Japan, the land of the traditional and the modern - Tokyo and Nagano (1/3)

This year, I spent my Easter holiday and the week after in Japan. This is a trip which has been long pending and I must say, I wasn't disappointed! Everyone I mentioned my trip to remarked that it was going to be an exotic experience. And it turned out to be exactly that - exotic and amazing. We spent about 10 days in the country in total: 3 in Tokyo, 2 in Nagano, 3 in Kyoto and 1 in Koyasan. And I must say, the time we spent there was definitely not enough to explore all this fascinating country has to offer.

The famed blossoms

Some things in Japan of course felt familiar, but there was a lot which was so new, and felt like a whole world apart. Japan has a very deep and unique culture, different from most other nations, possibly because of its island identity. But more than that, we saw and experienced a mixing of the old and the new culture of Japan, so well done, that the whole experience felt a lot more charming, seeing the two co-exist peacefully with other. And on top of that, as it was the Sakura (cherry blossom) season, the whole country was blooming and presented a stunning sight everywhere. So all in all, a fantastic experience...


Our itinerary for the trip was as below.

Day 1: Travel from London to Tokyo via Beijing
Day 2: Explore Tokyo - Meiji-jingu shrine; shopping areas of Takeshita-dori street, Omotesando, Shibuya and Shinjuku; lunch at Milan Nataraj; cherry blossoms around Ichigaya river; Metropolitan observation tower; dinner at Gonpochi
Day 3: Explore Tokyo: Imperial palace; Yasukuni-jinja shrine; lunch at Ramen street; Sensoji temple; Ueno park; dinner at Ninja restaurant
Day 4 - Explore Tokyo: Tsukiji fish market; experience VR zone; explore Ginza; lunch at Annam; leave for Nagano; stay at Nagano Metropolitan hotel
Day 5 - Explore Nagano: Monkey Park; Ueda Castle; Nagano onsen; Zenkoji temple; dinner at Yamakusi
Day 6 - Shinkansen from Nagano to Kyoto; stay at Westinn; explore Kyoto - Ginkakuji temple; Philosophers path; lunch at Arasch; Heian Jingu shrine and gardens; Kiyomizudera temples; Gion street and Pontocho alley
Day 7 - Explore Kyoto: Tori gates at Fushimi Inari; bamboo groves in Arashimaya; Kinkakuji temple; dinner at Mughal; musical concert at Heian shrine
Day 8 - Train from Kyoto to Koyasan; explore the temples and shrines at Koyasan; stay at Ichijoin temple
Day 9: Explore Koyasan: morning prayer at temple; visit to cemetery; train to Tokyo; stay at Otani; explore Shibuya and Ebizu; dinner at Priya
Day 10 - Flight back from Tokyo to London

Sakura in Ueda castle

This was one of the most and best planned trips of mine and I must thank my friends for this. We were 11 of us travelling together and a couple of us planned the trip to the level of which restaurant we would eat when 😁. You can definitely follow the itinerary below to visit all the main places, as they are all close to each other and easy to follow. Given we were travelling in a big group, the excitement kept building about the trip much before we even left. Especially around when the Sakura season was going to start. The forecast kept shifting in the days before and it kept us guessing till the last moment if we would be able to witness or may miss the peak blossom season.


Day 1: Travel from London to Tokyo via Beijing; stay at new Otani; dinner at Satsuki

It was a long journey from London to reach Tokyo. We took connecting flights with Air China through Beijing and I must say that flying any Chinese airlines is bad. At multiple levels. For Air China, at least we were able to check-in online but it took 15 mins to check-in one person as the screen would refresh only after 3 minutes! Really, in this world of digital savviness, how can an airlines website be so slow?

And then the lines in the airport were in chaos too. We were flying on a long weekend, so the queues as expected were long. On top of that, the airlines had a stupid rule on the kiosk machines that if you had ordered vegetarian food, you could not check in your luggage! Anyways we sorted it all out somehow amid the chaos and finally made it to the plane just in time! The two flights were fine, a longer 13 hours to Beijing and then 3.5 hours to Tokyo. The transit in Beijing was quite long and we had to go through security again, with additional checking being done. We had to go through a heat sensing machine, get ourselves photographed and answer a lot of questions. Who does that when you are transiting through an airport? It didn't make sense unless the Chinese want to control and track the whole world, even those who are just transiting their country.

While flying over Beijing, I got my first glimpse of the Chinese capital - it was full of high rises, had a lot of fog/smog around it and a small river flowing through it. At some point, I definitely need to visit China and explore more of what the country has to offer. Flying into Japan was quite enchanting from the top too. We crossed the sea and then slowly the land came into view. It was dark by that time and city lights had been switched on. There was a full moon up in the sky. And lot of water bodies down below. And slowly I started seeing the reflection of the moon on different water bodies, hiding and unhiding at times, but moving all along our flight as we flew in. Sometimes it would show up when there was a long river and paddy fields, then vanish when there was land, and then come back in view again. And so on, for 15 minutes. It was such an arresting view. I wish I could have captured it somehow. But I was so engrossed in observing it, I forgot to record it completely...

While landing in Tokyo, I realised that Tokyo was located on the coast of the island. I had somehow never read about it as Tokyo isn't really famous for anything which is linked to the sea. Other than fishes, but that I think all of Japan is famous for. While landing, we saw the famed Tokyo lights extending till forever - and then some smaller structures came into view, a huge Ferris wheel, 2 colourful bridges and lots of high-rise towers. All of Tokyo glittered at night in different hues and colours, it presented a very fascinating first view!

The Haneda airport was right next to the sea and once we landed in Tokyo, I realised that my luggage hadn't arrived. I spent at least an hour with the lost and found team to figure out what had happened but they had no clue where my luggage was. It didn't help either that they didn't know English well. But still, I was shocked how they didn't have any proper procedures to track luggage, plus were very slow with the paperwork - it felt very unlike how efficient I always imagined the Japanese to be. At the end of an hour of discussion, they weren't even giving me a receipt for the lost luggage! I had to ask for it and wait another 15 mins to get it. Maybe it was the Chinese effect, but I had quite a bad and unsatisfactory experience with the luggage team at the airport.

