Travelling in Japan during Golden Week is a time when you need to be organized and prebook. If you don’t, you will be incredibly lucky to find a vacancy anywhere and if you do, it will be priced well beyond its value. Golden Week is comprised of 4 National Holidays and people tend to add the weekends to make a longer holiday. Traditionally, this is one of the busier times in Japan. We have been finding accommodation by booking ahead, but for one of the nights coming up, all we could find available were 2 single rooms which will cost more, but as the expression goes, “needs must”.
This has been confusing. We have learned that our hotel last night has 2 names and each are listed on different sites. Well, we finally figured it out and in the end we booked with one name and arrived to find it had the other name. That’s part of its charm.
The breakfast room has some quirky features like the massive screen projecting morning tv. It was grand but a bit odd too.Breakfast was included so it was a real deal, especially during the high prices that you find during Golden Week.
We couldn’t believe our eyes. In the parking lot, this man and the animal were enjoying the day in the park. The bond between them is incredible and the animal has clearly been with him for some time and is comfortable on his leash. We never saw the animal move without maintaining contact with the man. When we arrived, it was sitting atop the man’s head. Both seemed content with each other.
Curious and checking us out. We have been scouring the internet trying to figure out what kind of animal it is. He is called a Coati, also known as the Coatimundi. If tamed at a young age, they will bond with their person. Clearly this man has this Coatimundi for a long time.
The problem with a bike route that endeavours to keep cars away is that there are frequently gates to get through. This can be tiresome as it feels like your energies go into unloading the panniers and reloading them while trying to get through gates designed for an upright bike.
This gate was the final straw. Leslie, if you are reading this, you may think that I am doing stretches (as I should be doing). I had the notion that if I could enlarge the space enough to get the trikes through, that it would help. Basically all I did was to provide s9me amusement for Barry to enjoy.
Welcome to the real world. We are back riding by the road, away from the dedicated bike route and there are many trucks. The bridge was two kilometres long.We were relieved to find this sidewalk on the bridge as it was narrow and there was no room for us.on the road.
A loud speaker system is set up along the coast for warnings regarding dangers like tsunamis and earthquakes. The consensus is that if you feel an earthquake for more than a minute you must move to higher ground or a place like this which is reenforced for tsunamis.
A frustrating moment…the path is being upgraded and not accessible for the next 22 kilometres. We wish that this information had been provided at the sign on the road which directed us to this point. Oh well, we will retrace our route and proceed on the road.
What a wonderful sight seeing the Koi (carp) windsocks flying in the wind. They will remain in place for April and May. Each Koi represents a member of a family..father, mother, children.
This is the first trip that we have purchased Koi windsocks for our trikes. It has created an ice breaker when local people talk to us. They are very happy and proud that we are honouring their tradition.
Well, we knew that our hotel for the next two nights would be grand, but we weren’t prepared for the sheer size of the building and the gardens, not to mention the world class golf course.
To reach this grandeur you must climb a hill. The view is endless with the ocean as a backdrop. To the left is a helicopter landing area and a practice putting green.
We have realized that we may be a bit out of our depth, but as we will learn, gaijins (foreigners) don’t often come here, especially on trikes. It will be interesting. This is a situation where we will need our phones with us to translate and make us seem less intimidating. Most of the people who stay at this hotel are coming for the golf course.
There are indications that we might be welcomed as there are displays like this showing that this hotel and its golf course are twinned with the Canadian golf course in Jasper, Alberta.
Fresh towels and supplies for our room. The staff have been very kind to us. We were pleased that they were happy with our trikes being stored at the front of the hotel under cover. That is good as we understand that the rain will begin in earnest about 5 AM .tomorrow.
