Holiday (Part II)

After Christmas we decided to take a little vacation from all our business. We went on a small road trip. We didn't really have much planned. Just see what happens. We rented our car and left for the Kumomoto area. We had reservations at a Ryokan. A Ryokan is a tradition style Japanese inn. We stayed in an 8-tatami mat room. In the middle was a large table where they would be serving us dinner. We had about 2 hours til dinner time so we decided to get settled in. We had some tea and played Ludo (similar to Sorry). When dinner time came our girl came in and started to serve us. It was a 7 course dinner.

Course 1 was this. In the cup was some type of peppers and spices and then some kind of cartilage or something... Not very easy to eat. Onion, some type of veggie sushi or something, a shrimp, potato, and a little cake.

Course 2: Sashimi

Course 3: Raw Beef or Horse (quite tasty)

Course 4: Soup

Course 5: Salmon with Ume sauce (sour plum)

Course 6: Nabe - Meat and veggies you boil in a "hot pot".

Course 7: Something like Chawan Mushi - an egg custard (this one was oyster)... not the best of the night.

Dessert: A soy milk custard.

After our dinner we had reservations to use a private onsen. Natural Hot Spring. We put on our Yukata's and our Japanese socks and went down. It was nice.



We could sit, relax, and look outside at the beautiful stars and garden. It was very cold that night so the hot water and cold air was a great combo! (sorry - no pics!)

We returned to our room and actually watched a bit of TV. (We dont have a working TV in our apprt. So it was fun to watch Japanese TV.) We got up in the morning and went to our appropriate gender public onsen. After which we got dressed and went to breakfast. Another big meal! A lot of tofu dishes and different things.


We left and headed for the Kumomoto Castle. When we got there we found out it was closed due to the holiday. We then went to the Suizenji Park\Garden. But that was also closed. We decided to go to the coast to catch the Ferry to Nagasaki. When we got there we found out that they had canceled the Ferry for a while due to high winds. We still had til 1:00pm the next day with the car. But everything was closed for the holidays. We decided to check out a ski resort to see about skiing for a few hours. We drove for a while, up the mountain and got to the resort about 6:30. Turns our that during the week, they close at 5, weekends 9. So, we decided to cut our loses and head back home. We got home and made plans to go to a nearby city, the next day, to play in the snow. Our city Oita, is very near the sea so the humidity doesn't let it snow too often.
As planned, we woke up and went to Yufuin. We traveled up the mountain and instantly it was snowing. We found a little temple. We parked and made Rupert the Snowman.


We started to head back. We took a small detour to a golf course\hotel. We still hadn't got to PLAY in snow. The golf course had enough. We slid down the hills on our shoes and Thayne went on his stomach. We had a few snowball\snow fights. Freezing, out of breath, and smiling from ear to ear, we went back to Oita and returned the car.

That night we just stayed in, playing games and enjoying the new year about to come in. There were no fireworks or anything at 12:00. We opened the balcony and shouted happy new year - but all was quiet. Many people were at family's houses or at the shrines. We hugged and kissed and talked to a few people on skype, then went to bed.

The holidays here were great!
Happy New Year!