Day 8 Kyoto

We took the Thunderbird from Kanazawa station to Kyoto in the morning. Skimming past the shores of Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, the morning sun in my eyes, the lake was an endless stretch of silver water rimmed by hills and small towns. As we pulled into Kyoto station, a sense of familiarity and excitement set in as we recognised landmarks.

From Kyoto station it was a 10-minute walk to K's House Kyoto. I wanted to experience different types of accomodation on this trip and K's House provided the hostel experience. The building (painted in yellow) and its extension, was modern and clean. Our room was an 8-bedded dorm. Because of the size of our group, we paid to have the whole dorm to ourselves. Toilets and bathrooms are communal and just next door.

We dropped the bags off at the hostel's luggage room and zoomed out for sight-seeing. In autumn night falls early at 5pm and we didn't want to miss any daylight sightseeing hours, especially since it already took us the better part of the morning just to get to Kyoto from Kanazawa.

It was a short 150m walk down Shichijo-dori and across the Kamo-gawa to take the bus to our first stop - Kiyomizudera. I had bought the 2-day city bus and subway pass (which I felt was a bit pricey at 2000yen per adult) and so armed with a bus map, we took the public bus. As usual, the bus was packed with people! My bus experience in Kyoto has never been good and this was no exception.

This picture shows the kids at the Kamo gawa. In the background, you can see a short white buidling, that's the entrance to the Keihan Shichijo station. The Kamo-gawa was wide but not deep and in places near the banks, I think you could even wade in and play in the summer. But for now, no, not in this cold!

It was not far to Higashiyama from the hostel, barely 4 or 5 stops but the traffic was bad and the bus was crowded so it took a while. We'd been to Kiyomizudera (or, Clear Water Temple) before but wanted to go again because the last time we went, it was drizzly and getting dark and we totally missed the Jishu Jinja, the small shrine for love and marriage. We also missed the Tainai Meguri the last time.

To get to Kiyomizudera, you have to climb a steepish hill, flanked with shops. Its really commercialised and touristy and every other shop either sells souvenirs or pricey drinks/snacks. I have to give Trin credit for walking like the rest of us, for most of the way. Its not easy going uphill and being smooshed on all sides by the thick crowd.

Made it! At the entrance to Kiyomizudera at last!

Just before you enter the temple proper, on the left side of the grounds, there is a small building. This has the usual store that sells the omamori, the charms etc. You can also try your luck at the omikuji (fortune slips) here. But far more interesting and less noticed by the hordes of visitors to the temple, is the Tainai Meguri. This is probably one of the strangest places to visit but pretty fun for everyone!

The Tainai Meguri is said to be the womb of Daizuigu Bosatsu. The last time we went, we completely missed this despite also doing the omikuji routine at the same place! But this time, having read the Lonely Planet about the Tainai and given that there were now temple workers who explained what it was all about, it was easy to find. You pay 100yen, take off your shoes and descend down into a dark cave where you follow a beaded wooden handrail which leads in a loopy fashion to a huge stone. The English translation from the Kiyomizudera website says something like: "Return to the womb of great merciful mother. When you find a light in the dark you will realize you are newborn again. There is a Sanskrit character that symbolized Daizuigu Bosatsu on the stone. Turn the stone and make a wish."

Not much different from our experience in Zenkoji, but this one less atmospheric because it was more crowded and it was not entirely pitch dark - which KH was fervently grateful for. At the point where the big stone was, there was a shaft of light. We all stood around the stone and turned it, making our (rather noisy!) wishes! The kids enjoyed it tremendously though and thought it was a great deal of fun!

Fresh from our 'rebirth' , the kids pestered to do the omikuji. It was simple - shake the box, a numbered stick will fall out, present to the lady behind the counter with 100yen and she will issue you with the fortune slip. The kids all took turns to do this. I was the go-to girl for interpreting the fortune slips. Let me say that I can't read Japanese so the best I can do is tell you whether the fortune is good or bad, but forget about translating the details!
Here's Gillian and Owain getting the omikuji. Owain is so independent that he did it all by himself - shaking the box, getting the money and the stick to the lady. I think other kids, even other adults, might be a bit intimidated about doing this without knowing a scrap of Japanese but Owain just went right ahead while the rest of us were busy looking at each other's fortune slips.

