Practice makes perfect!

Our little ladies practicing to be English tour guides.  They used us!  They were delightful!

Thanksgiving Day

We found a lovely little guesthouse called Pongyi (monk, in Burmese! to stay in in Kanagawa. What a coincidence! Masaki, our host and owner of the place, had been a monk for awhile in Burma (Myanmar) but said there were too many rules - no laughing, no smiling, eat whatever people put in your bowl even if it`s meat, etc. So he came back to Japan and started over (he had given everything away) and now owns this little place. He, Yu and Mara bought and cooked two huge pots of veggies, chicken and broth with noodles for our Thanksgiving feast. There were 3 other 25+ year old women there traveling. One works as a river guide in summer and ski instructor in winter in Nagano. The other one works for Ikea. and the third was a design student in school. We all had a really fun festive time. We played rock, scissors, paper to decide who got to pick which Mister Donut treat at the end of the meal. We took lots of pictures.
When we left the next day, Yu and Mara had made these little cut paper envelopes for us to take, to put money in for New Year`s for kids. They carried our bags outside, gave us hugs and waved us off! You never get that in a hotel!! Oh, and our picture will be up on their Facebook page - Pongyi.  We`ll have to look! He had a beautiful Buddhist altar in the dining room with an unusual walking Buddha with hand down, which I`d never seen. He said his Burmese master monk had given it to him. Very peaceful place!
AND I got to talk with Jackson and Sarah on Skype and say hi to everyone in New Hampshire gathered for Thanksgiving! Only 2 more weeks of travel! It`s been 29 straight days of constantly on the go each day packed full!  It will be nice to get home!
Tonight we are staying at a temple inn in Takayama kind of in the mountains. On the train ride here we saw snow up high - just a dusting! It was cold walking around this evening. But we have a lovely two room suite - tatami mats, futons and duvets so it should be warm. Outside our shoji (the sliding wall) is a lovely garden. So far Betty has picked excellent places.

Soggy day in Kanazawa!

Yesterday we arrived by train from Kirasaki in the north (remember wandering around town from onsen to onsen in our Yakata)? The train ride was smooth and uneventful through mountainous towns down to Kyoto and then switch trains (only 5 minutes to do it but we made it) and then north for a couple of hours to Kanazawa. We found our way to our little guesthouse Ponji. Everything is in miniature! This 300 year old house on a canal used to be a kimono shop and down the way a bit with red Japanese lanterns hanging out front where we had dinner last night also belonged to the same owner. Now it`s a little guest house that has 4 bunk beds (the bottom bunk that I`m in is a futon on the floor). It`s a bit bigger than my walk in closet at home. But again There is a lovely duvet cover, a pretty hard pillow but I`m getting used to them, and a nifty curtain that you pull around the bed for privacy. Very cozy and I slept great! We had one roommate, a Japanese retired teacher who is now researching to try to start her own guesthouse outside Kyoto. She has invited us to come and stay for a couple of days and see her town. We have to figure out our schedule in Kyoto and see if it fits in. She wanted to practice her English so we went together to a pub that serves pub food - meat on sticks, veggies on sticks, etc. We had great draft beer and she helped us order. I had chicken and pork on sticks, asparagus wrapped in ham and cheese wrapped in ham and some green peppers. It was delicious! We had great fun with the cook and server and took their pictures with us. Today Betty and I set out in the pouring rain with umbrellas from Ponji and bought a loop bus one day ticket for Y500. It`s an on-off deal so it worked out great. We started at one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan - built by one of the shoguns back in the day. It was really lovely, even in the pouring rain. I can imagine it when the plum trees and cherry trees bloom in the spring. But I`m sure the hoards of tourists then would spoil it. Usually this is a big leaf-peeking season but the fall has been unusually warm and very little color is showing in the mountains yet. We had some hail as we were walking through the garden. We then crossed the bridge to the Castle remains (it had burned down after only 20 years) and is now being reconstructed somewhat. We found another senior volunteer English speaking guide to walk us around but only a couple of storage of weapons houses were original and the walls. It`s amazing how they built these huge walls, cutting huge stones, fitting smaller stones sort of as mortar. This area wasn`t of military significance so had little damage during WWII. The owner, Masaki-san told us we will all prepare a Japanese hot pot/Thanksgiving feast tonight for us. He was a Buddhist monk in Myanmar for a couple of years, I think, and then changed his mind and wanted to lead a normal life. He`d given away everything to become a monk so he said he started at the bottom, working at an onsen and restaurant, and now owns this little place. Very kind lovely man! And Yu and Maru, two young girls who share a flat down the way work here as well. Yu taught us to fold paper cranes last night (I`ve already forgotten) and has a whole bag of them, I think to take to the Peace Park in Hiroshima to burn for World Peace. We were all going shopping in the market for the food for dinner but when we returned to Ponji Mara said they already went in a car because of the rain. So I guess we`ll cook later. It`s very quiet and peaceful here, but we`re having a hard time with all this sitting on the floor. My knees just don`t bend that way any more. Tomorrow on to Takayam, a couple of hours train ride away. We`ll be staying in a temple there. We`re hoping it`s not freezing cold and on bare floors!  It`ll be an experience we haven`t had! Happy Turkey Day to all!

