The view from our window as the first trains passed this morning
Breakfast, including fried egg and bacon hidden in one heated pot, with Jamie, a film editor from Sydney. We have shared a few of our ryokans with him as he booked through the same company, Oku.
Leaving Narai
Yesterday Oku sent a message, through the ryokan, warning us of a possible typhoon. Fortunately there was only light rain overnight in this area and a fine morning, although one of the trains was delayed today because of the weather.
Only an hour’s walk this morning, just to the next village, Kiso-Hirasawa.
Walking towards Kiso -Hirasawa
A very peaceful town with quite a sophisticated ambience. The comb represents a major industry of this area in days gone by. Before the introduction of plastics, cypress combs were produced here and considered highly-prized.
The school children were in a PE class, learning how to develop human towers. I can’t imagine that in an Australian curriculum.
A little photographic indulgence as it was such a pretty place. The first two are drain covers. Everything was immaculate.
Mark captured the shots of these dragonflies by the river and the moth and butterfly at the small station.
A group from Seattle, whose paths we’ve crossed a few times in the last few days. They were off to Tokyo, where we will see them again, as we are staying at the same hotel.
Then our adventure began. We caught local trains to Matsumoto and Nagano. In Matsumoto, a voice constantly sang “Matsumoto, Matsumoto” to remind passengers of where they were. I feel a train station musical coming on. Then we caught the bullet train to Karuizawa.
Wooded mountain scenery, lots of rice paddies and some large towns along the way. Interesting that the mountains are full of pine and cedar forests with no housing or shrines on the slopes or summits. All the buildings are in the valleys.
We realised right from our arrival that there was something different about Karuizawa. The station felt like an international airport.
The town itself is a cross between hill station/Hamptons/resort/Rodeo Drive, LA/ French village. It was such a culture shock.
Then we arrived at a main shopping area that was like Market day on steroids. Locally produced honeys, cosmetics, wooden products, galleries, high end fashion, boulangeries, lacquerware. Everything exquisitely presented and packaged.
Our very impressive hotel (ryokan style rooms) was at the end of this street. Hotel Tsuruya
A bit of sumo watching on TV to recover from our amazing day. Very wobbly tushies.
The hotel has large male and female onsens, which we enjoyed, having them to ourselves. The lounge area is very hill stationesque with a large aquarium with some engaging goldfish. Dinner tonight was very much Asian fusion and was delicious.
Our last walk tomorrow. This has been a very pleasant few days with a nice balance of exercise and culture, despite the humid conditions. This area is reknown for its refreshing weather, so we’ll see about that tomorrow.
M&M
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