As usual, most of us had good or exceptionally good fortune while KH and Gillian once again, drew slips which were not so good. To discard the bad fortune, all you had to do was tie them to the racks conveniently provided.

Kiyomizudera was super crowded. On hindsight, I realised that we must have ended up in Kyoto over a long weekend again. It was a marvel how the wooden platforms, so iconic of Kiyomizudera, did not collapse under the weight of the massive crowd, especially since they must be several hundreds of years old!

Yep, it's a steep drop and a lo-ong way down. Trin looks rather precariously perched there doesn't she? Centuries ago, it was said that whoever jumps from this point and lives will get his wish come true. Well, sure! If you can jump from here and still live, heck, life - even a shitty one - will start to look real good to you! Luckily some common sense prevailed and no one does it any more!

And finally, here we are at the Jishu jinja shrine. Its a quaint place atop a small hill. The shrine is dedicated to love and marriage. So the charms sold here are mostly those dedicated to success in love, although the usual ones for examinations, good luck, health, wealth, longevity, traffic safety etc are still there.

The interesting bit about this place is the pair of 'love stones'. These are two small boulders set about 18m apart. It is said that if you close your eyes, and call or think about, the name of your loved one, and can walk from one stone to the next succesfully - without assistance, you will find success in love. If you can't, well, time to get a new partner.

Because KH, Gillian and Caitlin had rushed off to the toilet with Trin who badly needed to pee, only the boys and I went to the Jishu shrine. The two of them had a lot of fun up there. Both attempted to close their eyes and walk (without cheating!) from one stone to the other.

Did they make it from one stone to the other while closing their eyes? Not by a mile! Despite bumping into amused passers-by, the boys failed in their mission. Owain, our would-be Romeo, was chagrined to miss and kept insisting he wanted to try again until he got it!
Owain and his effort for 'love'!

Isaac and I also tried this interesting activity where you literally 'dissolve' your troubles away. You simply write down all your woes, your troubles and problems on a piece of paper and then dissolve it in a bucket of water from the shrine.

Does it work? Well, I wrote about my impending move down to another office and how I disliked the tight space and lack of privacy. Today, I was told I'd have to move in two days!! So you tell me...

Such a lovely day eh? Skies were blue and trees ablaze. I soaked in this scene for all of 10 minutes before my phone rang and an irate KH demanded that we come out to the main entrance again. He and the girls had difficulty in finding the restroom for Trin who was frantic to pee. They ended up in a desperate rush right out of the temple grounds (quite some distance away) and even then, not making it in time. Trin ended up peeing her pants.

By the time I got there, Trin was sitting primly on the stone step, looking solemn. The daddy was fuming mad and the two girls tried to fill in the blanks. So with this scenario, the rest of Kiyomizudera was shot. We never made it back in and down to the little grotto to 'take the waters' for longevity, health and wisdom. So our second visit to Kiyomizudera also ended abruptly like this.

It all went downhill from here. Literally.

We battled the crowds downhill, looking for the turn-off to Ninnenzaka and Sannenzaka (two of Kyoto's most picturesque streets, with restored wooden houses, cobblestoned streets). Chalk it down to physical discomfort (who would like to walk in pee-soaked pants right?), fatigue and no nap-time. A fatal combination for Trin who spotted an ice-cream stand and when denied it, screamed blue murder. She wailed and screamed in the crowd so piercingly that we had disapproving looks shot at us. On top of that, we had to carefully negotiate the steep stone steps downwards, all the time being pushed and pulled by the crowd.

