Highlights of Japan & Sth Korea – 16day Tour 2024 Days 3 & 4
From my last blog of doing some 13.72klms of walking the day prior I truly slept well and was up @ 5.30am for brekky & bus departure for 8am on our first out of city tour to Mt Fuji. DS (a tagged passenger) from my last blog showed up for breakfast if nothing had happened from the night before … never crossed his mind that I was concerned for his safety of not knowing if he had returned to our hotel. I certainly wasn’t pleased with his lack of understanding on being part of a team tour and to add to that a couple of passengers had delayed our departure by 20mins. So frustrating when people show how selfish they are & still never an apology forthcoming.
Suffice to say, I was back in my bus seat with DS again sitting next to me & with his constant negative talking was a strain on myself & other passengers, but I knew I had to keep DS in some form of control as I felt I was the best person that could handle him. My hardest duty was to stop DS from talking when Trend (our guide) was talking to us via a microphone. So disrespectful.
Traffic congestion was insane & took about 1hr just to get to Tokyo city outskirts & it continued all the way to Mt Fuji much to the frustration of DS. Unfortunately, the tour timing didn’t help with us travelling on a Saturday morning when a lot of local citizens travel to Mt Fuji for a common getaway. Mt Fuji is only about 150klms from our hotel but felt a lot longer. The highway was 2 lanes all the way but full & we travelled through about 20+ tunnels & some were obscenely long. I could not help admiring the road network infrastructure (bridges & tunnels) which are beyond belief. Just amazing! We were advised many of these tunnels were constructed using the old mining methods and mass manual labour & when technology chimed in there were proper mining equipment utilised, such as vehicular jackhammer machines, box rail carts, conveyor belt extraction, etc and much later massive drilling machines.
I hope you can appreciate my ‘skill’ .. LOL!! … in taking some photos via the bus travelling above 100klms/ hr. There were no other opportunities given. Once you consider the extreme mountainous ranges you can understand how important these road tunnels are in linking the various villages along the way. In older times, it would take over a week for villagers to connect with another village scaling over these mountains. They had to be self-supporting for centuries & at times be their own ‘government’. The villages would also, be very cold in winter, nestled amongst these giant ranges.
Getting closer to Mt Fuji the road became narrower & steeper with constant winding of tight corners and occasionally another bus would come into view & we all breathed in, with bus mirrors just missing each other & with little reduced speed. Our bus driver, Takanashi-son .. (spelling?) was clearly showing his driving skills and it wasn’t long before I realised, he was the best bus driver I have ever experienced and knew we were going to be safe on this tour.
Finally arrived at Mt Fuji 2300m elevation @ 12.20pm, some 4hrs of bus travel & one 15mins relief stop (remember, just 150klms travelled). Temp 4°C but felt like 2°C without the brisk wind factor. We can’t complain by having a great ‘sunny’ day greeting us. The car & bus parking was at the highest elevation of the road system at the main 5th Station, but for trekkers you can venture up to 7th Station & with strict approval & conditions go to the top. Sadly, today & at certain previous times Mt Fuji didn’t have its usual snow-covered top which didn’t help with the aesthetics and photos. Based upon the upcoming weather, we may have missed the snow by just a few days.
There is a short walk from the bus up to the central 5th Station complex where your first photos can be taken of Mt Fuji, then viewing the location shrine and the rear viewing platform overlooking the village of Kofu (left) & Lake Kawaguchiko to the right. Once everyone had done the full viewing of Mt Fuji, we were back onto the bus heading for Kofu & Lake Kawaguchiko (2nd largest of the Fuji Five Lakes) to undertake a 20mins lake cruise in a traditional boat to see another angle of Mt Fuji. Cruising on the lake was quite brisk to say the least but it was well worth it & the price included in our tour. DS decided to be the only one to stay on the bus for he said it wasn’t worth his time of 20mins. Looking out from the boat & at the wharf we all really appreciated the strength of the glowing colours of Autumn through the trees & foliage these past 2 days. You can’t but help noticing this beautiful scenery.
Top left photo – Brilliant Autumn Foliage. Top Right – Lake Kawaguchiko with road highway bridge in background. Middle right – Traditional Japanese Boat. Bottom photo – Mt Fuji from centre of lake using the cloud as artificial snow effect.
