Day 05 - Tuesday 31st July

Today we would be travelling by train from Tokyo to Takayama. Last night, we did most of our packing. The plan was that each of us would leave one large suitcase here at the Century Southern Tower Hotel in Shinjuku until we return from Kyoto in five days time. We'd packed our smaller suitcases with what we'd need for Takayama and Kyoto - I hope.

After breakfast in the hotel restaurant again, we checked out and left our bags. I then remembered that I'd let my camera and hat on the bedside table in the room and so I had to ask the reception for a key so I could dash back up to get them.

The trip to Takayama would consist of three train journeys on JR. The first was a suburban over-ground train trip from Shinjuku to Tokyo station that took about 15 minutes. We allowed plenty of time at Tokyo station to be able to find the next train. This turned out to be fairly straight forward and we had almost 30 minutes to wait for the train.

This was a fast train from Tokyo to Nagoya. The platform is very long because the train consists of 16 carriages. Along the edge of the platform, there is a fence about 1m high with gaps for each train door. Other people were queuing and so we did too. The train left on time at exactly 10:33am.

Most of the scenery along the way was bland until we saw Mt Fuji out of the right side of the train. I grabbed my camera and took lots of photos - some of which worked out OK.

At Nagoya, we changed trains for the final leg to Takayama. The changeover time was only about 25 minutes and once again it left exactly on time.

When we got on this train, our reserved seats were in car 1 next to the driver's window. It seemed strange to us that all the seats were facing backwards away from the driver. An announcement explained that the seats were facing this way because we would travel in one direction until the next station at which point the train would switch to a different line and travel in the other direction.

The scenery on this trip was much more interesting because the railway followed a river for most of the journey. The river itself was a beautiful blue colour and there were steep wooded mountains on either side of us.

At Takayama, we were met by a driver and van from the place where we are were staying - about 1km up the hill from the station. The town is a fascinating traditional Japanese town dating back over 400 years.

Oyado Ryokan is a traditional Japanese guest house. At the entrance, you take off your shoes and put on slippers they provide. I took a few steps and decided to take them off because I was sure I was going to trip over. They said it's OK to wear socks or bare feet.

Our room is on the second floor. One thing to note about the bedrooms in a ryokan is that there are no beds. You sleep on a mat and pillow on the floor. The only furniture is a very low table with chairs with no legs. The floor of the bedroom is covered with tatami mats (a traditional Japanese mat made of rice straw) whereas the hallways are carpeted.

There are some modern features. Thankfully there is air conditioning because Takayama is even hotter than Tokyo and still very humid. My guess is that it must have been close to 40C when we arrived.

There is a lift in the building and a TV and safe in the room. The main bathroom is a public bath in the basement - one for men and one for women. However, they've installed a private shower on the main level for anyone who is too modest to use the public shower and bath. Thankfully, each room has its own toilet.

After settling in and having some green tea in our room, we set off at about 4:30pm to explore the town. We found a couple of narrow lanes lined with cute little shops selling an amazing and impressive array of trinkets, food, alcohol, clothes, etc. Lots of character. Very different from the modern buildings in Tokyo.

Dinner and breakfast are included in our stay. They say that the dinner is prepared in the traditional Japanese style by local mothers. They staff were certainly women, were probably local and could well have been mothers but I didn't ask to see photos to prove that they had children. I doubt if they would have understood me.

The dinner was brilliant. Once gain we sat at a very low table on chairs with no legs. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get up again - especially after all the sake we had. It was a genuine banquet with an incredible variety of interesting dishes. We ate most of the dishes but left a few we weren't sure about.

The dinner reminded me of a big Christmas lunch on a hot December day in Sydney. After lunch you just feel like lying on the floor to recover - except we were already sitting on the floor.

When we climbed back up the stairs to return to our room, the staff were just going into our room to get our beds ready. When they'd finished, they had moved the table and our bags to the side and had laid out our mats, pillows and quilts on the floor.

The WiFi reception in our room is almost nil and so I went down to the lounge area near reception where there is good signal. I think that I might melt if I stay here much longer and so I might need to go back up to our air-conditioned room instead.