We arrived Changi airport some hours before our departure.
To continue from A Little Surprise, J's luggage arrived near noon but the condition of the baggage was so bad that it was beyond repair and usage. This is the only big luggage we had and we rushed to Giant in IMM to purchase one.
At Changi airport, we filled in the forms to file a claim against the baggage damage.
Finally the plane took off as scheduled. We arrived shortly before 7am the next day in Narita Airport Terminal 2.
The queue in the immigration counter was pretty long but quite smooth because there were staff stationed to monitor the flow.
At about 8.15am, we have exchanged our Japan Rail vouchers for our Japan Rail pass and seat reservations have been settled.
We took Narita Express to reach Tokyo station before 10am. We bought our first bento to eat on the train from Tokyo to Nagano.
The Nagano Dentetsu was not too difficult to find and by 1pm, we were at Yudanaka Station.
The walk to Kokuya was pretty long as we did not know the way. We asked around but still unsure. Dragging 2 pieces of luggages on icy roads was pretty challenging too. Nevertheless the snow along the route made us quite happy.
Finally we saw Zeno and located Kokuya. Kokuya is a posh ryokan with 8 hot baths in it. Isa was very eager to try the 8 baths plus the 9 public baths in Shibu Onsen. However, after comparing the hot baths in the ryokan with the public baths, we settled for the baths in the ryokan. The conditions in the public baths did not look inviting at all. They looked dark and cold.
We have chosen to remain in the ryokan to enjoy the hot baths for the rest of the day instead of going to the Snow Monkey Park because everybody was tired after the long flight and the train journey.
At 6pm, we had our kaiseki dinner in a private Japanese room. Many dishes beautifully decorated were served by a lady dressed in kimono. We ate one dish after another. At times, we did not know which dish to eat first too. We had an excellent dinner in the first night in Japan. J was shocked when he found that I have spent more than SGD 550 for this night in this ryokan with a kaiseki dinner and a Japanese breakfast. He said we better not sleep but enjoyed the hot baths throughout. But we were simply too tired after a heavy dinner. We went to some of the baths, both indoor and outdoor in the ryokan. The water was simply too hot for Isa and myself. In the end, we did not manage to dip ourselves totally in the baths except J.
We slept pretty early that night.
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