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Published: April 25th 2010
Takayama was the mountains. We should probably have figured it out before we got there, but we didn't expect even colder temperatures than we'd experienced in Kyoto. We got them. It was frickin' cold. Baltic. Canadian almost.
But really that just made it seem all the more... mountainous. We got the train out from Kyoto and trudged uphill to the Youth Hostel at the top of the town. It wasn't your normal hostel, being an old temple. But there was a big area in it that was dedicated as a shrine and a predominant area that lacked heating. We checked in, coughing up a sizable cashball for a youth hostel room. The lovely lady led us through the icy corridors to our refrigerated room. It was fine, but we hadn't been so cold since we left London. We slept under every blanket in the room, piling up bedding for 4 on top of the 2 of us. There was snow outside, on the other side of the paper-thick walls. Inside we had weird bean-bag pillows, but they were surprisingly comfortable. There was also a curfew of 9.45 after which the doors were locked, with lights out at 10!
Hungry,
again, we stepped out for food (pre-9.45) chowing down to noodles at a very traditional place. The food was... authentic. My noodle dish was alright if a little bland, being flavoured mainly with 'mountain vegetables'. Em's came with a grated potato sludge that kind of ruined it. If you order noodles, avoid the sludgy ones. We also went for a walk in the local park, which takes you up to views over the city. Charming old men punctuated the walk, all smiles and 'konichiwa's.
The next day we checked into the fanciest ryokan at which we stayed, called Ryokan Tanabe. This was amazing. We had two bathrooms, a large central room in which you eat and sleep and a little annex with a couple of chairs. The floor is all matted, so you take off your shoes before going in, and the walls are traditional-style paper sliding doors.
The best bit was the food. We ate in our room, a private meal for two. A petite and smiley lady came in and laid out what I think we counted to be a 13-course meal. That's 13-courses each. All the dishes were pretty small, but there were so many
of them, from sushi to beef cooked on individual hot-coal stoves. Much of it was unidentifiable, but it was largely delicious. Oishi.
We dressed for dinner, putting on the traditional 'yakuta'. I tied up mine wrongly, which I think was the funniest thing the lady serving dinner had ever seen. The robes are super cool though and ultra comfy. The ryokan also had baths, like the onsen we used in Tokyo. The only thing cooler than having the relaxing hot baths on your doorstep was meeting Akiko, the lady who ran the place, who was ebullient, friendly and charming.
From the mountains we headed back to Tokyo for two days that were included in the Tokyo blog. Then we flew to Australia, from where I'm writing this and will soon be writing the Aussie blog.
If you get a chance to go to a top-end ryokan, take it. It's tough on the wallet, but is unforgettable. Plus you get to sleep without chattering teeth or icy bones. That's livin'.
Bye for now, love you, bye!
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Phil
non-member comment
Happy people
You are clearly having the time of your lives. You look so happy, so relaxed and stress-free. Can't wait to see the crocodile dundee poses.