Kyoto's prettiest streets? I never saw 'em. I was too busy smouldering, angry, embarrassed and grimly carrying a banshee howling right in my ears. Nothing would appease her. We offered to get her an ice-cream down the street as we walked - no go. She wanted THAT ice-cream and THAT only. KH had to backtrack up the hill, leaving us at the foot of the steps, Trin still screaming away, to get the monster her ice-cream. Once the cone was in her hand - instant peace. Honestly, I could have strangled her and I am not joking. This was a constant recurring scene throughout Japan. All the other kids wanted to kill her at some point or other. We were busy fantasising about the many different ways we could do this. It kept us sane.

By the time of this meltdown in the streets of Kyoto, the other kids had grown immune to this. Previously, they would all look at her aghast and horrified at the screaming. Some would be trying to comfort her or distract her or scold her. But this time, the other kids just rolled their eyes and played among themselves. It was no longer a biggie to them.

Look at that face. You'd never know it, looking at her, but the amount of noise that can come out of that cute little face can rival a jet. Under that perky exterior, lurks the tantrum monster.

Travelling is hard on everyone but especially for someone so young who needs some form of daily routine to feel stable and when you travel, this is near impossible since there are schedules to be kept to, places to go, trains and buses to catch etc. So while I am really furious over her tantrums, there is a part of me that can understand why she acts up. Still, that does not prevent the rest of us from getting upset with her. We all feel angry and resentful because we're kept hostage to her moods. This trip, we gave in a lot to her because we just needed to have the quiet back and to move on with the itinerary. But that also added to our resentment because she kept getting her way. Thankfully now that we're home, she has fewer outbursts (which proves my point about travel stress on young children) and even when she does, its easier to manage without the constant giving in. We've learned to evade, ignore, distract - tools we learned the hard way in Japan. So this trip has been a real learning journey for all of us, in more ways than one.

So tantrum over, emotionally exhausted (me - not her. Tantrums really do take a lot out of everyone, me in particular and I always need time to wind down from the tension), we sat for a whole and then moved on, heading towards Yasaka jinja. We paused along the way to admire the sunset from the hillock housing Kodaiji and for the kids to run their hands round the sutras rings for luck and for me to get a lovely piece of calligraphy from the temple. But with admission charges of 800yen per adult, ominous dark skies, light drizzle and Trin's stinky wet pants, we decided against exploring the temple further. Pity because Kodaiji has one of Kyoto's loveliest gardens and its autumn foliage was near its peak.

We moved on to Yasaka jinja. It's a bustling place even though the grounds seem huge. I got my calligraphy done again and we had some takoyaki - whereupon Cait choked on a piece of octopus and threw up. Sigh, the drama that accompanies me when I travel with kids!

The best part of Yasaka jinja was not so much the shrine itself - although when it was all lit up at dusk, it was truly beautiful - but the food! This guy (below) was selling some of the best steak I'd ever had - on a stick! We were actually about to leave Yasaka when the smell caught and held us back - grilled beef! He was doing a very brisk trade with a sizeable queue. Thick slabs of tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef, marinaded in red wine. My gosh, it was sheer heaven! I have never had such tender soft flavourful beef - even good steak houses here do not offer beef this good.

Everyone clamoured for more and KH had to queue up several times before we were all contented. And even then, we had to stop because it was quite pricey for a street snack at 400yen a stick. The taste of the beef, hot steam rising from the stick, amid the cold air and the colour of the shrine - these stay in my memory today.



We wandered from Yasaka through the crowded streets of Gion, down Pontocho. We saw geishas hurrying off to their appointments. One gave me a quiet smile as she disappeared down a dimly lit alley dotted with lanterns. It seemed almost surreal that amid the crowds and the chatter, these enigmatic women dressed in brocaded finery appear and then just as quickly, fade away.

Bread from a bakery, kyoto sushi rolls in a window, we stopped to look and to taste before we decided the day had gone as long as it had for us and it was time to head back. Plus Trin was still in stinky pants!

Dinner was McDonalds across the Keihan Shichijo station and then it was back to the hostel. The children were surprised that they had to make their own beds! Isaac said he was not surprised, but the look on his face belied that. Hah, have to say that KH made most of the beds including mine - it was army training - he made beds with sheets so taut coins could bounce off!

