Snow, Onsen and Crab!

[rbjhan]

Approaching Kurobe Unatsukionsen Station, some nice views!


That was 立山連峰, Tateyama Moutain Range, part of Northern Japan Alps.

From here you take the Toyama Chiho Railway to Unatsukionsen station.
One way ticket is 640 Yen normally, but you can buy a return ticket from this counter for 1200 (valid for 5 days, cash only).



Maybe I do take pictures of random tickets after all?


The train ride was nice.


View


Arrived at Unatsukionsen Station. Almost 6 hours in transit, finally done!

That fountain was onsen water! Yeah I tested it

 

[rbjhan]

Yamanoha - Unatsukionsen

So I booked this ryokan in January when randomly searching....found one room that was no doubt cancelled by someone. 15K Yen including two meals! Unbelievable price, honestly.
I know prices in Tokyo have gone totally mad, but rest of Japan is still relatively good value.

Unatsuki onsen(how many here have heard of it?) is in fact the largest onsen town in Toyama.
However the main attraction here is a trolley train going deep into the famous Kurobe Gorge.
Winter is the low season as the trolley train is closed.
*There are some ski resorts too but I'm not a skier so...

Might be the largest in Toyama, still just a small town!
Yamanoha is the large block on the top right next to the river.


Probably the largest ryokan in town?
Left is the Annex, right the main building.


Lovely flower arrangement.


And a lounge next to the lobby with the most impressive view!

 

[rbjhan]

As mentioned before, I booked the room that was available when I checked, not much choices...
It was a "River view Japanese room" in the main building, I was slightly nervous since it's so cheap...

Entrance, door to the left is toilet.


Take the right turn, there's the mini fridge, kettle, and all the other tea/coffee things.


Bathroom was pretty basic. But this is an onsen ryokan so you are not supposed to be using it anyways!


12 tatami sized Japanese room, very spacious.


And the view!!!


Honestly, this got to be one of the best deals I got in Japan, ever.

 

[rbjhan]

Went down to the lounge again for some drinks.
This was tea, not coffee!
*What I think about Japanese coffee is well documented so I shall not repeat myself


Then went out for a little stroll around town.

There's some...hmmm...interesting design you don't expect to see in a small town like this.
Other seasons you can go to this viewing platform not in winter...unless you have a snow shoe ha ha


Yamanoha definitely has the best location in town.
The other side of the river was also nice but without those two red bridges it just didn't feel the same.


Never an onsen town without some foot baths!
This one is inside the station.


I've noticed the streets here were unlike Takayama that morning which was accidents waiting to happen...was wondering why...before I saw these!

 

[rbjhan]

Back to the ryokan and time to visit the public bath!

Ooooh the one in Beniya overlooking Lake Suwa was nice, but holy cow it has nothing on this one
Photos are obviously from hotel website.
This is the indoor bath.


And the outdoor bath

OMG OMG OMG I'm so coming back....

 

[rbjhan]

One of their way to maintain the low price, is to have a buffet dinner.
But honestly, I don't care at this point. With that view and that onsen (at 15K!).....you can feed me konbini bentos and I won't complain.

And it was actually not bad at all!
There were boards outside the dining hall advertising local delicacies.


As someone who loves seafood, this was very good.
They have buri sashimi!


*Buri, I think it's yellowtail in English? When caught in winter it's called Kanburi, most famously from Toyama Bay. Together with Nodoguro, are my favourites in this region.

Also a notice about estimated breakfast peaks...One look and I decided to come after 8am


Back to the room, bed was made during dinner.

 

[rbjhan]

The next morning, I chose sleep over going to the other public bath.
Not as impressive as the one before anyways...
Picture also from hotel website.


Breakfast buffet was also nice.


The Toyama white shrimp sushi!


Best deal of the whole trip without doubt.
I'll be back some day.

 

[rbjhan]

Checked out at 10am, back onto the Toyama Chiho Railway train.


Kurobe Unatsukionsen Station really has beautiful views!


Hokuriku Shinkansen.

 

[rbjhan]

Obviously I could have gone straight to Kyoto.
Ah but back in Feb 2019 I was in Kanazawa and encountered one of the warmest winters...
Well I need to make it right!

So I hunted down a locker (not easy!), jump on a bus and off we went to Kenrokuen.
Entered the garden from Katsurazaka Gate (top left).


The famous stone lantern!


Snow was getting heavier by the minute...




I've been here a few times including peak Sakura season.
Definitely think this is the best look.


Very pretty but holy cow the snow was getting through my jacket!
Decided to go to Kanazawa Castle next door since I knew there's a lounge near the entrance...

 

[rbjhan]

From Katsurazaka there's a bridge directly connecting Kenrokuen and Kanazawa Castle.
*Kenrokuen was basically the Maedas'(Lord of Kaga) back garden...


There's no main keep in Kanazawa Castle - they've only managed to re-construct a long storehouse and some gates, using traditional materials and techniques. I imagine it costs a lot of money!
*Check 2019 TR for more pictures of the whole castle park.

