luckily, it was pretty interesting and I whiled away a couple of hours--there's something nice about the austere smoky interiors (the hearth is always lit to prevent bugs and provide moisture for the eaves) and the 'primitive' equipment for straw weaving, silk harvesting and paper making. I'm thinking it's ...

... in. So I went to the shop and he wasn't there because he just went through a passage so I was bursting out with tears because I didn't want to get lost in JAPAN! A few seconds later I found a shopkeeper but he spoke Japanese mainly so I had to do actions also. It was quite hard but I asked for the police. Fortunately they were right next door but when I was there the policeman spoke only Japanese. I pointed at the phone and he exactly knew what I was saying ...

... in New York there was dirty snow in the street and the wind was very cold. She's telling me how she cried when she tried to return an electric blanket and they wouldn't take it back because she didn't keep the receipt. No worries though, the manager felt so bad because she started crying that he exchanged it anyway for her. There's more stories, but she said so much that I'll just say that it didn't seem like she had a very good time her first several years ...