So there were eight bunks in the room and each of us had our own. The shower was clean and the water was hot, the pressure was good. The washing machine and dryer worked great so we did a laundry load. KH explored the place while I stayed in to plan the next day's sightseeing. The lounge was full of other fellow travellers, many with laptops, or using the hostel computers. It seemed like a jolly place.

I met a nice American lady in her 60s who had travelled to Singapore before and we spent some time chatting in front of the shower room. She had spent two to three days here and was full of praise for the country's "cleanliness" and "efficiency". But other than that encounter, I was not very sociable - wrong type of person to stay in a hostel like K's.

Day 7 Kanazawa

Bright and early we left the hotel for Kanazawa's, or indeed one of Japan's, star sights - Kenrokoen. This large sprawling garden is one of Japan's top 3 gardens. This early in the morning, Kenrokoen was free of crowds. The morning light also made photography a delight.



From the hotel, we took the Kanazawa Loop Bus. We'd bought the full-day pass (500yen per adult, half price for kids) which entitled us to hop on and off the Loop Bus as well as any other city bus. The Loop Bus is a quaint, gaily painted mini bus that takes visitors round to 19 attractions around Kanazawa, beginning and ending at the Kanazawa station. This early in the morning though, the Loop Bus hadn't even begun running yet, so we took a city bus, packed with locals and school-children beginning their day.


Just outside Kenrokoen, a voice coming over loud-hailers split the early morning calm. Elections! I don't know what office they are running for, perhaps a city council seat or municipal seat, but it was interesting to see this. Obviously we don't get much of this where I come from given all the walkovers by the PAP!

Trin had also gotten into an early morning tantrum so we left her at the bus-stop with KH to deal with her while the others and I walked ahead to get the tickets to the park. Between her ear-splitting screams of rage and the loud-hailers across the street, I think it was probably a tie.

Up the hill, we detoured to the bridge and plaza leading to Kanazawa castle's entrance. The weather was lovely with deep blue skies. The reds of Owain's and Gillian's jackets glowed in that kind of light. Here you can see the castle walls in the background. Unlike most castles, this was not built upwards but spread out in a low-rise configuration. We didn't go in because we were eager to visit Kenrokoen across the road.





To pacify a still-raging Trin, I let her touch the mossy ground and explained a bit about the moss and why it grew so abundantly here. Then we had some 'breakfast' at a teahouse near the entrance. They only had dango, balls of rice flour in various flavours, some with red bean fillings. Hot green tea was complimentary. Still, the kids liked the dango and it was gone in no time!


Our aim was to find the famous two-legged lantern in the garden's lake. The scene of the Kotoji-toro can be found on many a promo brochure on Kanazawa and Japan. We thought we'd have to walk a long way, but barely 30m from the tea house, there it was. One foot in the lake and the other perched on land, a reddening maple fanning out its branches above it.


To be honest, after all the hype, I was a bit disappointed to see it. I don't know what I was expecting, but the scene is not one of showy beauty but a restful one. As we stood around, taking pictures, it grew on me and I think it is a quietly beautiful scene, one that invites contemplation amidst all the admiration.

Isn't it pretty? I really like the colours, although I think the maples were not 100% at peak red yet. But there's just something about the mossy greens, the texture of stone and the red of the maples, the water and the sky that comes together so nicely. Below is another picture of that scene.

A nice Japanese gentleman offered to take a picture of us as a family on the stone bridge in front of the kotoji-toro. I don't know if he was a professional guide, but quite coincidentally, the group he was with had some Singaporeans there. They had gone to Nagoya for a conference and detoured to Kanazawa for a flying visit before leaving.

I don't know about you but whenever I meet Singaporeans while I'm overseas, I get a nice thrill of pleasure. It's so nice to hear a familiar accent and meet someone from the same tiny dot that I hail from. How small is the world anyway right? But back home, catch me in a traffic jam, a crowded MRT train, or any incident that brings out the usual 'lovable' Singaporean traits and I'd be scoffing and rolling my eyes away at my fellow Singaporeans. Love-hate relationship. That, or I am just borderline pyschotic.