Anyways we then took the metro to the hotel we were staying at - New Otani. The train map was very dense and intricate, more than any other system I have seen before. We changed 3 metro trains to get to our hotel and were impressed with all the discipline around. Everyone was quiet and on their phones, most of them wore black suits and a lot of them were wearing masks. And even at 9 PM, it was fully crowded with people going back after work; clearly everyone works late in Japan, even on a Friday. The metro wasn't as clean and spotless though as I had always expected.

Cherry blossoms are everywhere

Walking to our hotel, we got our first view of cherry blossoms - a row of trees next to a small river, all lit up in different colours. And then we noticed the whole street was full of flowers in full bloom. And then we reached out hotel. It was a huge one and had two towers, one old and one new. There were 15 restaurants in the hotel itself, tons of shops, a huge garden outside and generally lot of things to do.

During check-in we realised though that people here are quite stickler for rules and don't really like having to tweak them, however irrelevant they might be. For example, at the hotel they don't give you two keys to your room if there is only one person staying. It shouldn't matter, but they don't. Anyways, it was already very late by the time we reached and so we decided to eat in one of the restaurants in the hotel itself. However, it turned out that most of the restaurants closed before 10 PM. For a city which is awake all night, it was a bit of a surprise. So we had dinner at the Satsuki restaurant in the hotel itself, which was the only one open at that hour. The food was quite average but still expensive. And then we crashed soon enough, even though we were jet lagged and should have been awake.


Day 2: Explore Tokyo - Meiji-jingu shrine; shopping areas of Takeshita-dori street, Omotesando, Shibuya and Shinjuku; lunch at Milan Nataraj; cherry blossoms around Ichigaya river; Metropolitan observation tower; dinner at Gonpochi

Tokyo is quite a modern city, and the things to do there are mostly around shopping, experiencing modern experiences like virtual reality, visiting some temples and shrines and generally enjoying the crowds around. During our first day in the city, we explored the close by places on the western side of the city which included a visit to Meiji-jingu shrine, the shopping areas of Takeshita-dori, Omotesando, Shibuya and Shinjuku, walk around Ichigaya river to observe cherry blossoms and a visit to the the Metropolitan observation tower to get a view of Tokyo from above.

The first thing I remember from the morning is the panoramic view I had of the city of Tokyo when I woke up. I could see some gardens below as well as a small palace and then small and big buildings till very far. I saw some colours from cherry blossoms but not as much. And the view was very refreshing - there are not that many world class cities which offer such uncongested views. We had breakfast at the Tower buffet restaurant in the hotel which was on the 40th floor and again had a panoramic view of the city. It had a nice selection of food and was relatively cheap. We could also see the garden below and a palace right below the hotel, so it turned out to be a nice place to start the day.

Sake barrels outside Meiji shrine

After breakfast we all left for a very long and hectic day around town. Our first stop was the Meiji-jingu shrine in Harajuku which is part of the Shinto faith in the country and dedicated to the first Meiji emperor who brought peace and modernity to Japan. It had a huge Tori gate at the entrance and a walk through a huge forest - the Yoyoji Park - which takes you to the shrine. On the way, you come across huge sake and wine barrels which were apparently gifted to the shrine and are now displayed there. When you come to the shrine, you see a huge open structure built of wood, and even though it was quite expansive, it felt very simple in its essence.

Wedding at Meiji shrine

There was a huge courtyard and then the main shrine where you can pray. And there were smaller places to visit all around, like a place where you tie prayer cards to get your wishes heard, some shops and so on. In a Shinto shrine, you wash your hands before you go in and there is generally a water source at the entrance. Also, when you pray, you alternately clap your hands and bow a couple of times. The whole place felt very quiet, very spiritual and calming. There was a wedding going on when we were there, but still it all felt very serene everywhere. I just did not want to leave the place, such was the effect it had on me.

Our next stop was a walk through the Takeshita-dori street which was known as the eclectic teen shopping street. It was a pedestrian only street with locals dressed in all kinds of weird clothes and lot of specialty shops on both sides. We saw a few cat cafes there too where you can go and pet cats if you cant keep them as pets 😝. Then we walked through the Omotesando area which was a tree lined high-end shopping area and a good walk given the sunny and pleasant weather, even though we weren't shopping. By this time, it already felt so great to be away from cold and rainy London, and we had fallen for Japan already.

We then took the metro to the shopping district of Shibuya which apparently had 200 exits to the metro station. Right when you exit is (apparently) the busiest intersection in the world, where you see hundreds of people crossing the street every time the light is red. We took a few videos of the intersection and then we explored the area for sometime.

Shibuya was full of all kinds of shops and activities. Shibuya 109 was a mall for local shopping. There were loads of games arcades around. And a huge supermarket known as MODI. We also walked a bit around in the small alleys behind the malls and there were more authentic looking shops which seemed local and did not have boards in English. So behind the facade of the English touristy areas, the real Japanese Japan still exists...

Some of us even went out looking for a cafe where a robot serves the food, but it turned out to be just a robot arm serving, not really a full robot. So we skipped the idea and all of us split. Some people shopped while a few sat in the book cafe on the 7th floor of the building overlooking the busiest intersection and had coffee, and a few of us went for a foot massage. So all in all, this place has something for everyone to do.

By the way, the 7 floor building overlooking the busiest intersection was interesting too. It had a very well decorated coffee shop on the 7th floor with books, CDs and games displayed all around. And it also had a Starbucks on the 1st floor which was very crowded with all the tourists clicking the busiest intersection. So its a good place to sit, in a serene environment, while observing the chaos below.

