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Published: September 18th 2008September 14th 2008
Do I have the greatest friends or what? As a farewell to Japan gift to me Sanae and Yumiko have been plotting and planning away for months and thrown me a mystery tour. It was by far and away one of the highlights of my trip so far and the sweetest present I've been given in my life ever. See below for the Itinerary by Sanae in bold and comments by me in Italics!
Mystery Tour Schedule
14th Sep. 2008
Program 1; trip to Gunma prefecture
07:00 - dep from Nishi kawaguchi (7am is the latest departure)
DO:
- Enjoy the view and Road in jp
- Listen to the music
- Eat breakfast
A 7:00am start? Thats nothing! I was so excited I was awake from 4:30am!!
Program 2; visit workshop for traditional art craft
09:00 - arrv at “Tsuchi to Hi no sato” in Fujioka
DO:
- Be an artist! experience making traditional ceramic art craft, pottery, glasses etc…
Amazing! A whole bunch of wooden huts in the middle of nowhere alongside a river. We settled in with the crazy pottery maker and spun ourselves some beautiful new cups completely by ourselves. With no help from the Sensei whatsoever. Well almost none. Well Yumiko, Sanae and Tiff had a little bit, but I did mine completely on my own. Well, I wrote my name on the bottom of my cup on my cup and rolled the handle completely on my own, which really is the hard part isn't it?
Program 3; visit the biggest limestone cave in kanto area
12:00 - dep for next destination (after lunch?)
13:30 - arrv at the largest limestone cave in Kanto (east area of jp)
DO:
- Walk in the cave and see the mysterious, divine, strange limestone
Well we did arrive at the caves after a delicious lunch of udon, soba and salted fresh fish still leaping on a stick as it cooks slowly over the fireplace.
The caves were muddy, dark and a little bit scary - in other words exactly everything caves should be. We explored the caves running around like small children and then took the beautiful walk through the trees back to the car.
Program 4; visit the wild animal in Gunma safari park
15:30 - dep for next destination
17:00 - arrv at Gunma safari park for night safari
DO:
- Get in the safari bus and be scared by wild animals
- Eat ostrich meat, crocodile meat...
- Take pic of baby lion or orangutan...
Lions, Zebras, Giraffes and Tigers strolling around the bus casually without a care in the world. The last thing I expected to see in Japan and definately the highlight of the day. The safari park in Gunma is brilliant, giant jurassic park-esque gates, a small stop off at the Illama and ostrich zoo in the iddle fo the trip, and best of all a certaintity that the animals here are treated like gods, a great change from Ueno zoo.
Program 4; relax at hot spring “Ayukawa Onsen”
20:00 - dep for hot spring
DO:
- Enjoy gunma’s famous great hot spring.
- Beer or fresh drink after bath
An onsen after a hectic day like this? What else could you ask for? Five indoor onsens with massagers, waterfalls, natural water, saunas and an outdoor sauna under the gleaming night sky I sank into the water and didn't have a care left in the world.
Program 5; Finale
22:00 - leave for Saitama
24:00 - Finish the tour at nishi kawaguchi...
Home again at 2:00am! What a long, incredible, amazing day. The last thing I expected and a perfect farewell to this crazy country! Thank you sanae and Yumiko for your brilliant organisational skills and creativity and thanks to Tiff for being my nap in the back of the car partner!!
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Tour guide
non-member comment
Great tour!
Hi I am a tour guide, and would like to ask you to introduce these incredible tour planners!! Night safari is the best idea! well you must have been so disappointed by Ueno zoo... yeah I feel a bit sorry for the animals in Ueno zoo. Oh and I think the great part of this tour is that you can get something with real figure and keep other than memory. ( i mean pottery) Of course memory is a greatest thing but still things are good to remind you of good time oh let me know if these beautiful tour guides get new plan!!
From Blog: Day 169: The Amazing Fantabulous Mystery Tour