Japanese Alps, sea and Tokyo madness!
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Nicole
25 Juni 2014 | Japan, Tokio
The last update seems ages ago, because there has been so much cool stuff that we did after leaving Matsumoto..
Our route from Matsumoto onwards passed through Kusatsu, around where supposedly there is a lot of outdoor things to do, but unfortunately it was pouring with rain all day and night so we didn't see a lot of that. Luckily Kusatsu is famous for its onsen, and we found a free one which was insanely hot but oh so good after a day of chilly and wet cycling. Our camping spot was relatively dry (yes, a playground with a covered sitting area) but even the following morning the rain hadn't stopped.
A bit reluctantly we eventually got on our bikes, but after two hours or so the rain finally ceased and later during the day we actually saw some sun! Our goal of the day was Minakami, so we cycled some superpretty little roads through awesome mountains. We had booked a rafting tour for the following morning, and upon arrival we went for a drink with the outdoor company's cafe. The rafting was a lot of fun and the sun was actually shining the whole morning! In the afternoon we decided to walk up to the local highest mountain (Tanigawa-dake, a dazzling 1977m high) and bivvy somewhere up there. Again there was a lot of rain so it took some time before we actually left. The walk was good fun and not so dangerous as claimed by some brochures ("To date, since its initial exploration and route-finding in the early 1930s, a total of 781 people have died on Tanigawa-dake. (Compare with the over 200 people who have died on Mt. Everest over a comparable period)." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tanigawa). Near the top there was an awesome little hut in which we were kindly invited to spend the night, which was great since we had forgotten/ignored that it's ALWAYS windy on ridges. Oh, and it was of course raining pretty heavily again.
The next morning we 'climbed' the actual summit and walked down, then cycled back to the village where we had delicious burgers - once again at the outdoor company cafe. We got on our bikes and cycled further than planned, to end up in Shibukawa.
After a good night's sleep, we climbed up to the Harakuna crater lake which was insanely touristy compared to other nice spots we had seen so far. The rain was now replaced by sweltering heat, but hey, at least it was now our own sweat that got us soaked. Also the next day, the roads were pretty but very hilly, so the cycling was slow and strenuous.
We made it to Kofu the 16th of June, where we spent a day of leisurely walking through the (relatively uninteresting town). Unfortunately Mt. Fuji was covered in clouds, so we did not get a very good view of the holy mountain. Instead, we found out how to get to the Kita-dake, because we figured it was fun to climb the - on pictures very photogenic and interesting-looking - second-highest mountain in Japan.
The next day, after a 9km-long super steep climb (with monkeys!) we found out that in Japan, apparently one is able to close complete sections of the country. The national park in which the Kita-dake lies (the Minami Alps) was still closed for about 2 more weeks and there was no way to get near the stupid mountain without walking for more than a day. Unfortunately, also the route we had planned - which looked really cool - was on some of the closed roads, so we had to turn around and skip the hiking plan. Slightly moody we turned around and cycled down (up: 2 hours, down: 20 minutes). Luckily even the big road was quite scenic, and after another tiring day of cycling we found a very small onsen in the house of local Oba- and Oji-chan.
The Fuji-river lead us to Fuji-city, and from there we hopped on to Izu peninsula. Cute little harbours and a lot of fishermen and a beautiful coastline, so awesome cycling! The sleeping spot we found near Heda ranks as one of the best we had, on a panoramic viewpoint with a beautiful sunset and stunning view. The only thing that was unfortunately still there was a thick cloud cover around Mt. Fuji, so no pretty seapock-in-the-sunset-pictures for us this time.
We crossed Izu the next day by climbing one of its higher passes (900+ meters, while we started from sea level), and ended up on its east coast in the lovely town of Ito. Swimming in the sea, eating delicious fish, drinking a beer on the riverside and eating well-deserved yummy ice creams filled our relaxing afternoon there. We stayed in a beautiful old ryokan, with both shared- and private onsen. Oh, and we ate more supergood fish - we were in a sea food famous seaside town, after all.
The 21st of June was our last day of cycling, which was hot and humid and mostly characterized by a lot of traffic and traffic lights. But, luckily the wind was strong and in a favourable direction, and there were no significant hills anymore, so we made it to Tokyo by 4PM. AWEsome!
We met Maisie, a friend I made in Kyoto at whose place we can stay while in Tokyo, which is amazing. We had a lovely dinner in the izakaya opposite her house and afterwards went out for drinks in Shibuya - welcome to Tokyo!
Insane infrastructure and a mind-blowing amount of people are the main features of Tokyo, but there is also a lot of interesting architecture. People are definitely more 'varied' in this metropole compared to the rest of Japan, and also culture-wise it is obvious that there are way more foreign influences here than at other places I've seen.
