Sayonara 🥺

Wednesday 1st November

Well, this is it …. Our last day in this amazing country…… as always, I don’t want to leave, I never want to leave.

After much huffing and puffing last night, we managed to get everything in the suitcases…. Only just! Scott is amazed that there are still things left for me to buy in Japan…. He assumed I had bought everything last time we were here.  Ah dear - there is always something new to buy.

So here we are in the Kansai Airport Hotel finishing the blog with a heavy heart. I am feeling very blue…..

For our last day, we had a choice of going to Kyoto for the day or Osaka as both are on the route to the airport.  We decided to stop off in Osaka as most things to see in Kyoto are quite a distance for the station and we only really had a couple of hours to mooch. 

We’ve been to Osaka before (about 2012) and thought it was OK.  At the time, it wasn’t really our kind of place - it’s very much for the young party-goer… lots of bars and restaurants.  However now….. I hate to say this, but it is awful.  It completely crowded, like scary crowded, couldn’t move and it was dirty and not anywhere close to being like the Japan I love so much.

We wanted to try some food, but there was nowhere to sit and eat it…. Everyone is just sitting in the street or walking and eating …..

I did get a shot of the Glico man . . . 

….but it was hard to stop and take pictures of anything, so this was all I got.  We only managed a couple of hours here before we gave up and ran away.

Got the Hello Kitty Haruka train back to the airport and here we are.

Our flight is at 11 tomorrow and I am currently the saddest person in Japan.  It has been an amazing two weeks which has gone by soooooo quickly.  We’ve seen some new things and revisited some old places.  Kanazawa is still and always will be our favourite place…. Yes there are tourists and it’s a tourist area, but it’s not busy and still very relaxed.  I love it that we are in a place where we can take each day in its stride and not have to run around to see as many things as we can …. We’re too old for that now haha.  

So early night for us as we have to be up in the morning. Might get the last few minutes of my weird Japanese TV fix (I’m gonna miss that)…. And last chance to hit the duty free shop tomorrow - just don’t tell Scott 😂😂😂.

See you all soon xxx

Tea Ceremony (2nd time)

Tuesday 31st October

So - in August, when the Geisha evening dates were announced, I got all excited and book the night … which I did last week.  However, at the time, there were another two events showing for the other Geisha districts ….. last week I went to a tea ceremony in Nishi-Chaya… today, I’m going to one in Kazue-Chaya

Yes, I know it’s the same thing as last week, but I got over excited at the time and didn’t read them properly….. and just booked everything.  The scary part was, the young interpreter lady (Aya san) now recognises me and so does the tea master 😬. Well, there’s worse people to be remembered by ……

The tea ceremony as slightly different, though it was with the same master but the Geisha were different.  Each district has different Geisha, or Geiko as they are called in Kanazawa.

These two Geiko did two beautiful dances… I still can’t get over how graceful they move and how every move means something.  

After the dancing and singing, we could ask questions…. I had asked all my questions earlier, so I let everyone else have a go.

I’ve been to so many events, that Aya san has sent me an email asking me for feedback on all three events and what differences or improvements can be made.  Apparently, this is only the second year for the tea ceremonies, tho the Geisha evening with Lady Baba has been going for a while.

These three Geiko events have been the highlight of the holiday and I don’t regret going to all three …. If we were here in November, I would have booked for the Geiko Autumn dances ….. hmmm - I could stay a while longer!

On a sad note - this is our last full day in Kanazawa.  Tomorrow we have to leave this lovely house and make our way to the airport.  Our flight is not until Thursday morning, but we can’t get a train early enough to get us here in time, so we are staying in the airport hotel tomorrow night.

So back to the house to contemplate packing …. I swore I didn’t buy too much, but there appears to be an awful lot of ‘extra’ things to go in the suitcase.  I am not popular 😬.

We’ll get it all in …. Until tomorrow xx

Quiet Day for us ….

Sunday 30th October 

Hmm - well this was an odd and very quiet day. We’d been seeing signs all over the place this week for the Kanazawa Marathon …. And it was on today. If only we knew earlier, but the applications closed in April.  Damn … maybe next time.😂😂😂

However, this meant we were a little stuck for the best part of the day. All the major routes were closed and the station was heaving of strange people preparing for the run …. 

There were a lot of people all over with spectators as well.  I felt a bit sorry for the tourists who came to Kanazawa for the day only to find they were stuck and couldn’t really get anywhere …. Unless you walked through the crowds.

On the plus side  - it’s a very strict marathon.  All round the course, there are 7  heck points and if you don’t get to each checkpoint in time, you are asked to leave the marathon so it wasn’t going to drag on all day …. But it’s a bit harsh if you are dressed as Pikachu and only trained for three days 。😬

So we only really got out later in the afternoon for a walk to get some supplies and dodge the raindrops ….. although we didn’t do much, it wasn’t a problem as we needed a bit of a rest and some recovery time for the week.

Well done to everyone who ran the marathon …. 

Until tomorrow xxx

Yamanaka Onsen

Monday 30th October (Day 11)

Another day out and about.  We got up nice and early as we were going to spend the day in Yamanaka Onsen.

Yamanaka Onsen is a well known hot spring town nestled in the mountains in the city of Kaga.  The Daishoji River runs through it and it’s a very popular holiday spot for the Japanese to come and relieve their aches and pains in the hot springs.

To get there, it would take a walk to the station, a trip on the Thunderbird train (are you all humming the tune to the Thunderbirds now😂😂?) and a 30 minute trip on a local bus.

We eventually got there and it’s such a pretty place. Very oldly worldly and traditional.  Just the way we liked it.  It was also very quiet , the weather was perfect and we never saw another foreign tourist all day ….. perfect!

We walked through the town because what we really wanted to do was walk through the Gorge (we like a gorge). It was beautiful….. we were able to get right down by the river and walk along the path.

I was just starting to get a bit thirsty, when though the trees we saw some red umbrellas ….. it was only a little cafe…. Yippee…. I got an iced matcha with mochi sweets and Scott got a coffee.  We got two cups of green tea as well…. I had both of them. We had them while looking out at the river …. Pretty much a perfect day …..

Off we went again and the next stop was Basho’s but. Basho was a famous Haiku poet who spent much of his time sitting in his hut watching the river and thinking up his poems.  I could do that - except that time has moved on and now in front of his hut is a public toilet ….  Not quite the inspiration of old!!!

We walked for miles and miles …. Well about 2km…. We walked the white path.

By now it’s getting quite late and we’ve got a long way to get back to Kanazawa… so back on the bus and the Thunderbird…… ended up getting home quite late so it was a chill out and some food.

Until tomorrow xxx