We chatted with the Singaporeans briefly before going our separate ways. We saw another emblematic scene of Kanazawa - the Karasaki pines with their familiar umbrellas of rope to break the heavy snowfall and prevent damage to the centuries-old pines.

We saw workmen putting up the ropes over a cherry tree which had lost most of its leaves. We wondered why until we read the sign. The trees were a rare species of cherry which produces 300 petals per flower when in bloom in spring. Must be a lovely sight to behold!






Adjacent to the park is the entrance to a simple-looking two storey wooden villa built by the daimyo for his mother. Seisonkaku Villa was a retirement home for the daimyo's mother when she returned from Edo. Typical of Japanese design, it had wrap-around verandas which opened out pretty garden scenes. The admission fee was pricey at 700yen per adult but we went in anyway.



Seisonkaku was undergoing some restoration work but the lovely gardens could still be seen. Mossy ground, pines, a small stream, blushing maples, stone urns. Its so carefully put together but so pretty. As with major tourist attractions, Seisonkaku had stamps as well, so I gleefully stamped my little notebook!

Down the road from Kenrokoen is the very unusual and interesting 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. Its a circular building set amid grassy lawns. Here, you see the children sitting around - family meeting. There were other outdoor art installations scattered on the grounds. The kids had a lot of fun scampering on those. While Kenrokoen was a stately and beautiful park to stroll in, it was also nice for the kids to be able to run around freely and release some energy in the large lawns around the museum.


Inside the museum, it was equally interesting. Pity we didn't have much time to really linger and browse the exhibits. The kids got to 'drive' these interesting and colourful vehicles for a while at least. These 'vehicles' are actually art pieces by an Italian artist.




Caitlin was fascinated with the design of the sinks and so was I. It had two nozzles for soap and water and on the other side, a slot for hot air so it works as a hand-dryer as well. Minimises drip issues on the toilet floor.



Earth calling Mars?


Next stop was not Mars but Myoryuji, also known as Ninjadera, or the Ninja Temple.


Built on the south bank of the Asano river, in the Teramachi district which is full of temples, Myoryuji looks deceptively like any other temple there, a simple wooden building with small grounds. But go within and you'll discover that this temple is not like the others.


First a bit of background. Kanazawa was built in such a way that it is ringed by temples. The Teramachi district is just one of the outlying areas of Kanazawa that has several temples. In the past, while the daimyo or lord, could not build forts to protect his turf (it was deemed as aggressive and ambitious behavior that the shogun would not condone), the daimyo of Kanazawa decided to build a ring of temples instead. While these are really legit places of worship, they were also places where he could leave some soldiers or men, who could sound early warnings if the city was about to be invaded and pose the first line of defence.


However, Myoryuji is unique. It was constructed to defend and so within the innocuous wooden walls, is a warren of traps, cunning hidey-holes, hidden staircases, secret rooms and even a tunnel which was rumoured to go all the way to Kanazawa castle across the river. While no ninjas trained here, the place is called ninjadera because of the maze of tricks that were part of its construction. Incidentally though, the temple was never used in defence or in battle at all. The Maeda clan, who ruled Kanazawa for centuries, played a far shrewder game of political alliances and they were so good at it, the clan and the city was highly prosperous for many centuries, staying well within the shogun's favour.




It was quite a hike from the Loop Bus stop across the river to Myoryuji. Children below the age of 6 were not allowed to join the tour. Admission and tour cost about 800yen per adult. The tour is entirely in Japanese but we were given an excellent English language translation in a file, complete with numbered sights and photographs. Isaac, Cait and I went first while the rest went for lunch. I was fascinated with the place and I think the kids were too.


How the Japanese maximise space and utilise it is a real art. You see it in their homes today (tiny and compact but they manage). And apparently not a recent architectural skill either if you go by how Myoryuji was designed. It looks like a two-storey building from the outside. But inside, there are actually six levels! There's even a small windowless room for seppuku (suicide by ritual disembowellment) whose door once closed cannot be opened from the inside. Gruesome but the kids' eyes lit up!

