Japan day 6

The walk back from the falls seemed faster that the trek in but it was no less painful. By the time we made it back to the farm we were exhausted. It was also 3 or so in the afternoon and we haven't had anything to eat since breakfast. We weren't actually planning on the trip to the falls. We kind of made that up while we were at the farm so we weren't prepared and had no packed lunches. We made do with some takoyaki and toasted onigiri and waited for the bus to arrive. When we finally got back to the city, we all went and soaked our feet at this hot spring feet soaking place just outside the train station. That's a picture of the hot spring station i took yesterday. Ahhh... Felt so so good. Now am back and flat out on the tatami floor in the inn. Will have dinner soon but first i crash. :-)

Japan day 6

After checking out the animals at the farm, we decided to check out another waterfall near by. It turned out to be quite a walk. It was a total of approximately 5 km to the falls from the farm. First was a few km of steep road till we got to the entrance in the forest to the falls. Then it was more walking over rocks, branches and soil for about 1.5 km then it was the climb down. I think it was about 300m down. It wasn't the easiest of climbs as it some of the steps were a little high for my short legs and we had to clamour over rocks at places cuz there weren't any proper steps. In the end the payoff was worth it though. The falls are quite lovely and made all the lovely cuz it was mostly quite untouch by civilization. It helped too that the colours of the trees around it were turning. Very, very kirei. I got no coverage on my phone though, so this isn't a very good place to get into trouble. :-) we saw several other people at the falls. Quite a few of them were older people. Amazing cuz they were quite fit cuz they didn't look like they even broke a sweat. WOW!

Japan day 6

After breakfast today, the owner of the inn we were playing in was kind enough to give us free tickets and a lift to ishimushiro bokujo, a sorta cross between a farm and a park. There are goats, horses, cows etc. Kinda nice, especially for the kids. There were a bunch of japanese kindergarten kids in the park and they were squealing for joy. The soft ice cream here is also really good and one can get fresh milk here if you like.

Japan day 6

Good morning. I've just woken up to a lovely morning at bandai atami. I can hear the birds chirping just outside my window and except for the distant sound of traffic, it's rather quite. Last night we had one of our several food accidents. We ordered what we thought was a mixed platter of sakana sashimi and got this. When it was placed on our table, we were like this looks like meat... ... ... We asked the lady who brought us our food just what it was and she said uma and we were like... ... ... Who ordered HORSE!!! :-) but we ate it anyway cuz we wanted to try horse meat, also know as sakura sashimi, just that we didn't intend to try it then. :-)

Japan day 5

After breakfast today we went on a hike in the mountain side. It was a relatively short and easy hike but it was fun. After we finished the loop, we went in search of one of the waterfalls in the area. It wasn't a very big one but it was pretty. :-) after that we went to the nearest big town, koriyama... I think that's what it's called. Will have to find out later. :-)

Japan day 5

We're spending the day in bandai atami. Breakfast this morning was a simple buffet of japanese food. Kinda nice. I like the salad dressing in particular. It's a soy sauce and lemon mix i think. We did the onsen thing last night. Boy was the water hot. I don't know if the supposed curative features of the onsen waters actually work but it did feel rather comfortable. Time to go. Later. :-)

Japan day 4

After a day of travelling, we're finally reached our destination. It's a little town a few hours via train from tokyo and it's called bandai-atami. Boy am i pooped from travelling and i'm glad to reach our destination. The inn we're staying in is very nice and the town is very quaint. We're here for the onsen, i.e. Hot springs. I've never been to one so it should be interesting. :-)