- nagano chapter: the accomodation -

update: PICTURESSS!!

^ the inn Kaze no Yasuyado ^

^ the bridge that leads us to the other side of the river (which flows right in front of the inn). ^

^ zoom-in river. ^

^ the Yotsuba Cafe. it's the name of the inn's.... living room? ^

^ the 6-bedder room. one more double-decker behind the cupboard on the right. ^

^ by the way my bed's the one in the middle, top compartment. *grinn* ^

currently listening to – COLORS (FLOW)
mood – slightly amused

22 december.

initially, we planned to purchase a seishun-18 ticket and depart for Nagano using the cheapest route. it’s a kind of special ticket which enables one to travel all around Japan all he wants for the entire day. but with a condition: you can only use it for JR railway, and even for JR you’re not allowed to use it for limited expresses. a normal trip to Nagano (Matsumoto City) from Shinjuku station (which takes more than 4 hours) costs more than 3,000 yen (approx S$50), not to mention the faster ones, they’re definitely going to cost a bomb. by using a seishun-18 ticket, which costs only (?) 2,000 yen (S$30+++), we could have reached Nagano by 3pm if we left our bunking place in the morning. judging from the flow of my sentences, you’d know we didn’t make it.

better open a hole in our pockets than being too late – was our decision, after realizing that we would definitely miss the train because both of us forgot to withdraw money from the ATM. it’s time for Plan B, again. instead of going to Takao we took a train to Hachiouji, and, from there, we went to Nagano with the limited express Super Azusa.

we went through a cool summer this year, so we expected to see the winter wonderland beckoning to us with snow upon our arrival. well of course, since the inland prefecture Nagano constitutes many mountainous lands. from the north-northwest to the south-southeast of the prefecture, you can see the Itoigawa – Shizuoka Kouzousen, a massive fault which goes across the Japanese archipelago. on the west there are the Hida Mountains (the Northern Alps, where the Kamikouchi and the over-3000-metres-above-sea-level Norikura volcanic region is), the Kiso Mountains (the Central Alps) and the Akaishi Mountains (the Southern Alps). it’s said that during winter this prefecture’s frigid and dry. plus, Nagano hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics… **referring to the electronic dictionary’s encyclopedia…**

and it turned out that this year, it’s going to be a mild winter. despite the reika. dayum… in the end we didn’t see any snow throughout our train ride (I couldn’t really see the mountains from my window seat coz my vision was, unfortunately, blocked by these tall wind-blockers and tunnels).. even after arriving at Nagano station, snow was no where to be seen. there goes my dream White Christmas... sob sob… however, it was definitely much much much colder than Tokyo, and probably Osaka. looking up with our backs facing the train station, we saw a huge digital… board thingie (temperature sensor???) which said “5°C”..

joined the other gaidai foreign students (who came straight from Osaka by bus that morning) at McD’s. in total there were 8 of us, who came from all four corners of the globe – Brazil, Brunei, Croatia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand. we encroached upon a corner of the second floor, and displayed our Osakajin-ness by conversing like there’re nobody around us. of course, even if we weren’t boisterous people we would have been gazed at like zoo animals because of most of our clearly-non-Japanese features. and we were speaking in English too.

after filling our stomachs, we set foot for our lodging. actually we could have asked the keepers of the lodging to fetch us from the train station, if only there weren’t that many of us. apparently their car’s only big enough to fit 5 people max (excluding the driver). it’s alright. it wasn’t that far from the station. we had the chance to sightsee around the main street of Matsumoto City by taking the Town Sneaker minibus (or should I say, van?). such a cute little vehicle. AHHHHHHHHHH shit I don’t have the pictures with me…. the Nagano pictures are all yet to be transferred to my new Vaio baby..

anyway. the lodging is called Kaze no Yasuyado (the Wind’s Inn, if translated literally). this wooden inn is situated beside a river, and from the living room we could see the clear-cut outline of the Alps far beyond the city. couldn’t tell how much snow has accumulated on the mountains yet coz it was slightly foggy that day. the keeper of the inn is a kind lady, who used to be a backpacker who traveled in over 30 countries in the world. together with her husband, they have been managing this small inn for some years. we self-introduced to each other and had a short conversation, while paying our 4-nights worth of the accommodation fee. then, we were led to our rooms.

the rooms weren’t that big. slightly uncomfortable for people who are used to spacious living compounds, I suppose. but it was enough for me. I haven’t been sleeping on a fluffy bed for quite some days, and my back’s aching. we split into fives and threes, and took over the 6-bedder room and the 4-bedder room respectively. fortunate enough, I got the upper bunk of one of the double-deckers (by the way all the beds are double-deckers). remember when I was a kid I used to dance in my sleep, so I was never allowed to sleep on the upper bunk whenever we’re provided a double-decker during our family trip. now, I don’t do that anymore obviously…

by the time we received a map from the inn keepers (they asked us what was our plan throughout our stay in Nagano and we had no idea how to answer them. didn’t have any plans in particular, you know), it was already late in the evening. and 6pm during winter is DARK. we asked for directions, and left the inn for dinner. by foot. there wasn’t enough bicycles for all of us, and I’m sure most of us didn’t want to cycle in the cold. we crossed the bridge to the other side of the river, and started tracing back the path that we came from. went through the Agata no Mori park, passed by some old school buildings, and we came to a crossroad. the nearest convenience store was at one corner of the crossroad. though a convenience store, it’s a tiny convenience store. which doesn’t even sell alcohol.

arrived at Saizeriya after 2 minutes more of walking. after all it’s near the center of the city, so things are a bit more convenient than gaidai… there’re a few more family restaurants around the place, and a JUSCO department store right in front of Saizeriya, which we planned to attack another day. believe me, it was a tiring day. we Tokyo gang ran up and down for the trains, whereas the Osaka people had a long bus ride. we headed back to our inn not long after our outing (with the many teabags that we snatched from the drink bar in Saizeriya without the waiters’ knowledge). **grinnnn**

*****

1) Kamikouchi – scenic tourist attraction at the Alps.
2) reika – cool summer.
3) Osakajin – an Osaka person. it’s said that Osaka people are loud and dead to shame, and some Tokyo people despise Osaka people because of that.
4) Saizeriya – Italian restaurant. cheap and some of the food are not so nice. but has a drink bar and you can drink all you want from there (if you ask for it).