Beware, bears in the woods

We left Takayama early, and spent a lot of the day in trains. The trains are so reliable and efficient. On one of them we sat with two women who had been to the bigger town to shop. They were very jolly and chatty. Apparently the clouds are all caused by the pollution coming over from China. They insisted on giving us a doughnut each. everybody is so warm and friendly. The older schoolchildren look very stressed though and go to special classes at weekends. I noticed one girl a few days ago sleeping over her books on the train back from Hiroshima.

After the third train we got a bus up the mountain then walked back to Tsumago, a medieval village which had been a post town during the Edo period, on the old Nakasendo Way. This was an old route between Tokyo and Kyoto. We passed 2 pretty waterfalls,and continued through woods of pines and bamboo, on the cobbled paving. Every 50 yards or so we had to ring a bell like this to scare bears. I don’t know if it worked or not, but we saw no bears.

Getting nearer the village we went by many different trees in blossom. Some cherry is over now, but mountain peach is really beautiful. Needless to say, I have taken far too many photos. We stopped for a beer then got another train to Matsumoto, where we are relaxing in a comfortable hotel. We are reunited with our big bags but have to prepare again to pack what we need in a day sack for tomorrow’s train to Yudanaka.

We haven’t gone out to eat tonight. We are dining on wasabi peas and a glass of wine. This is such an interesting trip, but it is quite full-on.

I think I have an appointment with an English-speaking Dentist in Tokyo. It might be an expensive decision, as so far my broken tooth is ok, but my concern is that I’d be in agony in Siberia, so it seemed the sensible thing to do.