We went to the restaurant in our itinerary to have lunch but it had a long queue. Thankfully right above it, we found an Indian restaurant, Milan Nataraj which had space available for us. It was an Indian vegetarian place and we had a hearty Indian buffet lunch there. To be honest, it was a low end place, with barely 2-3 things in the buffet menu. But the food tasted amazing, especially the naan. And turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Sakura picnics

Our next stop was a last minute addition as part of our group went to play VR (virtual reality) games and the rest of us went out looking for cherry blossoms. We took the metro to Ichigaya station and walked all the way to the Iiadabachi station, along the Ichigaya river. It was lined with cherry blossoms on both sides and seemed like the local favourite for sakura picnics. People were sitting all along the river side, on picnic blankets, eating and drinking, and generally having a good time. Some of them were also boating in the river with petals floating around them. And everyone was enjoying the falling petals all around when the winds blew. They were all locals, with very few tourists around - clearly we had stumbled onto something the locals did!

Boating in the river

We walked all along both sides of the river, enjoying our first experience with the blossoms. We also took a lot of pretty photos of the cherry blossoms there. With the white and light pink flower-filled trees all around, there was something soothing about watching these colours surround you with petals falling on you in the wind. We had a nice time there and I must say, it was the second best cherry bloom we saw in Japan (the best was again at a random addition to our trip at Ueda castle near Nagano).

Cherry blossoms

View from the top

Our next stop was the free observation tower on the 45th floor on top of the Tokyo metropolitan government office. The building has 4 towers and we went up the North Tower as that had the best view and was open in the evening too. There are multiple options to get such a view of Tokyo, e.g., Tokyo Skytree, but all the other options have a ticket and this one is free. There was a bit of a queue to get into the elevator but once on top, the view was impressive. We went in during evening hours, so we got to see the city and around both during the day and at night with the lights on.

View from the top

Tokyo is such a huge city and continues till where the eyes could see. It has a lot of normal height buildings, dotted with high rises in some areas. There weren't as many high rises as I had always expected though, they were concentrated in a few areas only. And there were many parks around with cherry blossoms and people picnicking under them on blue blankets. We took a few photos from up there, especially when the city slowly started to twinkle once the lights were switched on and the moon was shining up in the sky. Apparently, on a clear day you can see Mt Fuji from the tower, but we weren't that lucky, as it was hazy that day. So our Mt Fuji view was still to come.

Lights in Shinjuku

And then (yes, our day wasn't over yet), we went to Shinjuku which was another shopping area of Tokyo. It was full of dazzling lights and billboards everywhere, very lively and full of people even at night. We walked around a bit around the area, and also saw the Godzilla hotel which had a Godzilla on top of it. By now, Tokyo had started to feel like one of the liveliest city I have been to, with all the lights and people moving so fast all the time. I think it should definitely be called, the fast city.

Tokyo lights

Our last stop of the day was dinner at Gonpochi restaurant in Roppongi area. The restaurant is famous for having appeared in the second Kill Bill movie. It seemed a lot smaller in real though than what it appeared like in the movie. We had a sit down multi-course dinner with lots of different kinds of meats and vegetables. They also played the Kill Bill music theme when they got a cake for a birthday on our table, which was a totally amazing experience. After dinner, we had planned to explore Roppongi, but after having walked at least 15-20 kms during the day, we were totally exhausted and went back to our hotel and crashed soon after.


Day 3: Explore Tokyo: Imperial palace; Yasukuni-jinja shrine; lunch at Ramen street; Sensoji temple; Ueno park; dinner at Ninja restaurant

Hotel Otani gardens

The hotel Otani we were staying in had its own 400 year old garden right behind it. We had breakfast at the Garden restaurant in the morning and then went into the garden for some time before leaving for the day. It was a well landscaped typical Japanese garden, with its ponds, colourful fishes, stone structures, lots of different varieties of trees and a few cherry blossoms in full bloom. A few couples were also getting their wedding photography done there in the park. There was also a multi-day daily programme held in the park every day for the long weekend, celebrating the Sakura season. It included kimono shows, samurai fighting demonstrations, ninja fights and so on. We only saw some of the performers practising for the samurai show and it looked worth attending. However, given the timing of those during the day, we missed most of it as we were out exploring Tokyo.

Imperial Gardens

Today also we spent exploring Tokyo, but the eastern side and mostly the old part of Tokyo. We started the day with the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda. The Palace had a huge compound with a few older buildings, all surrounded by huge gardens. We kept looking for the palace building but couldn't find it at all 😝. I think its all hidden or not open to the public. We did find the fort wall and moat though, which made it look somewhat like a palace.

Imperial Gardens

The gardens were huge and we walked around a bit, starting from one gate and ending at another. There were a few cherry blossoms laden trees here and there which made for a picturesque sight. We spent some time in the Kitanamaru park - another typical Japanese garden. It had the standard landscaping of a Japanese garden, a pond, rock structures, flowing water, beautiful flowers up and down the hilly landscape and a lot of greenery all around. It was nice to sit in the park for some time and admire its peacefulness and charm in the sunny and warm spring weather.

Yasukuni shrine

From the Imperial Palace we walked to the Yasukuni-jinja shrine. It was a similar Shinto shrine as the one we had visited the day before. And cherry blossoms lined the path till the shrine, with the flowers providing a stunning roof-like feeling to all. There was a bit of wind around and the petals falling down in slow motion were very enchanting. I spent a lot of time outside the shrine. It was a calm place as all the Shinto shrines are. I also saw a small show going on on the side with women in Kimono serving traditional Japanese tea in traditional style to tourists.

Outside Yasukuni

I sat on the blossoms lined path enjoying the feeling (and calling China Air offices in Tokyo and Beijing airports, still trying to find my suitcase! It looked like they had finally found it in Beijing after I had called them with the colour and size of my suitcase and were finally sending it over to Tokyo! Phew...).

Some more cherry blossoms

There is a Yushukan War museum right next to the shrine where some of our group spent time. Apparently this museum showcases a nationalist version of Japan's role in World War II and throws a more positive light on the role of Japan in the war. We had a very interesting discussion after, as we learnt that Japan's history is a lot more complex than we all know about. There is a view that they were forced to enter the war as America had been trying to curb its influence in Asia, and they had to fight it. I am not sure where my view stands as I haven't read enough about Japanese history, but its always good to hear a different side, and looks like this museum wasn't apologetic about their history as much as some other sources.