Back on the bus for about 3hrs (130klms) to Saku on the way to the Nagano region (centre of the Japan, Honshu Island). We arrived quite late again at Saku, but the brand-new Hotel Route-Inn was superb with my top floor room, 603 amazing. In the coming days we will be heading to Hiroshima, so those undertaking this optional tour must pay their 550,000yen ($550AUD) per person today so Trend can book & pay for all the bullet train travel & tickets involved. Luckily, or good management, I had thought of potential forthcoming issues & had the required cash on me as my debit card wouldn’t work on Trend’s device. Whew!
Today, was a lot easier on my feet with only 2.71klms of walking. Tomorrow, we head NW to Nagano.
Day 4 10/11
Just an overnight stay, so it was easy packing and in readiness for an early brekky at 6.30am for 8am bus departure. When I awoke, I looked out from my 6th floor window to see a large, ploughed field and looking like a nice day unfolding. By the time I left my room some 10mins later and found my brekky table the outside area was full of fog. I was advised it was 0°C @ 6am then heavy frost eventuated. No doubt the weather changes rapidly leading into winter. The breakfast buffets have all been well serviced to date and with a mixture of Japanese & western food, so it was bonus to sample a few different things & making up for the limited dinner options, if any, once our bus arrived late at night. Obviously, I didn’t like some of the Japanese food offerings and some I didn’t even know their names so I confided in myself that I at least tried a good range but be more wary next breakfast.
Again, the usual suspects were late getting to the bus .. but with no pushback from others was surprising, seeing how frustrating this is becoming. I guess, with 30 travellers we all can’t be friends so I will surmise there will be pushback forthcoming surely. One later comer (Indian couple from Melbourne) frequently arrives late, takes off his coat, folds it neatly & places it on his above rack, then inspects his backpack before placing it next to his coat & this delays the driver from departing. When we have a stop, he is the first up, slowly puts on his coat & checks his carry bag thereby delaying most of the bus from alighting. He & his wife will evidently feature in my future blogs.
Our first stop will be at Takayama (Taka=tall, Yama=Mountain) some 3.5hrs away of the most winding of roads & amazing infrastructure, sheer cliff faces netted, pinned & steel cables used for kilometres. The hwy follows the rapids of the Ryuo River mostly & then the Shio River that shows off their various hydro schemes, for there is plenty of water streaming down. Some boulders in these streams are massive, so lots of water pushed them there. The extra-long road tunnels (2 lanes wide one way) where some start at 800m in length up to 4.7klms long through mountains so high & coated fiercely with pine, cypress & cedar trees somehow growing vertical off the steep slopes. At times you can see a few areas where ‘tree avalanche’ damage has occurred, much like in New Zealand, Sth Island.
Again, lots of small villages located in isolated valleys where all available useable land is fully utilised. The road travels this time of the year (Nov, Autumn) is awesome of colour, ultra clear water & some dam water with glacial type colour bringing so much pleasure to one’s eyes. I would dread travelling here in winter with snow chains, etc on the terrain encountered today.
To get to Takayama we traversed about 30+ road tunnels & arrived at 11.40am where Trend took us down the normal ‘main street’ (I detest walking close by Trend’s Trip a Deal blue flag like the thousands of pampered tourists on bus tours, so I hang back whenever possible, same for my new friend Ed from Melbourne). You can see the flag waving in the rear of one of the photos. Trend showed us the narrow alley ‘streets’ of the Ebisutaigumi Preservation Area then we had our own free time wandering until 1.45pm through this ancient part of the township where we were advised the tourists outnumber the citizens here. Above two shops you can see two large saki balls suspended from the roof. The largest one confirms the oldest Saki brewery. The rickshaws were there for the obvious tourists and due to the crowding in the alleyways I could not help but wonder in amazement on how they avoided the people & still not allow a wheel to enter dangerously into the water gutters on each side of the alley.