Glorious onsen!

Betty and I had a wonderful splurge in the northern part of Honshu (the main island in Japan). She booked us at the "best onsen experience in Japan". We rode the train to Kinosake to a very small town to the Mikuniya ryokan. This included a gourmet dinner and breakfast, a massage and unlimited use of the 7 public onsens (public bathing pools) in town. When we arrived, our own private tutor instructed us on how to put on the cotton kimono-like dress called yukata and geta (the wooden sandals. We could then walk around town with just this on around town between the onsens. We had tea in our private room with tatami mats and a table (I'm NOT getting used to sitting on the floor! My knees just won' cooperate! I'm sitting at this computer on top of piles of pillows and trying to type!)  We then dressed in our yukata and geta and off we went to our first onsen. Okay, I'm not real comfortable walking around a bunch of strangers totally NAKED! But after the first one, who cares? You take only a little towel (that you store on your head) and first go to the sinks and soap down and rinse off. Then you go to the big pool and soak in really hot water! The first one they sent us to they said was the most beautiful, and it was. There was an outside portion with lovely rocks and waterfalls. We soaked for awhile and then dressed and headed to the next one, throwing only our yukata and geta on (not bothering with underwear!). We realized we didn't have time for another before our dinner would be served at 6:30. So back to our ryokan and our room.  Many dishes, with a lot of crab, both raw, grilled and boiled (at our table) were on the menu - crab being a specialty in this seaside town (it's near the Sea of Japan but it must have been over the hill as we didn' t see it). Next was our oil massage in the same ryokan. LOVELY but too short and didn't include a foot massage which I really missed! _Then back to our room  where our futon bed was laid out on the floor with comfy duvet coverlet. Betty opted to back to the ryokan's own onsen room that she had for herself. I was tired and went to bed. In the morning the onsens opened at 7 and we were at the door of another one. We took in 2 of them for about 1/2 hour each before our breakfast was served in a common room at 8:00. Can' say I am wild about Japanese breakfast and had fish breath in the morning until I found an ice cream cone to take it away! But it was an interesting experience, albeit an expensive one. We think we each paid about $300 for the whole one night experience.  It was interesting to see all the people, lots of couples, wandering around town in the evening and morning in their yukatas from the different ryokans. I did mention, I hope, that these pools were segregated - the men went in one area and the women in the other. All very healthful and relaxing! When we've seen so many Japanese businessmen in black suits (would like to have stock in THAT company!) rushing too and from work, they need to relax on the weekends or some time! When we mentioned them to some Japanese women who were practicing on us their tour guide English, she said the men had relaxed some - they even wear SHORT-SLEEVES sometimes now! Wow! ;) We wandered around this little canal town the next morning while waiting for our train back to Kyoto and on to Kanazawa where we are now. Must stop as Yu (one of the lovely hostesses here) is going to teach us how to make a Peace crane of origami that can then have a message written inside and then burned to send the messages up to the gods! These are like the peace cranes we saw in Hiroshima at the Peace Park memorial. More later!