The rest of the day was spent with a ramen lunch, visit to the Nagamachi district where old samurai houses still stand, the Oyama shrine where the first lord of the Maeda clan is enshrined and ending off with seafood shopping at Omicho market and then gorging ourselves silly on sushi and sashimi - to the point of gagging!



The old Nagamachi district is the former samurai quarter. The little lanes and the ochre walls surrounding the compounds still stand. We didn't really visit any house but stepped into one of the gardens for a look.

From there it was a short walk to the commercial Korinbo district and the Oyama shrine. Went the wrong way and ended up going in from the back entrance. But it was a good thing for it led us to the small wooded area and garden which had the look of being once cultivated but now forgotten and left uncared for, thus growing a bit wild. The kids loved the pond, the wooden plank bridges, the stepping stones. While horsing around, despite repeated warnings not to, the inevitable happened and Owain's jacket fell into the pond. KH was fuming mad.

Its been a long day but we still had one more stop - dinner! We took the Loop Bus down to Omicho market where the kids eyes goggled at the massive crabs and salivated over the juicy cuts of salmon and maguro and roe. We ended up buying and buying. And as if it were not enough, we returned to the supermarket at the train station and bought some more! I must have been mad. Or greedy. Likely both!

We ate our haul around the small table as we did the night before. I was hauling out tray after tray and it still seemed never-ending. Got to a point when even Gillian gave up on the minced negi-toro and I found myself, for the first time in my life, pushing myself to finish sushi. It was just too much. But gosh, it was dang good and if I ever had to die of a sushi overdose, this would have been a good time.

Party over, we cleared up and KH did the laundry, dropping Owain's jacket in the wash. Excellent washer and dryer. Everything worked well. Long day and we were really exhausted but it would be past midnight when I finally dropped into my comfy bed. Next: Kyoto!

Day 6 Shibu Onsen & Kanazawa

Manhole drain cover in Shibu Onsen. Cute huh?

It was very early morning when we woke up. I spent 20min luxuriating in the lovely outdoor bath before heading out to explore the neighbourhood and collect the 9 stamps of each bathhouse. Maybe because I had an empty stomach, or because of my high blood pressure but the 20min in the bath left me feeling slightly light-headed.

KH and the kids came with me. Isaac stayed in the room to enjoy his time in the bath alone.

In the early morning, Shibu Onsen was still very quiet. It was so cold we could see our breath misting the air when we spoke. Steam from the hot waters running from the pipes outside the bathhouses rose into the streets. We only saw shopkeepers opening up their shops for the day, school children going to school and the occasional tourist who took pictures of us in our yukatas and getas! Perhaps they thought we were really Japanese?

We walked around the narrow streets to visit the 9 bathhouses. Or at least, I did. The children retreated to the warmth of the ryokan after visiting the second bathhouse! It was just too cold!

We ventured in to see what a bathhousewas like. They all looked similar and after opening the first few bathhouses to have a look, we did not open the rest. To be honest, it looked a bit grotty and I would not want to take a bath in there. With Kokuya having 6 or more baths for its guests, you'd already have to stay submerged pretty much the whole day to experience all of them.



The big wooden plaque is attached to the key to the bathhouse. Guests of the ryokans use the bathhouse for free but have to bring the big key along. Had a lot of fun walking to each bath house to collect the different stamps.

Around the neighbourhood in the early morning, a fresh produce grocer. The hills surrounding the town were flecked with a light dusting of snow.

Almost next to Kokuya is the main bath with a temple just above it. The temple also has a hot spring footbath which anyone can use, free of charge. I can't read Japanese but would presume some of the kanji (chinese characters) have similar meaning. So I have to stress that I am GUESSING here. The tiny temple apparently, is the place to pray for good loving relationships for husband and wife. This stone carving, calcified by the minerals from the hot spring water trickling down on it for years, is of a man and his wife. Both KH and I touched the water trickling down and said a silent wish that we would be thus blessed as well.