So with the heavy snowing, I decided to call it a day in Kanazawa.


As I was leaving this father and son came...

 

[rbjhan]

Thank heavens the bus stop at Katsurazaka was a whole room with roof and walls

Back to Kanazawa Station.




I was hoping for a sushi lunch at the famous Morimori sushi...
Yeah nah the queue was too long!
Ah but for a shop this busy, they were only paying staff 1000-1100 Yen per hour...

 

[rbjhan]

Bought a bento and off to Kyoto.

Well there was a little problem....From Kanazawa to Kyoto, you need to take the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Tsuruga, then transfer to the Ltd Exp Thunderbird. (Eventually they want to extend the Shinkansen to Kyoto and Osaka, but who knows when!)

Shinkansen has non reserve seats, but Thunderbird doesn't!
The queue in Kanazawa's ticket counter was even longer than the day before in Toyama....I'm not wasting another hour here

So I got on Thunderbird sans seat reservation
Sadly this was an old train, you don't have those cute little lights to show which seat was vacant...
I kinda picked a car that looked not very full and hoped for the best.

Phew, didn't poach anyone's seat!
I survived till the conductor came and showed him my pass, made a reservation, all done.
Honestly, I do not understand seat poachers' mentality....it was very nerve racking for me waiting for the train to depart and hoping no one came and demanded me to move!

Picture of Ekiben bought in Kanazawa.

 

[rbjhan]

Kyoto, long time no see!!

I booked two hotels in Kyoto (long story, we'll get to it).
First one was Keio Prelia Hotel Kyoto Karasuma Gojo, what a mouthful!


But hey for 7600 Yen per night, this was probably the best value hotel I've stayed in Kyoto, like ever.

I booked a "low level standard double or twin" room.
Room assigned during check in was a twin on 2F.
Spacious by Japanese business hotel standards, ha.
*No view, behind the curtain was a frosted window


Bathroom


Ah but there were amenities! Now that's rare.
Nowadays most of these hotels have an "amenity corner" in the lobby and that's it.


PJs are a must. The bag was for you to take to the public bath.


No bottle water, instead you have these.

 

[rbjhan]

TV can show the status of washing machines and public bath.




Had some time before my dinner reservation, so I went for a soak.
Towels!


The ladies' dressing room was very nice.

 

[rbjhan]

The hotel was located near metro Gojo station.
In front there's also a bus stop, about 7/8 mins walk you have Karasuma Shijo which is a major hub. Transport-wise it's convenient.

Took a bus to the restaurant I booked.
It's called Unagi Kappo Toishi 鰻・割烹 戸石. As the name suggested, it's a unagi restaurant.

In Kyoto it's uber important to be understated.


It's a small place, 5 or 6 counter seats and two tables at the back. It was full that night.
I was seated at the end of the counter, right in front of the grill


Basically the chef/owner was one metre away from me the whole evening cooking....there's a reason I mentioned this, it will become clear soon...

 

[rbjhan]

No menu here, the lady serving dishes would introduce everything briefly. There were only the two of them, btw. I assume she was his wife/partner, but who knows. Let's just keep calling her the lady.

First dish, octopus.


2nd dish, soup. I forgot what's the thing in it


3rd dish, sashimi.
Buri, tuna and 鮟肝 Ankimo.


4th dish, tempura.

 

[rbjhan]

By now you are probably like, where tf is the unagi?
You see, that's why the name is "Ugani Kappo", so he doesn't just serve unagi.

Don't worry, it's here!
Yummmm


6th dish, puffer fish.


And more ugani!


It's to be eaten with rice, hitsumabushi style.




I was FULL.

Thank god the dessert was just a strawberry.


No kidding, this was unlike any strawberry I've eaten...so good.....
I imagine it must cost a fortune, coz the lady brought out the whole box the strawberries came in to show me...wish I'd taken a picture!

So during this whole time, chef was busy cooking....he didn't talk to me, didn't talk to the other Japanese guests much either. Only answered questions when they asked him.
I was thinking to myself, for this kind of restaurants to be successful, the chef's personality is important too....
Well until the cooking was all done, then he wanted to talk
I was right in front of him the whole evening, and somehow he didn't catch that I was speaking Japanese with the lady. He was asking her something (I didn't hear it but probably how to say something in English?) but then she replied, the guest can speak Japanese!
Oh boy, then we started talking I told him how many times I've been to Japan (15!), why I studied Japanese, where I was before, showed him pictures of Kanazawa that morning....he wanted to know what's Australia like, was there Olympics before (somehow they were VERY interested in Olympics), how long was the flight to Japan.....

 

[Justinf]

What on earth are those long things?
Actually I don’t want to know.

 

[Justinf]

Your pics are amazing. Absolutely love them.

 

[rbjhan]

What on earth are those long things?
Actually I don’t want to know.

View attachment 435217

Not to worry!
Nothing scandalous just crab legs...

Hold on, you didn't mean the yellow ones did you???
Those were .....eggs.......
So you beat the eggs, pan fried into sheets, and cut.