Nudity, monkeys, slippers, rain and more rain in Yudanaka

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Sept 18th

I don't trust Japanese toilets. They make strange noises and sound like they're going to attack you. There are many buttons as well which just add to the fear as they have strange symbols and pictures on. I've already abandoned one poo as I thought I was going to end up doing a Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting. I'm having to get over it. Obviously. Claire has discovered ones with heated seats too which she found rather pleasant. And one that played waterfall sounds to help her doings. Maybe it's just the male ones that want to eat you alive.

This morning started with a visit to our ryokan's onsen and trying to work out the correct way of doing things. Luckily there was no-one else in the blokes bit so I could balls it up on my own.

Basically there's a changing area with sinks where you leave your kimono and slippers. Yes we're walking round in kimonos but no the slippers are way too small. I think you then go through to the next bit with your towel wrapped round you then you're in an area with a number of low showers around the walls and a huge hot tub.

There's nowhere to hang your towel though so Claire put hers on the floor yesterday then when she got in the hot tub the water spilled over and soaked her towel. Learning from her lesson I put my towel on a shelf and got into the hot tub. I should apparently have showered first but...I learnt that lesson later. And there was no-one there to see me screw up anyway.

The tub was lovely and warm with hot spring water constantly running into it but I didn't spend long in there. I showered, went back into the changing room and got my kimono back on to go upstairs. Simple!

Our host then kindly drove us up to the snow monkey park which is famous as the monkeys keep warm by bathing in the hot springs. The weather forcast today says there us a 100% chance of rain until 3pm and then a 90% chance after that so we've definitely brought Stoke weather with us.

We were driven uphill and regaled with stories of the town, the 1998 Winter olympic games that were held here and about the monkeys of course. He dropped us at what is a temporary entrance as the normal one is under construction. I had thought to bring the free umbrellas we got last night and they were very useful as we headed through torrential rain up a muddy path for a 20 minute walk.

We got to the park and no-one was allowed in as the monkeys hadn't come down from their homes yet. They said they were going to put food out and it might be about an hour. Luckily there was a room to sit in with pictures of the monkeys....just in case we didn't get to see them....

And we waited. And waited.

And then I spotted one! But it was far, far away.

And then three more turned up and actually walked past us which was great, especially as they posed for photos. These monkeys were still not part of the troop though so the park stayed closed. I like the fact they're not taking my money for nothing though.

It was while we were shooting the monkeys that we noticed there were some human occupants of the hot spa below. All male, all naked. No, hang on, they did have tiny hand towels. On their heads.... Quite bizarre that they were't bothered that everyone up above could see and some were getting pictures for their blogs.

We were a bit peckish by now and nipped down to the cafe across the river. Their food menu consisted solely of soba noodles (cold) and chimaki. The chimaki is a local speciality and is glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves cooked in a hot spring. Hopefully not the same hot spring the naked trio were in! The food was pube free thankfully and came with some sort of dry dip. It was okay.

A customer noticed we'd missed out on something and very kindly brought us two cups of the free tea. We'll get used to things here one day! Oh and the Japanese couple next to us got their soba hot so not sure why it said cold on the menu....ah well!

We then walked back up to the monkey park where the gates were now open. We still didn't have to pay though as the main troops weren't being tempted by the food put out for them. These are wild monkeys that roam free and are entitled not to go where you want them too. We already knew we probably wouldn't get them in the hot spring as they only go in there to keep warm in Winter.

There were three monkeys there though so we took pictures of them as they feasted on food put out for many more. Claire got too close to one and it waved a paw at her and hissed to warn her off. So we got to see some of the monkeys we'd come to see and it didn't cost us a penny.

We'd been told it was a nice hike down the hill so, as the rain had abated somewhat, we decided to do just that. We actually walked down the narrow road and it was quite a pleasant wander.

On the way down there were three monkeys at the side of the road so we hung around with them for a bit. And then the three became quite a few more as we suspected this may be one of the missing troops. And we had them all to ourselves! We followed them along a path as they posed atop a waterfall before clambering phill and out of sight.

We reached the top of town which is a lot older and more traditional than anywhere else we,'ve seen so far. Sadly this is when the heavens opened again and everything was getting soaked, especially us. The wander became a trudge but we finally made it back to our ryokan.

The owner very kindly switched on a ski boot dryer and we put coats, shoes, shorts etc on it. Claire even put her camera bag on there. Following a suggestion from the owner we decided to have another onsen. Thankfully I wasn't on public display or there would have been a lot of violently ill Japanese people.

We'd seen a lot of onsen as we'd walked through the old town and wondered why they needed so many. Communal ones would be nice so we could sit in together. I'd keep my shorts on but maybe the Japanese men would't!

Our evening meal was at a restaurant near the station. A Japanese restaurant no less. Who'd have thought it?!

All very very good with great service and no hassling about tips cos tipping isn't a thing here, hooray!

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