Japan 2018 Day 13 - Snow Monkeys, Ryokan, and Onsen

Snow Monkeys, Ryokan, and Onsen

How many suitcases can you put into a cab.

Every rail station has heaps of bike parking.

On the train to the monkeys.

Origami art in front of a house.

Nice street.

Snow chains for motorbikes

Hot springs causing steam at the monkey park.

Little village near monkey park

The main attraction.  Nothing like spending a day with family.

Our Ryokan reception area.


Testing our robes. We are meant to walk the streets and visit the onsens (hot baths) with nothing on underneath our robes.  We'll see.

Here is the go (as far as I can tell).  When you enter a house you take off your shoes and put on some slippers.  When you go to the bathroom/toilet you take off your house slippers and put on your toilet slippers.  When you go into your room that has matting on it you take off your slippers.
When you go to a restaurant that has floor seating you take off your shoes, but make sure to neatly place them together facing outwards (I didn't do that and the waitress fixed it up).  I believe you are meant to sit with your legs so that the soles of your feet don't point towards anybody (easier said than done).

 Futon

 Ready for a night out on town i.e. bathing time.

 This is an awesome town.

 My footwear at negative degrees.

 But here we are at one Onsen with water temperature around 40 Degrees.

 Some nice village views.

 Some awesome architecture.

 Our dinner. Sitting on the floor.  I was struggling not to fall over most of the time.

 Outside our restaurant.  The food was awesome once again, but maybe no soup tomorrow night.

 Here is what a change room in an Onsen looks like.

Men and women are separated, but you can fit quite a few people into one Onsen.  It is nice and cosey.

Before you go in you sit on a stool like the one below and have a complete wash, while sitting down so not to splash on everybody else.

Then you hop in and it feels soooo awesome. Afterwards, you are very rejuvenated.  Just one word of advice, don't have a couple of beers before you go as the hot water makes them go straight to your head.