Day 19-21

Day 19- the day we left Kyoto

We waved goodbye to the city life once more and headed off to Koka village which is in the Shiga prefecture and this area is actually known for its ninjas! It’s actually not far from Kyoto at all only about 1 1/2 hours on public transport but it’s like stepping into a completely different world. It’s very rural here, public transport is scarce with the nearest and only public transport being the train station about 20 minutes away. Not that this is a problem, but this is probably the first time we’ve been rural enough that the buses don’t even come and go!

The “hotel” we are staying in is very interesting, our room is in a shipping container on stilts! Luckily we have a little heater in the room so it’s not too chilly the only slightly disconcerting thing is that the whole shipping container rattles and sways in the wind!

Day 20- the storm
From the title I think you can guess the theme of today, we woke up to the howling wind and pouring rain !! To the point that when we ventured out to the shop to grab some food which is only a 5 minute walk away- I got soaked! It also didn’t help that today was a public holiday so everything was shut or on very reduced hours and Jacob was feeling a little poorly so we hid inside all day listening the rain pounding on our shipping container which eventually turned to snow!!

Day 21
We actually managed to venture out today! As we were walking to the train station it began snowing again! Giggling at this we hopped on the train and made our way to Omi Hachiman city. What’s special about this city is the old town which has canals winding through it with traditional white and wooden houses lining the canal, we took a boat ride in a small wooden boat where we had to take our shoes off and sit cross legged! As we meandered down the canal admiring the quaint and quiet little village it began to snow again and I felt very bad for the man taking us as at least we had a canopy over us but he wasn’t so lucky! This week japan has been the country of every season in one day- or that’s at least how it feels!

After this, we wondered around enjoying the very picturesque town and visited a few shrines before taking the cable car up to the summit of mt Hachiman and the skies cleared and we got some lovely views over Lake Biwa, which we will be visiting properly tomorrow and it is apparently the largest fresh water lake in the whole of Japan- and to give credit where it’s due, it felt like looking out over the sea due to the size of it- it’s massive!!

There is also a shrine and castle ruins on top of this mountain which we really enjoyed before heading back in the cable car and then went on a hunt to get some food! After stopping in a small cafe we slowly made our way back to the train station and made our way back to our hotel. A quite relaxed few days but we both really enjoyed the boat ride and exploring the very beautiful town of Omi Hachiman!Read more