The Nippon Alps, Onsens & Monkeys

I was finally able to leave Niigata the day after the earthquake and made my way to Matsumoto in the Nippon Alps. On my first day there, I joined the hundreds of Japanese and rode a bike around town. I explored Matsumoto Castle - which is one of the best preserved castles in Japan . I went to the Museum that documented the history of the town and the development of the city around the castle but it was all in Japanese so I didn't understand much. They also had an exhibition of Vienna bu that too was in Japanese! I then rode down 'frog street' - it has lots of statues of frogs there (for some unknown reason!)

The next day I took a bus to Kamikochi, up in the alps (at an altitude of 1500m) to do some hiking. I first walked to the Kappabishi bridge and then carried on the hike to Myojinike Pond, crossing lots of small waterfalls with glorious views of the mountains. I made my way back past the bridge and went to see Tashiro-ike & Taosho-ike Ponds which were beautiful. By the end of this I was pretty tired and as I made my way back to the bus, a guy was sitting playing his violin - very strange!

The day after, I made my way to Yudanaka for a trip to an onsen. I met an American couple - Chris & Anne - at the train station and we made our way to the onsen together. For those who have never experienced an onsen, let me tell you, it really is an event that you will never forget! Firstly, you have to strip off and go to a shower area where you wash your body and hair and then you get into the bath which is filled with pretty hot water from an underground spring. These onsens are not private so you are butt naked in front of a crowd of people (usually same sex!) Here they had an outdoor onsen that the monkeys occasionally visit and this time, they were here too but this onsen was mixed sex!

We then made our way to the nearby Monkey Park where there are about 200 monkeys, some who like to go in the onsen! We spent ages there watching them - they are so human like it was amazing! The best part was watching the baby monkeys in the 'play area'.