After the shrine, we walked for lunch to Ramen street at Tokyo station which was an underground market in the by lanes of the station, famous for its ramen.There is a whole underground world, lined with shops and restaurants at Tokyo station, which makes it very tough to use Google maps to get anywhere. It took us forever to get to Ramen street and I think we must have walked a few kilometres at least to get there. Anyways, once we got there, we realised that most of the ramen places were pure meat which lot of us didn't eat. And a lot of options were not even understandable.

Food ordering kiosks

So a few of us walked into one of the restaurants called Hiroshima, and asked the waiter to serve us one of the dishes on the wall, which looked vegetarian! I have no clue what it was called, but it had egg, noodles and cabbage - all of which we could eat. It was quite an adventurous order for us and turned out to be yummy too. So at least we were well fed! Also all the restaurants here had a vending machine outside for ordering food, where all the text was in Japanese. It was definitely not helpful, and we had to make guesses to order and then just hope for the best!

Nakamise shopping street

Our next stop was one of my favourite places in Tokyo - the Sensoji Buddhist temple in Asakusa. There was a feel here which was different than the rest of Tokyo. And it felt like a Tokyo of old, more cultural and less fast than most other places we had been to. There was a huge entrance like a Tori gate, and then we walked through a market street lined with small shops selling traditional stuff on both sides. This was the Nakamise shopping street, known as one of the oldest markets in Tokyo. It was well lit, very lively and full of people even late at night. I don't know if it was because of the sakura season, or the norm, but it felt like every place in Tokyo was full of people all the time.

Sensoji temple

And then we came to the temple at the end which was a lovely building in red with two huge gates and one huge orange tower on the side. It was all lighted up and looked like a painting at night. We walked around the temple a bit and then just sat and admired the architecture and peacefulness around.

By then, I was very tired and ready to go back to the hotel and rest. We however still went to the Ueno park as our last stop to see the cherry blossoms. We walked on one of the park lanes which was decorated with candles on both sides lighting up the cherry blossoms, though we could not see them in the dark. We ate some butta from the local market and then went to our dinner place which was very near our hotel - a Ninja restaurant.

It was based on the Ninja theme and was setup like an underground cave. The waiters there were dressed as Ninjas and would do some sneaky and scary things in keeping with the theme. During dinner, one of the waiters came in and showed magic tricks to our group. The food there was ok, and the experience a bit underwhelming. The high point for us though was that while leaving the restaurant, the main waiter came out with a 'Fir milenge' placard and took a photo with all of us! Apparently it is standard practice, but we loved it nonetheless 😂.

After dinner, we went back to Shinjuku to a few pubs - the Hub British pub and then a wine bar. The area didn't feel as safe as usual though at night. We encountered a few people on the street who looked a bit shady. And they were all non-Japanese, the maximum number of non Japanese I had seen at any one place in the entire trip. Anyways, then we danced a bit on the street to Bollywood songs, which must have shocked a few Japanese around. It felt so different and almost like freedom to be able to do this.


Day 4 - Explore Tokyo: Tsukiji fish market; experience VR zone; explore Ginza; lunch at Annam; leave for Nagano; stay at Nagano Metropolitan hotel

Today was our last day in Tokyo before we returned here on the last day of our trip. We decided to make it a relatively relaxed day as the past few days had been very hectic. Some people went to see the famed Tsukiji fish market in the morning which needed them to wake up very very early. The market is in the open and full of different types as well as huge fresh fishes being auctioned. And I heard that the unique thing about the place was that it was so regularly and rigorously cleaned that even though it was a fish market, it didn't smell at all. I think I will have to visit it sometime to see it for myself.

Some of us had gone for VR - virtual reality zone - the previous day and raved so much about it that the rest of us decided to go there in the morning. And what a letdown it was! The centre had multiple games that you could buy tickets for - going down a steep ledge of a mountain, being in a hospital with zombies, shooting and fighting dinosaurs, going down skiing a tough route, racing cars as mario and so on. I tried two of them - the skiing and the dinosaur park and wasn't impressed at all. The graphics were not at all realistic or as realistic as I had expected them to be. It felt quite cheaply done actually and it gave me quite a headache. So I would say give it a miss unless you really want to experience it.

The rest of the day we spent in Ginza - the shopping district of Tokyo. It had wide tree lined roads, with huge stores on both sides. And popular among those was the multiple floor stores of Shiseido as well as a few specialty stores like Donki etc.. We spent most of our time sitting in some cafes and then went for another Indian lunch at Annam. It was one of the tastiest food I have had, and loved it totally. We also chatted with the owner, Deep who told his story of how he was an MBA and banker in his previous life but now a restaurateur. We also went for a massage at a place called Re Ra Ku in the area before leaving for Nagano. And it was amazing, one of the best massages I have had in quite some time - would definitely recommend it.

My overall experience of Tokyo was mixed. I liked all the old stuff - the shrines, temples, parks and so on but wasn't as impressed by the new side much. The shiny lights were too much for me. Tokyo also felt like a madhouse, especially the metro. There was a lot of walking around underground when travelling by metro, with very long connections at the same station. It was really a lot. And you had to tap in and out as you changed lines as all the lines were owned by someone else. The Tokyo station was especially crazy!

There are a couple of things in our itinerary which we missed, like Hamariku garden, Akihbara, the Rainbow bridge etc.. Also there were loads of typical city things in our itinerary which we could have missed, which could have made our time less hectic - the busiest intersection, Shinjuku, Godzilla hotel and Ueno park. I would suggest that if you are not a city person like me, it is better to only spend 1-2 days in Tokyo and see only the things you like, well. I would suggest spending more time in other parts of Japan which are less chaotic and more cultural.

Shinkansen

Anyways, after finishing all this, we took the bullet train or the Shinkansen to our next stop - Nagano. We had bought a JR pass - which is a 7 day pass allowing unlimited travel on the bullet train. Apparently you can buy it only if you are foreigner. And you have to order it when you are not in the country. We were excited to go on a bullet train for the first time and they did not disappoint. The trains stopped only for 2 mins at any stop and surprisingly, everyone was able to board well within that time. The speed was super fast but we didn't feel it as much, especially as it was already dark and night by that time. But we could see on our app that the speed was above 250 kms. Inside, the trains were very comfortable and we figured out how to turn the seats so we could all sit facing each other. And they had very clean toilets. All in all, a good experience.

