Woke up this morning on some straw mat in a room I had never seen before. This was fine as I’m used to sleeping on hard surfaces. The confusion became clearer as the fog lifted from the sleep deprived mind and I vaguely remembered landing in Narita, Japan last night. The drive to this guesthouse was a blur – but I do remember the driver turning off his engine at every stop light, turning off his lights every time he stopped and driving with both of his wind shield wipers raised.
Walked outside and was surrounded by fields with freshly planted vegetables, beans, perhaps potatoes.
Decided to hit up a Japanese Onsen today. I’ve been beat silly with birch branches by fat naked men many of whom sported old tattoos in a Russian bath in Moscow, ground to a pulp with a Kesi stone in a Moroccan Hammam but had never experienced the Japanese bath houses – so when our plane was delayed 7 hours, we ended up with a full day in Japan before moving on to Bangkok this evening.
We took the train out here (middle of nowhere in the countryside) – took more than 2.5 hours to get here from the Narita Airport. Part of the problem was we got lost several times – just missed one of our connections and had to walk the last 30 minutes after trying to hitch hike, totally unsuccessfully! With jet lag in full pursuit there’s nothing like taking it easy in the warm waters of these baths. Off for more adventures!
Below: our guesthouse and some cool Japanese architecture on the way to the Onsen.
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