The time that's remaining until we fly back home will be spent shopping for souvenirs, eating more Japanese (and non-Japanese) food and - as a special 'highlight' - we'll go to Disney Sea tonight, together with Maisie.
Our route from Matsumoto onwards passed through Kusatsu, around where supposedly there is a lot of outdoor things to do, but unfortunately it was pouring with rain all day and night so we didn't see a lot of that. Luckily Kusatsu is famous for its onsen, and we found a free one which was insanely hot but oh so good after a day of chilly and wet cycling. Our camping spot was relatively dry (yes, a playground with a covered sitting area) but even the following morning the rain hadn't stopped.
A bit reluctantly we eventually got on our bikes, but after two hours or so the rain finally ceased and later during the day we actually saw some sun! Our goal of the day was Minakami, so we cycled some superpretty little roads through awesome mountains. We had booked a rafting tour for the following morning, and upon arrival we went for a drink with the outdoor company's cafe. The rafting was a lot of fun and the sun was actually shining the whole morning! In the afternoon we decided to walk up to the local highest mountain (Tanigawa-dake, a dazzling 1977m high) and bivvy somewhere up there. Again there was a lot of rain so it took some time before we actually left. The walk was good fun and not so dangerous as claimed by some brochures ("To date, since its initial exploration and route-finding in the early 1930s, a total of 781 people have died on Tanigawa-dake. (Compare with the over 200 people who have died on Mt. Everest over a comparable period)." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tanigawa). Near the top there was an awesome little hut in which we were kindly invited to spend the night, which was great since we had forgotten/ignored that it's ALWAYS windy on ridges. Oh, and it was of course raining pretty heavily again.
The next morning we 'climbed' the actual summit and walked down, then cycled back to the village where we had delicious burgers - once again at the outdoor company cafe. We got on our bikes and cycled further than planned, to end up in Shibukawa.
After a good night's sleep, we climbed up to the Harakuna crater lake which was insanely touristy compared to other nice spots we had seen so far. The rain was now replaced by sweltering heat, but hey, at least it was now our own sweat that got us soaked. Also the next day, the roads were pretty but very hilly, so the cycling was slow and strenuous.
We made it to Kofu the 16th of June, where we spent a day of leisurely walking through the (relatively uninteresting town). Unfortunately Mt. Fuji was covered in clouds, so we did not get a very good view of the holy mountain. Instead, we found out how to get to the Kita-dake, because we figured it was fun to climb the - on pictures very photogenic and interesting-looking - second-highest mountain in Japan.
The next day, after a 9km-long super steep climb (with monkeys!) we found out that in Japan, apparently one is able to close complete sections of the country. The national park in which the Kita-dake lies (the Minami Alps) was still closed for about 2 more weeks and there was no way to get near the stupid mountain without walking for more than a day. Unfortunately, also the route we had planned - which looked really cool - was on some of the closed roads, so we had to turn around and skip the hiking plan. Slightly moody we turned around and cycled down (up: 2 hours, down: 20 minutes). Luckily even the big road was quite scenic, and after another tiring day of cycling we found a very small onsen in the house of local Oba- and Oji-chan.
The Fuji-river lead us to Fuji-city, and from there we hopped on to Izu peninsula. Cute little harbours and a lot of fishermen and a beautiful coastline, so awesome cycling! The sleeping spot we found near Heda ranks as one of the best we had, on a panoramic viewpoint with a beautiful sunset and stunning view. The only thing that was unfortunately still there was a thick cloud cover around Mt. Fuji, so no pretty seapock-in-the-sunset-pictures for us this time.
We crossed Izu the next day by climbing one of its higher passes (900+ meters, while we started from sea level), and ended up on its east coast in the lovely town of Ito. Swimming in the sea, eating delicious fish, drinking a beer on the riverside and eating well-deserved yummy ice creams filled our relaxing afternoon there. We stayed in a beautiful old ryokan, with both shared- and private onsen. Oh, and we ate more supergood fish - we were in a sea food famous seaside town, after all.
The 21st of June was our last day of cycling, which was hot and humid and mostly characterized by a lot of traffic and traffic lights. But, luckily the wind was strong and in a favourable direction, and there were no significant hills anymore, so we made it to Tokyo by 4PM. AWEsome!
We met Maisie, a friend I made in Kyoto at whose place we can stay while in Tokyo, which is amazing. We had a lovely dinner in the izakaya opposite her house and afterwards went out for drinks in Shibuya - welcome to Tokyo!
Insane infrastructure and a mind-blowing amount of people are the main features of Tokyo, but there is also a lot of interesting architecture. People are definitely more 'varied' in this metropole compared to the rest of Japan, and also culture-wise it is obvious that there are way more foreign influences here than at other places I've seen.
The time that's remaining until we fly back home will be spent shopping for souvenirs, eating more Japanese (and non-Japanese) food and - as a special 'highlight' - we'll go to Disney Sea tonight, together with Maisie.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