We reached Nagano late and checked into the Nagano Metropolitan hotel which was located right next to the station. Nagano felt like a quiet sleepy town. It was in our itinerary as some of us were planning to go skiing close by. But given the snow had melted earlier this year, we couldn't go for skiing and so did other stuff there. We had already eaten in the train, after picking up food from Eataly in the Tokyo station, so we called it a day very soon.


Day 5 - Explore Nagano: Monkey Park; Ueda Castle; Nagano onsen; Zenkoji temple; dinner at Yamakusi

Nagano felt like quite a commercial city in the morning, and something about it made me feel it was like Delhi. Though we could see mountains from the windows, so that's definitely different from Delhi. We had breakfast at Starbucks in the station as nothing much was open at that time.

Our first stop of the day was the Monkey Park. We had to buy tickets which included both the bus till the park and the entry fee. The drive was about an hour or so through the countryside. And very relaxing. All of us slept in the bus. It was warm and sunny outside and made it even more cosy to sleep. The countryside was full of some tree plantations which I couldn't figure out. And there were lots of hills and streams around, with some snow on the mountains. The place looked quite rural with small huts and people busy in agriculture.

Monkey Park

The Monkey Park to be honest was nothing worth visiting. The USP of the place is that there is a hot spring there and the Japanese Macaques from the mountains come and spend time around the spring. And in winter when its all snowed out and cold, the monkeys even dip and stay in the hot spring during the day. For now, they were just usual monkeys frolicking around. Thankfully they were very friendly and not at all trying to snatch food from us, like the Indian monkeys.

Man making Yasoba noodles

Once back from the park, we again had a quick lunch at the food court in the station. During this time, I observed a man making yasoba noodles from flour. It was such an involved process going on for 15 mins in one cycle, of making a huge chapati and then cutting it in very tight thin noodles. The man went on working on it, like a machine, without looking left and right. It was a fascinating sight but I do wonder if this needs to be done manually even today?

First view of Ueda castle

After lunch, some of us went to Ueda castle in the nearby town of Ueda. The visit to the castle though decided last minute was one of the highlights of the trip for me. We took a bullet train to Ueda and then walked about 15 mins to the castle. There were loads of cherry blossoms at the bottom of the castle cliff which were in full bloom. And then we walked up and were faced with one of the most magnificent sights of the trip! The castle was a wooden structure and very cute and charming. There was a small shrine up in the castle, dedicated to the Sankada samurai family.

Moat and cherry blossoms

And all around the castle was a moat surrounded by blossoms. They were in full bloom then and the best cherry blossom photos of our trip were taken here. We walked all around the moat, just loving the views, of the reflections of the blossoms in the water, and enjoying just the feeling of being so close to such stunning nature. It turned out to be a very good idea to go there even if it was a last minute plan for us.

Cherry blossoms at Ueda

Shrine at Ueda

Cherry blossoms at Ueda

Basketball court

And while coming down the cliff, we saw a group of children playing basketball in the court, surrounded with blossom trees on all sides. It was so fascinating to see this sight, must be fun to play like this. Isn't it?

There is also a famous onsen (hot spring water bath) in Nagano which some people went too and was good. Could be a potential activity to do if you ever land up here.

Zenkoji temple

Once back from Ueda, we went to the Zenkoji temple in Nagano and it was lovely. The entrance had a huge carved wooden gate. It had a huge compound with lot of Buddha statues. And cherry blossoms and trees all around too. We could have spent hours exploring the place, but as it was night, it was already closed. We still spent some time there as there was so much peace all around. I also realised that Buddhism in Japan had less symbolism and colourful art than what I have seen in Himachal, Sikkim and Arunachal. Its more subdued, almost different in some ways...

Entrance to Zenkoji

Statues at Zenkoji

We then started walking downhill to our hotel and saw that all the shops on the road were closed. The road also had small wooden temples stationed on both sides of the road. They were all old wooden buildings and would look different during the day. Maybe Nagano did have some things to explore after all?!

For dinner, while walking back we stopped at a restaurant on the way - Yamakusi. It felt like a traditional Japanese restaurant and we had to take off our shoes before getting in. It had a multi course dinner - soba set meals - which was yum. The food was amazing especially the masala they give with the tempura. And it looked like things are different here than big cities like Tokyo. Here everyone who was leaving the restaurant was saying bye to us 😊. It felt nice to see this side of Japan, how things can be different in smaller cities, even if we still had a bit of a touristic lens.

Part 2: Kyoto and Koyasan
Part 3: Impressions of Japan

Jim Corbett safaris

Foggy mornings at Jim Corbett

In Jan this year, I finally made it to Jim Corbett National Park, a park I have been trying to visit for years. It was a 4 day trip, with two days spent in travel from and to Delhi and two days of safaris. I loved the jungle, it was so green and dense and pristine, so stunning in its rawness. And even though we barely spotted a tiger, it was still fine as we saw a few other wild animals in their natural surroundings. But given it was January, the cold made it quite an average trip as we were always so cold, we could barely move or explore anything outside of the safaris we went on. So as much as I enjoyed this trip, I know I need to go back when the weather is more tolerable, and this time, get to see the real park, its animal, its trees, its rivers and explore all it has to explore, much more than what I was able to do on this trip.


Getting There

We had planned for a 4 day trip to the Park and we got a driver to drive us from and to Delhi. Google Maps shows the driving time to be about 6 hours but we took a bit longer, given the bad traffic and fog on the way. We were staying at the Corbett Riverside Resort which is located in Dhikuli near Ramnagar. The route from Delhi to Dhikuli goes through small towns of UP and Uttarakhand - Hapur, Moradabad and Kashipur, names I have always heard but had never been to. We took quite long to get out of Delhi given the usual city traffic. And thereafter, the drive was just about comfortable.

