Little sis and I got up really early to get on the Shinkansen to Matsumoto. It wasn't particularly difficult to get there but it took a lot of travelling time. We had to change trains a couple of times, from Kami-Itabashi to Ikebukuro (15 minutes), Ikebukuro to Tokyo (25 minutes), Tokyo to Nagano (90 minutes), then got on the Shinano Limited Express from Nagano to Matsumoto (50 minutes).
We got bento sets at Tokyo Station since the journey to Nagano was a long one. Once we got off at Nagano station, we were so happy because the weather is much cooler than Tokyo, it was only 20 degrees at 10 in the morning. We got on the Shinano Limited Express for Matsumoto and the view from the train was amazing, passing by many towns, lakes, rivers and farms. It felt like 2010 again, my first time in Japan.
We finally arrived at Matsumoto at 12 noon and went to check in at the Ryokan, the view from the Ryokan was so pretty because you could see the mountains faraway and it was right next to a river. You could actually rent bicycles from the Ryokan for free and cycle around Matsumoto city but I can't cycle to save my life so we just waited for the bus to arrive to bring us back to Matsumoto station.
Back at the station, we went to the tourist information counter to get directions to Kamikochi but since it was already a little late and it would take too long to go to Kamikochi, we settled for going to Kiso Valley, which is an untouched post - edo village. It was again, quite a hassle to get there since we already missed the direct train to get to Narai Station. There's only one to Narai-juku every hour, the person at the counter advised us to go to Kiso-Fukushima Station first since we had some time to kill, then take the direct train from Kiso-Fukushima Station to Narai-juku.
Once we got to Kiso-Fukushima, we came out of the station and explored a little. There was a nice river nearby and there were some shops but most of them were closed.
There was a lot of mountains surrounding the area and of course, there were no high rise buildings in sight, which made me feel like I really was on a holiday, escaping from the fast-paced city life. We went to get something small to eat at a bakery and waited for the train to take us to Narai Station.
We got to Narai Station close to 4, it was really quiet and quite deserted which I really liked. The post edo town really looked like it popped out of an anime, or the live-action Rurouni Kenshin movies. It was really nice and actually looked somewhat, fantasy like, if I phrase it correctly. I don't know exactly how to phrase it, haha.
It was a really long stretch of old houses, the walk was never ending. There were a couple of shrines, cafes, restaurants and temples a long the way. Little sis and I stopped by for some pumpkin steamed buns which was really nice, and she also bought mom some stuff from a little cute shop just next to it.
At the end of the village, there was a temple which reminded me of Inuyasha (haven't watched it in forever). Infront of the temple, there were some cute houses. The area felt really peaceful, it was really quiet with hardly any cars or vehicles driving by.
We made our way back to the station only to realise that we missed the train again and had to wait over an hour to get on the next one. So we went to explore the other side of the road, closer to the river, there was a bridge there as well and a abandoned playground.
When we were done exploring, there was still an hour left to spare but we were so tired from travelling around the entire day, we just decided to wait for the train at the station. It was getting dark and honestly, it kind of creeped the both of us out because there was only one lamp post at the station and it was toooooo quiet. While waiting, little sis and I heard some whistling and it freaked us out and we looked around to make sure it wasn't a ghost (lol), thankfully it was just a guy whistling while crossing the road. Definitely had us there.
When it got completely dark, the station reminded me of the one in Spirited Away. This image kept playing in my head :
It was getting colder and the both of us were getting worried. The only thing that kept us from worrying too much was more people showing up at the station. Finally, the train arrived and it was pretty empty as well. We finally made our way to Matsumoto at about 7-ish, and went to the Matsumoto Castle. It wasn't a long walk, it only took 15 minutes from the station to get there. I couldn't get a good picture of it since it was cold and my hands were shaking.
After walking around for a bit, we went to have dinner and got back to the Ryokan by bus. It was already 10pm when we got back and as I was smoking while walking to the Ryokan, the both of us looked up at the sky and there were so many stars that night. It was really nice, and smoking in the cold air always makes me feel at peace. I can't wait till it gets colder in Tokyo.
We got back to the room and changed into our yukatas and went to the onsen at the Ryokan, it wasn't fancy or anything, it was just a simple small one but both me and little sis really enjoyed it. After a warm bath, the both of us retired to bed. I couldn't really sleep so I was listening to the Arctic Monkeys the entire night while waking up in every now and then.
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