Just outside the ryokan, hot spring water runs over a basket of eggs. These are known as onsen tamago and they are lovely half-boiled egges thanks to the heat of the water. Just drop 50yen into the box if you want one. The money goes towards community-building needs in Shibu Onsen. We were served onsen tamago as part of breakfast.

By the time we returned, we were famished. Cold really does something to the appetite. Breakfast is held in the same big dining hall. Everything was already nicely laid out by the time we came in. We had (from left clockwise): simmered tofu in vegetable broth, boiled salmon, salad, seaweed, onsen tamago served with a light soya broth, simmered veg, pickles and rice. After breakfast, in the midst of packing, the kids and KH found time to have one last soak in their tubs. KH and Owain are seen here soaking in the outdoor bath in my room, Sakura. The outdoor area shown here is part of the veranda in Ayame, the children's room. You can see the corner of the wooden tub. The kids liked hanging out here, some in the tub, some playing Monopoly Deal!




All too soon, it was time to go. When we went down to the lobby, our shoes were neatly arranged all ready for us.

The hotel arranged transport for us to Yudanaka station and everything was timed just right so that we did not have to wait long. It was just enough time to get to the station, buy our tickets and get on board.

This was a place we wish we could have stayed longer. Maybe two nghts in the area might have done it more justice. Seemed like a pity that we could not explore the area more, maybe gone up into the hills or into Shiga Kogen or even explored the temple at the top of the hill. What a memorable experience this has been!

The hostess, the staff at the ryokan all exemplified the excellent, quiet, understated service that Japan is renowned for. There was nothing sloppy in the service at all. For a day and a night, we were pampered and lived like royalty. This has been a great first ryokan experience. I just wonder if we would be so spoiled by this that nothing else might come close.

Here's a last look at the pastoral scenes around Yudanaka:

Back into the real world we hurtled on the Dentetsu train. We were headed for Nagano once again. We had some time to kill before catching our next train so we stocked up with drinks and food. We're beginning to get the hang of combini shopping. Owain has even learned how to scope out the stores for different types of soft candy and the mentaiko-onigiri gang has learned how to differentiate among the different onigiri packaging for the right mentaiko filling. We enjoy experimenting with different sort of drinks (different teas!) from the combini. On this trip, I bought a pretty-looking bottle of earl grey flavoured tea, but in general, the kids have settled on Ice Lemon Tea as their favourite - its the only tea with sugar or any flavouring in it! So if anyone asks if we did any shopping in Japan, I'd say yes - at the combinis in stations across Japan!

There was a McDonalds at the station and that, as far as Trin was concerned, is pretty much her staple diet for the trip. So we bought some nuggets and fries for the fussy one. While waiting, I noticed that McDonalds had these nifty little carrels for road warriors and their laptops. It was free wifi so all you had to do was plug your laptop to a LAN cable to the point provided and you could surf, perched on a tall stool and slurping your McFlurry. Power points were also provided for AC cables. The carrel was designed in such a way that there was even a small step where you can leave your bag or rest your legs. Now why can't McDonalds Singapore implement something like this? I like noticing little design details like this but KH thinks I am silly to take pictures of stuff like this.

Today was a day of travelling, just getting from point A to point B. We were headed for Kanazawa on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The train journey from Nagano entailed a change of train at Naoetsu but apart from that, it was a straight train journey which passed pretty valleys as the track hugged hillsides of cedar, past farms, small villages, distant mountain ranges and snow as the following pictures will show!

Our train with the wide windows for a panoramic view.

The first half of the train journey to Naoetsu was lovely. It was sunny and the skies were blue. Because it was a local train, it was not very crowded and we had pretty much almost the whole compartment to ourselves. The kids, Trinity especially, did not demand for much attention so I even had the luxury to jot a few notes into my journal, look at the passing scenery, snap a few shots.