The road is most of the way a single lane road with crazy traffic going both sides. And I could easily see why it was a good idea for me not to drive on this trip - the driving skills required to drive in such smaller roads in India are beyond me. Where vehicles overtake each other even when there is oncoming traffic!! And 2 vehicles could at the same time be overtaking the same vehicle!! This is the kind of driving I had never learnt and given how long I have been driving outside India, where you have to follow the rules of the road, I don’t think I can handle this anymore 😁. Its best to leave such driving to the experts.

It was very cold and foggy most of the way on the drive. And we could see rural India waking up and getting on with its daily tasks. There were small towns all the way till Ramnagar, the rural parts of UP which reminded me of my childhood days when I used to be in touch with and see a lot more of the real India. Everything felt so nice and fresh in the January fog. With small mud or brick houses, small settlements, cattle walking around and people going on about their agriculture based life. There were many people sitting on the sides of the roads, around a burning fire and having their morning teas. And even though it was so cold, they were not wearing as many warm clothes as I was.

The roadside was quite green most of the way. We crossed lot of fields full of sarson and sugarcane. And also some industries on the way. We also crossed the Ganga which always feels surreal. The last part of the road before we got to Ramnagar got worse in quality and gave us a lot of bumps on the way. But overall the journey was quite nondescript.

Ramnagar was the nearest town to our resort. It is located in the foothills, and right after that you start going up the mountains. Dhikuli and Garjiya are popular places to stay nearby, on the banks of river Kosi. These were erstwhile villages which now are a huge stretch of all kinds of luxury hotels lining the narrow mountain road, close to the Bijrani entrance to the Park.

A lot of India - its towns and cities - are so imperfect that way. Its cities are not as pretty as in say, Europe and nature is also beautiful only in the mountains and near the sea. Most of the plains are bereft of any obvious beauty other than the lush green fields during season. But this is what home is like for me. I thought a lot during this drive, comparing my life now and what my home is like. Now these scenes feel like from a different century, a place I have left so far behind that I worry sometimes if I can relate to it anymore? Its not happened yet, but can it happen some day?


Our Accommodation - Corbett Riverside Resort

We reached our hotel, the Corbett Riverside Resort - slightly late at night after it had got dark. It was along the line of resorts, towards the end, nearer to Garjiya and was right on the banks of river Kosi. Our first impression of the resort was not great though. We had expected better rooms but the ones we saw hadn’t been upgraded for years. Given it was late, it was tough to change our hotel but we looked at a few of their other rooms and shifted to the tiger den which was definitely much better.

Outside tiger den

So it turned out they had an older set of rooms which were not great and looked nothing like the ones on booking.com. But as you went inside the resort, the ones closer to the river Kosi bank were a lot better. So we took the best ones and felt slightly better about the trip after the initial shock 😊. The tiger den rooms were huge, well decorated and had a pool and swing right outside the room. It was definitely an upgrade and would have been even more awesome in summer.

Grounds in the resort

The hotel had a lot of open and green space, lined with trees, flowers and even a kitchen garden. It was enjoyable to sit outside and enjoy the sun. The service was good as everyone was trying to help the residents. Right outside the huge green space was the river Kosi, lazily flowing on a wide riverbed and across it were small mountains. The whole view and ambience was picturesque and relaxing. At least during the day, it felt that the resort would have been awesome when it was first developed and had definitely seen better days.

They had a restaurant on the river banks which served buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had breakfast there daily and dinner only the first day. The breakfast had a good spread and was tasty. The dinner though felt overpriced and average. At night, they organised bonfires outside where live singers belted out hindi songs at night, with the fire keeping the residents warm as well as cooking food. It would have been fun to come here in a big group (and also if it wasn’t so cold). Also apparently tigers had been seen outside the resort gate at least 5 times in the last few years. So it was definitely a fun place to be, though we of course didn’t get to see the tigers, even inside the park 😜.

Kosi river bed

The Kosi riverbed was huge and wide though currently there was not a lot of water in the river and all the stones underneath were exposed. We saw people playing in the water when the sun was out, which was surprising. And some people were walking their donkeys or crossing with their horses through the river. I really wonder how they were able to get into the cold water! Maybe it wasn’t as cold as I thought, but I did not dare venture in to check.


Weather

When we were there, it was the peak of foggy winter. So temperatures were very low and there was fog all over the park, and even outside. But two mornings, the resort right outside the Park was all sunny and clear, which made us expect clearer safaris, but that was not to be, and it was still all foggy and cold inside. Apparently it was so because there had been no rains and winds from the hills for some time, so the fog just stayed there forever. Sometimes though the sun came out and it got warmer but there was still a chill in the air which made us all very lazy to get out of our rooms much (as they had heaters on).


About Jim Corbett Park

Jim Corbett Park is one of the largest national parks in India and extends mostly in the foothills of the Himalayas, in Uttarakhand. Only about 20% of the area is designated as tourist allowed zones, the rest is not open to public. It has 5 major tourist zones each with its own safari entry gate. There were villages earlier inside the Park but most of them have been moved away. The names of the tourist zones and gates are the only memories of the villages which now remain.

It has about 200 tigers in total, all of which are tracked and counted regularly by an office in Dehradun. It is also one of the most respected national parks in India - here most of the rules are followed, the forest is well maintained and there is very little litter (which is saying a lot for any place in India!). And you can see the pride in all the people who work here. It does provide employment through tourism to the residents around but you can see how much they enjoy and value working here, talking about its animals and how the Park has done a great job of protecting them.

Bijrani guest house in the park

Even within the park, there is a buffer zone which still has villages and locals staying there. You need to cross the buffer zone to get in and get into the main park. Inside it also has forest offices and guest houses located in each of the zones. These are from British times and have an old world charm about them. The rangers and forest officials stay inside, for conducting their research and protecting the animals. Also, the park if open for most of the year except the rainy season when all the rivers and river beds fill up with water and that is when it shuts down.


