I had just gotten back from Hong Kong on Friday afternoon into Boulder City, did some chores, repacked the suitcase and flew to San Francisco with Pam to catch the 11 a.m. flight to Nagoya, Japan.
We got to Nagoya about a half-hour ahead of schedule, took the train to Nagoya city to catch train to Nagano, where the winter olympics were held a number of years ago. Nagano is in the Japan Alps, and is qute beautiful. We got some money out of the atm at the 7-11 next to the train station, walked over to the Nagano Dentetsu Line for the train to Suzuka. I speak conversational Japanese but am illiterate. The further you get into the countryside the less you see signs in English. I asked for help in purchasing a train ticket for us. Later I noticed that there was a button on the touch screen train ticket machine that was labeled English. Touching that button would have turned the screen to English and I wouldn't have needed any help at all!
The ride to Suzuka took more that a half-hour as we had gotten on the local train instead of the express. None of the maps on the train were in English so it was not a bad thing to stop at every station. Upon arrival at Suzuka we found that the last bus to the hot spring inn had gone. Tired and hungry we walked into a yakitori restaurant for dinner. Yakitori is chicken on a skewer cooked with yakitori sauce, very good. A local man sitting at the table next to us bought us a bottle of sake which I enjoyed as Pam was not feeling too good. He called the hotel on his mobile phone to tell them that we would be a while. After dinner we took a cab which cost 6700 yen, about $65 dollars.
Once at the hotel we were greeted by a 89 year old man, who tried to help me with my bag. It was pretty heavy so it wasn't hard form me to convince him to let me carry it. It turns out that he's in pretty good shape as he hikes the mountains for some of the plants that they serve as part of the meals at Goshiki Onsen, an older hot springs resort in a mountain gorge next to a stream. The green trees that surrounded the place were a welcome sight for a couple of people that have spent much of they're lives in the deserts of Nevada and California. We were shown to our room, a beautiful traditional Japanese tatami room. We were tired but decided to soak in the hot pools before going to sleep.
The outdoor pool is closed late at night so we went to the indoor section. They're housed in an old wooden building next to the main hotel. Like the structure of the building the walls, floors and tubs are all wood, very relaxing. There are four tubs, two very small ones that would only hold two people, each in it's own room. There were also two larger tubs, we were the only people there and soaked in one of the larger ones for a while. There was the sound of the stream rushing by just outside the building for a very soothing and relaxing experience. There was a full moon that night but it couldn't be seen with the clouds of an approaching storm hanging low in the valley. The water was very hot, we mixed in some cold water from the tap to get it to a comfortable temperature.
We had a very restful sleep that night. Shortly after waking we were served a very nice breakfast much of which were mountain plants collected from the local area by the old man. We then soaked in the outdoor stone tub next to the stream, it's very large so the water temperature is very hot near where the water enters the pool. It was perfect in the middle. The sound of the river flowing by and the wind in the trees was wonderful. During the middle of the day the sun broke through the clouds and shined on the green forest covered mountain slopes next to the hot springs.
We were also served dinner in our room, mostly traditional Japanese food such as tempura, rice, and sashimi. The food was cooked with great care, delicious, and beautifully arranged.
On the last day of our stay at goshiki onsen it was rainy with not as much wind. We were the only guests and had the large outdoor pool next to the river to ourselves and didn't mind the rain, weekdays are a good time to travel in Japan. After breakfast was served we had one last soak before checking out. The hotel staff drove us to the train station and we were in Nagano in no time.
Goshikin onsen is a great place to visit and we would recommend it to anyone wanting a relaxing hot springs experience.
