- Another travel day, but a day in two parts (more than most).
- Breakfast at the hotel – a western-style breakfast was on offer, and was a pretty good one, too!
- Went out with MBW for a morning photo walk around Nagoya. Between last night after dinner and this morning’s walk, we’ll have to come back to Nagoya on a future trip to spend some more time, it seems a good size, very walkable, lots to see and do. Back on the list 👍
- Afterwards, back to the hotel, check out, collect bags and head to the station. Next stop – Naraijuku, on the historic nakasendo postal trail.
- More ekiben – it’s been a staple of this week, and the variety on offer is fantastic.
- Changed trains at Matsumoto Station, then arrived in Naraijuku a short time before the sun was due to set.
- Getting off the train, the path to the hotel was a paved road covered in ice, which meant we didn’t want to wheel our suitcases to get them covered in gunk. Luckily, not a super long walk (although I did get the wrong door and walked into someone’s yoga class – everyone was just confused).
- Checked in (the front entrance was under construction, which contributed to making it harder to find. The owner was a nice older gentleman who seemed very happy to have us staying there, which was nice.
- Dropping bags, I grabbed cameras and raced out to try to do what I could with the quickly failing light. Naraijuku is one of the more picturesque places I’ve ever seen and it was a joy to shoot. When I walked out of the hotel, I almost ran straight into a group of photographers with a local guide. I contemplated just following them around at a safe distance, but that seemed unethical without paying for the tour! So deliberately struck out in the other direction to make it clear I wasn’t freeloading.
- Found a little dirt walkway up behind the town, headed up there to get some panoramic shots over the town. Quickly realised the icy footing and carrying camera gear in the fading light was a bad idea, as if I slipped and broke an ankle, it would be a bad time for the rest of our adventure. Very carefully slid back down the walkway to safety.
- Had dinner at the hotel, where we learned there were three western couples staying there, a couple of ladies from (I think) Scotland and another pair of ladies from back home in Oz.
- Dinner was many courses of homecooked food – very tasty and enjoyable!
- The owner of the hotel gave me a hint as he was cleaning away dinner – their local bridge was going to be lit up tonight and was worth seeing. Camera in hand, ventured out into the dark and snow with some directions memorised on how to get there. Found it, and…. it was a wooden bridge with some floodlights to make it crossable in the dark. It was also closed for safety due to the ice. Had a moment of “is this all this is?” but on reflection, it did look pretty cool, it was the coolest light show in this tiny town, and the owner did put himself out there by sharing a recommendation for a stranger, so I just shot it and enjoyed the experience. I think the photos turned out ok, too!
- Went up to bed – room was simple and had a kerosene heater for warmth.
- Was woken up sometime during the night by MBW when the heater started making weird noises – checked it out for a while, couldn’t figure it out, fell back asleep and slept soundly through the night.