About the gypsy safaris

Bookings for the safaris opens only 45 days before and mostly rules are followed for booking. At max, 2 VIP permits are allowed last minute, not more. We went for safaris to the Bijrani and Jhirna zones. For the Bijrani gate, at max 30 gypsies are allowed daily and this is tightly controlled. Each safari has a guide and the driver who work as a team. All of them are locals and know each other, they have been working here all their lives,and regularly share info with all the passing gypsies. They can also guess looking at people’s faces if they have seen tigers yet or not 😜.

We had booked our safaris early on - 4 gypsy safaris with a guide and driver, 3 of them in the Bijrani zone where tiger sightings are more common and one in Jhrina zone which was a bit farther and smaller. We did two morning safaris which start at 6 am and two evening ones for which you leave around 2. The gypsy comes and picks you up from your hotel, and then you can go and lineup at the gate, waiting for your turn to go in. People queue up very early as they want to be the first ones to go in, before the other gypsies come in and disturb the peace.

Gypsy safaris

The morning safaris were crazy. First of all you leave when its still very dark. On top of it, it was so so cold in the fog, we could barely keep our faces out of all the layers and blankets we had on top of us. And then driving around in an open gypsy doesn’t make any of it any easier. But this is the best way to spot maximum animals and so there we were.


Flora and Fauna - Bijrani zone

Small rivers

We did 3 safaris (2 morning and 1 afternoon) in the Bijrani zone. It is one of the larger zones, with some small mountains, a river bed, some small rivulets, a beautiful valley and lot of greenery, tiger grass and forests in this zone. Once inside, you end up driving all along the criss crossing roads in the zone, tracking animal calls and trying to spot the elusive tiger.

Jungles of Jim Corbett

To be honest given how dense and green the jungle was, and how cold it was, we saw very limited animals. In fact in one of the safaris, we only saw a few deer in the entire 2 hours! This is quite in contrast to the African safaris where you see a lot more animals because of the dry grasslands. But I think that’s where the charm of Jim Corbett park is. Its dense and green jungles make it tougher but also more satisfying when you spot an animal suddenly which had been casually hiding in the foliage till a second ago. Most of the vegetation here is made up of semi-deciduous trees, with more than 100 varieties of trees found here, sal being the most common one. And apparently, the forest here is always green. The different trees have different seasons for shedding their leaves, so there will always be a part of the forest green anf flowering.

Jungle evenings

There were some small mountains and a bit of undulating landscapes but not too much. We drove by a lot of small rivulets and through a river bed where tiger spotting is common. Except that it was too foggy to see a tiger even if he was right in front of you 😁. The whole jungle was very calm and serene all through, very quiet, with huge trees all around you. And there weren’t too many gypsies either given the winter weather.

Sunrise on a cold foggy morning

We saw a stunning sunrise one of the mornings with sun rays falling on the grasslands, the river bed and the mountains which felt even more charming against the white fog. The trees looked exquisite in the sunrise, with shades of yellow and green. But the fascinating scenes in the mornings were not enough for us to even get our faces fully out of our jackets! It was too cold and I really wish the weather had been just a tad bit warmer.

Sambhar

We spotted a lot of animals overall in the safaris. We ran into a few sambhars in the foliage, the tiger’s favourite prey.

Barking deer

We spotted a few barking deer which I had seen for the first time. They are very small and reddish in colour. They are very sensitive by nature, prefer to graze around solitary and run away at the slight sound of people. We heard one of it bark too and they sound like dogs barking, hence the name.

Hunched langur

We saw a few spotted deer, chitals and rhesus monkeys here and there, but even those were too few and far between in the morning safaris. The langurs that we saw were mostly on the trees, sitting in a slouched pose, hugging themselves in the cold. They were always hanging out in groups and are generally one of the most dependable animals for giving timely tiger alarm calls. Apparently langurs and spotted deer are good friends too, they hang out together and help each other against other predators.

More langur

We spotted a few birds too in the jungle - some peacocks, an orange woodpecker, a couple of yellow and red birds and some jungle peafowl. There are some migratory birds also which are found near the Dhikala reservoir which is supposed to be the richest in terms of number and variety of animals spotted.

Deer inside the park

Regarding the larger animals, we saw some bear and tiger pug marks along the tracks but that was it. Apparently this zone had some 4-5 tigers and a few tiger cubs too. But their movements were limited because of the cold, making spotting less probable. We saw lot of recent tiger pug marks and heard a couple of deer alarm calls. We tracked the pug marks and alarm calls a few times but never ever spotted a tiger. There was a lioness with 3 cubs apparently in the river bed but she never came out to give us a look 😟. The other guides would say - ‘mota sal ke paas kal tiger dikha tha (thats how the guides identify locations in the jungle) and we would go there but with no luck. And that's how all the three safaris went

Also apparently, one of the mornings we were there, a group of school children who had come in late, spotted a tiger near the Bijrani forest office, right near the entrance and left soon enough within 30 mins of being on the safari! Thats how lucky or unlucky you can be with spottings. Our guide also mentioned that all the real wildlife lovers wouldn’t mind if they didn’t have a spotting. They would sit in the same place for hours to wait for a tiger and not complain if they didn’t see it. This was quite the contrast with the typical tourists (me included) who still expect a tiger to turn up in every safari 😂.

Constrained elephants

When you enter the gate and drive through the buffer zone, you first stop at the Bijrani forest office which has a few guesthouses from British times. Apparently you can even stay there inside the park. They have a few tame elephants kept there. Earlier they used to take tourists on elephant safaris. However, the tigers had attacked them a couple of times and so they stopped running those. The tame elephants still stay near the guesthouses. On one of the safaris we came across them while they were eating their breakfast in the forest near the offices. But I found it quite disturbing that two of their feet were bound by chains making it tough for them to walk so they cant get too far. I can understand why its done but I still think its inhuman to do it. These majestic animals need to roam free, at least in a national park...

Male wild elephant...

And we did have such a spotting on the safari. We ran into a lone wild male elephant who was sitting in the tiger grass. Elephants especially lone male ones are known to be very aggressive. So our guide drove there in reverse gear so that he was ready and could accelerate and drive away the gypsy comfortably at any time. Even though I felt at the time that it was being too cautios, it turned out that precautions like these are required.