Passing on the right, not the left! - Things I've noticed about Japan

It is an incredibly clean place! We walked behind a business woman going to work today and she picked up 3 pieces of trash from the sidewalk as she went and put it in her snack bag as she went along. Does everyone do this? We have yet to find an old beat up car (do they buy a new one every few years?) and NONE with any dirt on them. Is it required to wash your car every night when you come home? It's incredible! There's a boxy looking car that Betty likes - she calls it a bento box on wheels! (bento box is a little box of Japanese food you can buy a lot of places to take for lunch. We haven't tried them yet.) Everyone bows! The conductress entered the train car and bowed and then went down the aisle. Entering and leaving Mister Donut or any store, you give a slight bow in and out. Asking for help, you bow. It's nice! I think all school children must wear uniforms - some version of the British school girl pleated skirt, all navy blue, with a little variation on the top, knee socks. Haven't seen many boys that seem dressed the same. Japanese men seem very courteous and deferential to women, their wives or any other. Frequently we've been given a seat on a bus, train, tram. People have a sense of personal space and NEVER cut a line! We think we goofed getting on a train in Osaka when this woman told us where to line up, and there was a line of people standing back in line, waiting for the door to open. Oops! Not intended! Things are very quiet here. You don't hear loud groups of men in a train station shouting at each other, etc. I forgot traffic moves on the left here, people walk to the left! it's hard to remember.

Rainy day in Osaka

The daughter of the couple running this CaminoRo is just standing in the rice cooker sitting on the floor! She keeps saying Nana! Nana!  I know she:s not talking to me as when I look at her, she cries! She`s 13 months and almost ready to walk. So cute! Makes me very lonesome for Sarah but if I try to hug this little one, she`d scream, I know! Anyway, met Shirley last night - traveling from New Zealand for a week here. She talks very fast and it was hard to understand her. I think she`s from Auckland. She left for home today after buying a sweatshirt. We had more oatmeal and nuts for breakfast and headed out with our plastic see-through umbrella`s loaned from our place. It was POURING all day! Made me appreciate what could have happened but didn`t in China! We took the circle route so we could use our JRPass. We were going to purchase a day pass for all the subways and buses here in Osaka but at the information office this lovely woman told us most of the sites we`d get into for free with the pass were free today anyway (it`s a Saturday). And she said using the circle line for free with our pass, it wouldn`t be much of a walk to get to the sites we wanted to see. So we saved 2000Y and headed off. First was Osaka Castle, a drippy 15 minute walk. and up many steps. The outside walls around and between the moats was pretty amazing. It was built in 1500s, then burned down within the first 100 years. A guy named Hidori or something became somewhat of a hero in Japan here and many legends grew up around him. The castle was restored twice and then bombed in 1945 (by us, I`m guessing!) so not much to see inside except large screens showing battles.  We then headed back and really had to do some climbing around walls to avoid rivers of water (by this time our feet were completely soaked!) and then got back on the train. This time headed for the Museum of homestyles of old Osaka. We were wandering lost when this lovely couple ended up walking us down a LONG covered shopping area into a building and pointed us to the 8th floor. We never would have found it!  It turned out to be delightful, with reconstructed village with rooms you could walk through, a worker there who grabbed Betty and I and a guy to do this tricks with stick-like mat that did the neatest things. Made a fishing line, two flags she said were American and Japanese, a water fall. It was fun! Afterwards she gave each of us this little box made out of origami folds with two cranes and a top inside, all made out of the tiniest folded paper. Amazing! It almost seemed like it was a Children`s Museum as lots of families with kids were there. _There was a light show that is hard to describe.  By this time, I was ready to go back to room and get a hot shower. We picked up some food from the vendors out front and had a meal at home of what we thought was like an omelet but wasn`t eggs. and some noodles with a bit of pork, and a bun shaped like a fish with bean paste. The beer we shared was the best part of the meal! Off to Hiroshima tomorrow!

First full day in Japan

Osaka After a great night`s sleep and a lovely shower, Betty and I headed to the JR station to activate our JR Pass (think Eurail Pass for Japan. )  Then we headed out for Nara, about 40 minutes away to visit the Giant Buddha and other temples in this much smaller city. We WALKED and WALKED and WALKED! My feet are hurting and I`d love to spend tomorrow relaxing at an onsen (Japanese hot spring). There were a few school groups around and one of them stopped us to ask what were our names, where were we from, what did we like - sounded like a school assignment. Each temple we washed our hands with ladles of water. Some girls also drank but we didn`t risk that. Nara was the first capital (but only for 75 years) back in the 700s AD. The first Japanese emperors came from here. Then when a priest seduced an empress, they moved the capital far away to Kyoto.  We found a restaurant to have dinner (we are using up the oatmeal I brought - thank you, Michelle - with some added nut and tangerines for breakfast) and had a bowl of rice, with tempura shrimp and veggies on top - and of course a beer! It was delicious, albeit expensive! We may try to cook here at our CaminoRo guesthouse tomorrow.  The young couple who apparently live here and run it have an 18 month old little girl - so cute! I`ll have to show them Sarah`s picture!  In for the night and ready to relax!