(You pay 550 yen for it)
Okay so on saturday we didn't go to quite as unpleasant place as Mordor but there were similarities! Having stayed at guest room in the friends building(convenient idea to have guest rooms in the building as homes themselves are generally on small side in Japan so guests could be pretty big problem. And pretty damn good ones these rooms were! I have been on worse hotels than those) we woke up 4:30 am for early departure. Picking up some breakfast at konbini we were off toward Nagano prefecture.
Part of friday evening snacks. The thing on center slot of bottom row is dried seaweed. Eaten pretty much like peanuts etc in Finland. Surprisingly good actually.
Early up but still already light coming up. Japan has bit different sun schedules than Finland(more obvious in summer when it comes dark LOT sooner than in Finland where it can be light even in midnight).
So the first place was called "Onioshidashien". Quite a mouthful.
There was some fog which made for eerie sights.
So the thing about this place is that these rocks are remnants of volcanic eruption.
There is road like that which you follow while enjoying the sights.
Lots of rocks. Certainly reminded me a bit of Mordor(hence the quote in the title).
Despite being so barren there was still some odd sense of beauty in the scenery.
This was from small cave with moss that glowed lightly in the darkness.
Very interesting looking formations the explosion had created.
It was btw actually COLD here. We weren't that far up north from Tokyo where was still pleasantly warm weather but having gone up to mountains it was actually chilly enough I was glad of having gloves on my hand. And it was actually raining snow lightly!
With onioshidashien done we stopped in for lunch before continuing for next goal. I opted for niku-udon. Noodles with meat. Also got melon soda for drink. Odd green drink!
I still find it hard to make the slurping sounds that are expected in Japan when eating noodles. I know it's polite to slurp here(unlike finland) but still find it very hard to actually make good enough noodle slurps :D
Next one we headed for rather ominous sounding place "valley of hell". But fear was unneeded as the name came from being rocky place with hot springs causing fog to come up making it bit "hell like" in appearance. But actually home of very cute monkeys.
Outer area of the valley.
That actually soaked up you real well when you got close to it(and pathway went past it).
Ah first monkey!
Cute!
Cleaning up each other.
As it was already cold monkeys enjoyed their day in the hot spring. On summer time they don't like to be there(hot+hot bath? Monkeys aren't stupid!) so late spring is good time to visit this place.
Doesn't he look like he's enjoying his time :D
That monkey had just executed quite an impressive jump to get there.
They were constantly checking each others fur for...well something.
Mother and child?
Cute monkey-child!
"I'm hungry enough to eat this in full!"
Short video of the monkeys.
They are btw generally very relaxed about humans and were happily enough walking around them and didn't mind people too much(one actually tried to climb first to my back and then DID climb to back of another men...) but on way out one did bare his teeth and make hissing sound at me. I naturally backed away. They ARE wild animals so better not to provoke them.
After this saturdays explorations were over and we headed for place we would be staying(found by friend via internet). Very, very good place to stay. Bit pricey but you get dinner and breakfast, good clean rooms with cosy futons and nice friendly service. Didn't feel like I was paying for nothing.
Small things like these were around the place.
Starting dinner. Would be quite a meal.
Turns out this place is actually shinto shrine. Wow.
The cup in middle of top row is "omiki". Sacred sake. Very good actually.
Now comes steady stream of pictures of various items we had for food. I have no idea what I was generally eating. I have eaten lots of things but most of the stuff I ate was something I hadn't experienced before. And all was good. Each plate small but there was constant stream of new plates to the point I was starting to wonder will plates end before I explode!
Very nice way to eat though. Lots of different small plates=lots of different tastes to try. Would be pain to cook though for home meal.
Soba beer. Beer made out of buckwheed noodles? Okaaaaay. Not bad at all though.
Yey this I actully could recognize. Fish+mushrooms.
This was positively DELICIOUS! Could have eaten plate or two more of that just for the taste.
And that's the face of one well fed contended traveller.
I thought I had already eaten all! Still some apple pieces though.
In-building warming ala-Japan. Sleeping rooms were warm enough but common rooms were bit cold. Particularly toilet. At least seats were heated ones.
Quick rundown of saturday. Next post covers sunday.
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