Yudanaka Tuesday 5-7 January 2016

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Yudanaka Tuesday 5-7 January 2016



After having lunch at a traditional restaurant first before picking our bags up and catching the Bullet Train to Nagano. It was a fantastic trip. We even tried a couple of more Japanese beers along the way.



Once at Nagano, we caught a private rail to Yudanaka. It was a bit ‘hairy’ at the Nagano railway station. We hopped off the bullet train and with our 5 suitcases and several pieces of hand luggage between us, we walked across the platform to get onto another train. Then we saw that Kerrie had gone. The train driver said he was leaving in 1 minute. We were watching hopefully for Kerrie to return in time. We actually held the train up for a minute. The driver was so good. Once spotting Kerrie, we piled all the cases on the train and finally sitting down in the train relieved we had all made it.



On the way, I called our hotel in Yudanaka to come and pick us up. All worked well, we were met by an Australian from Brisbane who had been working at the hotel for several months.



Yudanaka is an area full of onsens – thermal baths and where the snow monkeys romp around in thermal springs which are 40-45 degrees.



Our hotel was a “Ryokan” which is a traditional Japanese hotel. On entry to the hotel, we were guided in the traditional ways which included removing our street shoes and wearing the hotels slippers.



We were taken to our rooms. The floor of our room was covered in a tatami (Japanese floor mat). During the day the tatami section is used in a multipurpose way as a living and dining room, and at night as a sleeping room.



As soon as we arrived (just before 7.00pm) we were given a yukata (light cotton kimono) to wear to dinner. The dining room had low tables and chairs and beautifully set out with the first of many small morsels of food, many of which were fish-based.



It was fascinating going through the different flavours of our meal, some absolutely yummy and others questionable, and still others, somewhere in between. Our waitress loved Gemma as she was dressed in her little yukata, and was using Japanese words with the waitress. A fantastic experience.



While we were at dinner, the staff had made our futon beds on the floor covered by a blanket type futon as a coverlet. The rooms were very well heated.



Special note: in this very cold climate, all the toilet seats are warmed – magnificent!!



We are all taking it in turns to settle Gemma at night so that the remaining 3 adults can do other stuff. It was Tom’s turn to stay with Gemma and so Kerrie, Adam and I went down stairs to the bar.



We met a very interesting guy from NZ who was had a tour company which focused on skiing. He gave us a lot of hints on what to do in Yudanaka. At the end of the evening, we went away with mud map of the town in hand and greater knowledge on all the things we could do the next day.



Wednesday 6 January



We woke in time to have a traditional Japanese breakfast at 7.30am. Very soft boiled eggs (which I couldn’t come at), rice, small serve of fruit and yoghurt, dried salmon, tofu, fungi, juice, green tea and water. Very interesting.



We were then taken to the Jigokudani Wild Monkey Park by the hotel bus. After a 1.6km walk along a very muddy path, we stated to spot the monkeys. We were pleased we knew to bring our hiking boots. Gemma even had her snow boots.



The monkeys were fascinating to watch. We came to the thermal pool where they were all having a wonderful time jumping in and out of the pool, sliding down black water pipes and cleaning each other’s fur for insects. There was a large geyser spout so there was plenty of thermal activity in the area. We were there for a couple of hours, camera clicking many times!!!! It was less than 1 degree so snow clothes was the order of the day.



We walked back to where we were to catch the hotel bus and fortunately we had time to have a coffee in the very warm café.



On returning to the hotel we decided to go for a walk into the town. What an interesting town this was. We found a lovely little café for lunch which served meals which included small bowl of soup, half a roll, fries, and a drink of our choice. We could see why the Japanese are not an overweight race which is fantastic.



The main street was lined with little adjoining homes and shops as well as many onsens including an outdoor foot onsen. We bought some drinks and sat on the wooden seats around the thermal bath soaking our feet until our skin was very red. It took us a while to get used to the temperature of the water but is was a lovely experience.



There was a Lantern Festival on in the area so there were a lot of lanterns hanging up in the streets. We found out that there was a shop where we could make our own lantern so soon, there were 5 new lanterns made. It was good fun. While we made them, under the guidance of a couple of locals, we drank mulled wine which was very warming. We later hung them up in a specially made frame outside our hotel.



That night we went to a restaurant which served a variety of satays and roasted pieces of chicken….and much more. Service has been so good in Japanese. Everyone is so welcoming and helpful. Adam was doing a great job with the language also.



Our hotel had an onsen so Tom, Adam and I (while Kerrie put Gemma to bed) had an onsen which was incredibly relaxing, lying in the very hot bubbles. We all felt very relaxed after. Everyone slept well.



Thursday 7 January 2016



The next morning, after a much tastier traditional breakfast than the previous morning (we fried our own eggs at the table – but I still can’t come at cold fish for breakfast!) we waited in the ground floor lobby for the time the hotel bus was going to take us to the train station as we were off to Kyoto today.



While waiting we played another few games of UNO. We said our goodbyes to the hotel staff, thanking them for our unique Japanese experience.

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