The pretty scenery lasted until we reached Naoetsu. From Naoetsu to Kanazawa, the train hugged the coast at times but often veered inland and the scenery was one of industry, grey towns, rice fields, some unfinished construction, glimpses of gun-metal grey sea and the feel was generally gloomy. The rainy dark grey skies contributed to this and followed us all the way to Kanazawa.

We arrived at Kanazawa after dark. It was wet, rainy and very cold. Luckily, our hotel is just across the road from the station. I knew that it would have been aggravating to arrive late after a full day's travel and still have to take a bus, find our way around etc in the dark, so I deliberately chose a place which was very near the station and also near the bus-stop for the Loop Bus which would take us around the key sights of Kanazawa.

The Dormy Inn Kanazawa is a new hotel, just across from the station. It is classified as a business hotel but unlike most business hotels, the rooms are spacious. The generosity of space is a rarity in Japanese business hotels which are usually so small they only have room for a bed and barely anything else! In Dormy Inn, the rooms were very generously-sized.

We took two rooms - each had twin beds and a tatami mat seating area which allowed for two futons. Each room had a small entry-way or foyer with a sliding door before accessing the tatami-mat seating area. The hotel prided itself on being ecologically sound, so lights can be controlled by motion sensors, air fresheners use negative ions, soap and shampoo are biodegradable green-friendly.

On the right, Trin is watching sumo on the flat-screen TV in the room. This is the tatami mat area. The beds are in the foreground (see left picture).

In the interest of space-saving functionality, the fridge, sink, kettle etc are placed in a nook just at the entrance. The shower and toilet is behind the door on the left. Love Japanese showers - piping hot, solid good spray and hand-held shower heads which are useful for bathing small children. Rain showers and all may sound lovely and relaxing but parents of young children on holiday will know how important it is to have hand-held shower heads!

And while I am on the subject of toilets - I will say here that I have grown to be very fond of heated toilet seats. And the Japanese, bless them, have toilet seats that are heated so warm that I would sit on them even if I didn't have to go. This is not a luxury but a necessity when you live in a cold country like Japan. It is no fun making a midnight run to the loo and facing icy cold toilet seats. So those oh-so-warm toilet seats in Japan, they warm not just my bum but the very cockles of my heart!

I loved the fluffy duvets, the free internet connection in the room (LAN cable provided), the laundry room - very effective dryer! Some hotels, like the Chisun Hotel in Hiroshima, had lemons for dryers - more on that later, but the Dormy Inn dryer - fantastic. I believe either the washing machine or the dryer was free so it was not expensive to do laundry there. The Dormy Inn also had rooftop public baths for both men and women, but we did not use these. As with any business hotel (in fact, all hotels and ryokans in Japan except for hostels), they offered the full range of toiletries, down to slippers and night clothes! Even the kids had PJs. KH loved their lilac and grey PJs so much he swiped them.

We ended the night with a sushi feast in our room, bought from the supermarket in the JR station annex. Past 8.30pm and everything was at least 30 to 50% marked down! I asked for the maguro and salmon fish slabs to be sliced and for 100yen, they would slice, sit the fish nicely on ribbons of daikon, adorn it with a perilla leaf and flower, add shoyu and wasabi on the side. The chef took such great care you'd think he was creating art instead of a cheap sashimi platter that costs only 400yen! Well worth it. We bought an assortment of sushi, sashimi, ikura (salmon roe), negi toro (finely minced tuna belly with spring onions) and others. What a great feast we had that night, chopsticks reaching for fresh yummy fish over the small round table!

I looked out over the Kanazawa skyline and lightning flashed in the distance. Rain spattered against the window but inside, we were safe, warm, dry and full. My children were chattering away watching Japanese cartoons, Japanese dramas and Japanese game shows, comfortable in that element. TV was TV - never mind the language. So far they look like they have been enjoying the trip. I guess if I were to be honest, it does not matter to them - if its Thursday its Kanazawa (or Kyoto) - they lose track of time and place but they have each other and KH and I and I suppose, that's what matters to them, even if they don't know it.