Pension Pocket Myoko

For our third day of the rail pass, we zoomed off to Obuse, near the Japanese alps, north west of Tokyo. This involved first getting the bullet train to Nagano, then getting a local train to Obuse, the smallest town in that area. It was a very attractive little place, with pretty houses and well kept flowerbeds. So, you might be wondering why we came here, well, this is where the artist Hokosai painted in his final years, and there is a museum here showcasing some of his work ...

Nagano... ici Nagano. Apres la moiteur du sud, c'est un vent frais qui nous accueille dans cette ville de l'est des Alpes Japonaises. A Nagano il y a le temple Zenko-ji et les jeux olympiques d'il y a 11 ans, mais pas grand chose d'autre. Le temple renferme une icone de Bouddha vieille de plus de 1500 ans, mais personne ne l'aurait vue depuis plus de 1000 ...

... by a rope of multicolored strings. This creates a 'direct' connection between the Buddha and pilgrims who touch the wooden pillar. Of course this means that there's a ton of people waiting for the chance to create this cosmic connection, which apparently is supposed to help you get a peaceful death. How...comforting? I don't know why, but I'm always a little saddened by Buddhist related stories and events. One of the side attractions was a lantern ...

After Spencer sleeping all day in the TV room nursing a hangover and then me booking a hotel in the completely wrong area of Japan (although very very luxourious resulted in a 7.15am wake up call to get to Nagano) we made our way to the snow monkeys!

After getting our bus to literally the middle of nowhere, we then walked for 40 minutes along a beautiful snowy trail to where the monkey sanctuary is hidden in the snow. The path is covere din ...

... a million kilos thanks to the delicious Japanese curries, fried chicken, upside down pizza (okonomiyaki?) and sushi, which I ate at every opportunity - a good solid 5 - 6 meals a day :) First off we spent 5 days skiing, which is 2 days more than my ass could handle, thanks to the kind intervention (and running over by) another Aussie boarder. There are too many Aussies overseas. I now know how to grovel in pain - something the bouncers at the Chalk didn't ...

I am going to keep the chat to a minimum here and let the (many) photos do the talking. I went to Nagano to see the "Snow Monkeys". They were awesome. After a short 2km hike through snowy forested mountains, suddenly there were monkeys running across the path - and they literally came within an inch of my feet! Well worth the visit.

... 2 TVs and machines, we could order drinks by ringing down to the bar. Once we all started there was no stopping us!! My favourite act of the night has to have been Brian and Takakos rendition of Barbie Girl!! Yudanaka Monkey Onsen Brian brought us on a fabulous scenic drive through the mountains north of Nagano. this is particularly spectacular at this time of the year due to the changing of the leaves. The mountains were like a patchwork quilt ...

... a sushis). Nuit dans un dortoire, partagee avec 6 autres personnes... dont deux ronfleurs (c<est Hamish qui m<a dit qu<il y avait des ronfleurs parce que ca m<en prend pas mal plus pour me reveiller;) C<etait notre deuxieme nuit du voyage dans un dortoire... Pas romantique, niet!! Dimanche, visite dans Hiroshima du chateau (qui a evidemment du etre reconstruit apres la Bombe <A> ...

We landed in Tokyo last night and stayed the night at the Nikko Narita Hotel. This morning we took the shuttle back to the airport and then took the train to Ueda Station, where we met four gracious folks from Tomi City. They took us to a nice lunch of soba noodles and other tasty bits. Then, we stopped at the home where the Courtains are staying, and got to see a traditional Japanese home. Our hostess served us some locally grown fruit--huge, dark ...

... to come by to take us back into town. Eventually one arrived and we walked up to the Zenkoji Temple past a street full of temple residences.

We wandered around the temple complex and gardens and even saw someone ringling the large bell using a wooden log before walking back down to the train station and catching the train back to Tokyo.