...charging at us

While we were casually observing him from a distance, he walked lazily towards us and then suddently charged! You could clearly see he would have attacked us if we hadn’t driven away immediately. But he soon lost interest in us, turned around and walked away in the river bed for some time. It was at this point the guide said - as innocent as they look, elephants are the most dangerous animals in these jungles. Tigers to sajjan hote hai, not aggressive at all and very shaant in nature.

I really liked this spotting as its the first time I had seen a wild elephant in India. I also realised that African animals on an average are much bigger than their Indian counterparts.


Flora and fauna - Jhirna zone

Our last safari was in Jhirna zone which was about 25 kms away from Girjya and supposedly had less tigers than Bijrani. It was a bit of a drive to get there, but actually turned out to be our best safari of the trip. The weather was better, we saw more animals and almost spotted a tiger too! So much for the better zones.

We got down from the hills towards Ramnagar and then drove in the plains to get to the Jhirna gate. It was at a much lower height, at just 300m above sea level so the weather also considerably improved (and that means became warmer). It was apparently around 20 degrees or so then, but it definitely felt colder than that. So to be safe, we were still all packed up but definitely more comfortable than the other safaris.

It felt a lot more urban area on the drive there and we saw a lot more high end resorts near this gate. We also drove through some of the villages on the way which had litchi and mango orchards on both sides. I now remember when I used to stay in Dehradun, we used to get a lot of mangoes and litchis from this area. The road to Dehradun also apparently passed through this area, though now its being disused.

Grasslands of Jhirna

Jhirna was more plain and less dense than the other zones with a lot more grasslands and open spaces. Jhirna is the name of a village which was located in this zone. The village was slowly moved out and its location has now become a grassland, which is still plain and easily visible from far. This is also where a lot of spottings happen, given the easy view. We saw a wild boar, a sambhar and a few peacocks walking around lazily in this grassland.

Wild peacock

And then we saw a hornbill fly away. As we drove around this vast plain area, we also saw two spotted deer eating ber from the tree. The male deer was jumping and shaking the tree with his antlers for the ber to fall down for him and his mate to eat. It was a very charming sight and I remember our guide’s comment on the scene - bhagwan har kisi ko zinda rehne layak buddhi zaroor deta hai.

Vulture family

Inside the zone, we saw loads of langurs and monkeys, all sitting atop trees and eating away to glory. On one of the huge mountain cliffs, we spotted a family of vultures who were soaring away is the skies. It was a huge family of 20-30 vultures, some of them sitting around the nest and sunning themselves in the sun, some were sitting on top of the trees and some flying around looking for their next prey.

Just born deer

And of course we saw the usual spotted deer everywhere, eating away while the temperature was comfortable. We even saw a baby of only 1-2 days who stared at us for 5 mins, trying to figure out what we were, before running off to its mother. That was a very cute and endearing sight.

Where we saw a tiger
for a brief second!

We did have our one minor tiger spotting in this zone. A gypsy was going in front of us and right when it turned around a bend, I saw a yellow spot swiftly cross the road. Vaguely hoping it was a tiger, I shouted and our driver accelerated the gypsy towards the bend. And my guide, driver and friend then caught a glimpse of the baby tiger on the other side of the road who glanced at us and then ran away jumping through the grass! And its so surprising that even though I spotted it and directed our gypsy towards it, I couldn’t spot it when it was on the other side of the road. And the gypsy right in front of us also did not see the tiger crossing right behind it. I guess thats what tiger spottings are about, totally random and luck dependent events.

Coming back from Jhirna

So we spent the next 2 hours hoping to run into the tiger again but alas that was not our luck. We did spot the usual animals though. And while coming back from this gate, we gave a lift to a local woman who was walking back to the village. While talking to her, she casually mentioned how she has spotted so many tigers and leopards walking past her multiple times while she was here cutting grass. I don’t think I can ever imagine what king of feeling it would be to see tigers and leopards on your daily walks, isn’t it?


Outside the park

We did not spend much time outside the resort given the daily safaris and the cold. All along the road, on one side there is teak plantation and the other side are resorts. Of those, Taj Gateway seemed quite a nice place to stay. It had a nice ambience and lot of activities to keep you busy.

Other than the resorts, there were loads of small typical tourist shops - some selling souvenirs, some dhabas offering local food, some tourist activities and of course the typical tea stalls - all along the road. There were two elephants standing next to the road and offering rides to children. And unlike inside the park, there was too much litter everywhere. We had dinner at Kebab Grill everyday, right next to our resort and it was one of the tastiest meals that I have had in a long time. All these local dhabas offer such tasty food, I am always surprised by it.

One of the days I also went to Ramnagar for a small errand which was the nearest town and I was just amazed at the pace and life of the small town India we have all left behind. I went to the local market and it felt so natural and alien at the same time that its weird. For now I still feel local and at home at such places, but I sometime wonder when I will start looking at all this like an outsider?


Coming back

Anyways so it was time soon to come back and another long drive to Delhi. There was no fog in the hills where we were but the moment we were back in the plains in Ramnagar, it got foggy all the way to Delhi. While coming back, I was chuckling on the fact that even after 6 safaris at 2 different parks, I never spotted a tiger (or barely one) as it was winter. And in 2 out of 4 safaris in Kanha, we had managed a few great sightings! The weather (and of course luck) makes such a huge difference…

From this visit, I’ve also figured out the best way to visit Kanha from Delhi. It makes sense to take the overnight train to Ramnagar as its more convenient and saves time. And then it makes sense to stay inside the park. Of the different locations possible inside, the Dhikala reservoir zone is supposedly the best. It is on the banks of the huge Ramganga reservoir inside the park and when you stay there, you can go for daily safaris.. You are closer to the interiors and have higher chance of better sightings. And apparently you can even see wild elephant packs there unlike other zones. But all this needs to be booked as a package deal beforehand. So thats the plan for the next time 😀.