Seeing a honey ice cream outlet next to the Saki brewery, I was easily conned to see what this delight would be like. I chose a Bee Pollen & Manuka Honey Ice Cream tub … & an absolute woo hoo!!!! Another bus traveller saw my delight & she was easily persuaded too. After nearing bus departure time I met some young workers at their new coffee nook store in the main street for a well-earned coffee .. they had limited English, but we ‘communicated’ well, and they waved to me a few times as I walked by. They were so friendly & respectful & I made sure I returned the same. Back on the bus, but again we are missing someone. Yes, it was DS. The bus parking was just a street away from our tour walk so how did he get lost? Well over 20mins had passed & then Trend received 2 phone calls. One from her Tokyo manager & the other one from the local police. DS had entered the police station he found where it rained into utter confusion. They looked at his passport, searched his backpack, for he was being erratic, etc which police would not appreciate. Typical DS.
In Japan, it must be life or death to involve the police & heavily ‘punished’ for the tour guide losing a passenger. DS was lost & he expected the police to simply drive him to the bus stop which they eventually did when the TAD manager confirmed who he was. Again, the matter became much worse when DS exiting the police car yelling to Trend “it’s her fault”! What a piece of work!!! The police then went further on Trend. When DS sat next to me, I gave it to him of his poor form. He said it to Trend as a joke & didn’t accept any fault or later even apologised. Other passengers agreed with me, but DS remained his usual self-serving self. Trend was very hurt but repeatedly stated she was happy DS was safe. Two years ago, one of her passengers died from a heart attack at Mt Fuji & it took her a long time before she continued as a guide.
Back on the bus for more dreaded DS hours & about another 30+ tunnels, with one being an amazing 11klms long we finally arrived at Shirakawa, near Gifu, another UNESCO site. After Trend’s bus intro we were allowed free walking of the site & if enough time to see the village from the observatory hill. The first task was to walk across the heavily constructed suspension bridge linking the only way to the historical site.
The first thing I noticed was the very thick rice stems thatched for the roof coverings of dwellings and secondly, the warning signs for snow falling from the roofs in Winter. Yikes!! After seeing the miniature water wheel still working, I visited the museum house of the original Wada family, who lived in the largest Gassho-Zukuri style house in Shirakawa-go. Paid my 400yen entry fee & mandatorily took off my shoes to wander through this very unusual house & see how it operated with a central internal hearth bowl kitchen & open floor immediately above for heating & drying of clothes & obviously sleeping warmth. The roof & walls are all tied with thick rope bonds & lined with small diameter bamboo reeds after scaling the incredibly steep timber stairs (limited floor wastage).
Top Left photo – Wada Family workers & storage building. Top right – Wada House (rear of photo) & worker’s building on right. Middle right – Centre kitchen stove & hearth. Bottom right – Various carry wreaths. Bottom Left – Top floor showing house roof & wall structure & floor.
Along the walls are carry wreathes to enable the wearer to carry heavier weights for long journeys and to take the stress off their backs. The main income for the Wada family back then was silkworms to make silk & surprisingly, gunpowder. Now that is a unique diversity of business.
Not sure of timing but headed for the steep walkway up to the observatory platform to look over the village. Other passengers coming down said I’ll be too late for the bus; well, I certainly proved them wrong much to their amazement & in beating some of the other passengers as well. Below right photo shows Wada House on the left foreground with the trees around it. The suspension bridge is out of view on far right background.
Back on the bus on time (go figure), we stopped after an hour to refuel the bus & then our guide, Trend confirmed our scheduled hotel couldn’t accommodate us tonight as we were running a little late and another bus tour was now arriving there. Within a very short while we were provided another hotel but not in Gifu as arranged. The hotel was another Hotel Route-Inn @ Nishihongodori & that again was superb.
Later, I checked with Trend & asked if she had sent her daily report to her manager where she confirmed she had already done so. After explaining to Trend how the bus passengers saw the DS/ Police incident I insisted she use my name as a reference & submit another report to her manager using my summary of words before her head hits the pillow. She finally promised she would & was so grateful, and she again confirmed that to me the next morning the manager received her 2nd report & was more relieved on the expected outcome. Trend was totally innocent of the DS/ Police debacle.
A very long day & walking 7.51klms & lucky (again, good management) we all bought some light food for dinner at the pit stop as restaurants were already closed in small villages. Brekky set for 6.30am & 8.30am bus departure.
Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos. I trust the stories and photos will get better.
BH Life Travels 