Nara Japan 23 October 2015
Today up and sitting down to another outstanding Chiaki breakfast at 8am. We had discovered overnight that the a railway guy had booked us on the wrong date for the train so we decided to head out early and sort it out. The breakfast was amazing the classic folded Japanese omelette, deep fried spring rolls with cheese and basil (Chiaki’s own recipe), miso and beautifully cut banana.
Chiaki insisted on taking us to the station after some photos of her and Mel outside the “tiny house’ we had used as our Nara home. On the way to her car we met this vicious neighbourhood watch dog nearly wagged himself into a frenzy.
At the station Melanie conscious of not wanting to cause yesterday’s railway guy embarassment used her diplomatic skills with today’s railway guy to get things sorted.
After an apology the tickets were re-issued without fuss and we were on our way to Tennoji where we wandered the vast shopping mall attached to the station. We also indulged our passion for Japanese baked goods to take on the train.
The train took about two and half hours and was 9 minutes late-which in Japan might be a hanging offence. It is hard to describe the faith in the system that everyone has and this was our first example of any deviation to a scheduled time.
Anyway at the station we met the smiling Mr Sanada-san and we were whisked away in his sparkling Prius to his three story home that seemed miles away from the station. The house is huge by Japanese standards and boasts a lift and an Onsen.
We had an hysterical time trying to understand each other which we had seen others comment about in the reviews on Airbnb. Sanada is used to tourists and because of the relative remoteness of his house he actually offers to drive guests to all the attractions.
As much as we could through mime, maps and Sanada’s English we sorted out what we were doing over the next days and he was a happy guy. In the evening he drove us to a restaurant where we had Japanese fast food-tempura udon and chicken rice- simple and delicious. When we got home he heated up the internal Onsen (bath) and we luxuriated before bed. Eager to experience the Kumano Kodo and the shrines tomorrow.
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