NOZAWA ONSEN

Thursday, 5 November, I finally took off from Tokyo. It is with great pleasure that I board into the bus, plus it is pink! Once on board, the seats are quite funny with small individual screens.
Attention..disappearance !! Tada!

Well.. seriously I have not used this trick, I rather watched the beautiful scenery that becomes increasingly hilly. With the colors and the sun that is blazing each leaves, the show is mesmerizing and I do not see the time passing.

My neighboors fell asleep with the muzzle mask, arbor over their head. The 4 hours bus passed, I found myself in Nagano. This name sounds familiar ... of course !! The Olympics of 98, we will say that many signs are still present from this event and this just in the train station, I didn't go in town, the train is in one hour, I get myself a little something to eat which happens to be the local specialty, dumplings that look like buns.

This one is stuffed with nozawana, it looks a bit like chard, that's not bad!

An old train enters the station. Everyone takes place and we are heading north of the valley. An old woman in quimono is in front of me, I continue to see this landscape that inspires me and it does takes a few minutes after departure that all passengers fall asleep. It must be a reflex for Japaneses, everyone head dangling along the route.
Arrival at Iiyama Station, I take the last bus from this long day. I finally arrive in Nozawa Onsen!

Now I must climb to Lodge Nagano. The evening is going really well, I meet Kyoko then Luke presenting me the village and helping me prepare my room and then I discover a great team of volunteers from all countries during the preparation of dinner.
Everyone prepares his meal so I'm going shopping with Thomas. He shows me the nearest Onsen from the Lodge. This small building does not look like a public bath and we could easily take it for a house but small signs '' men's '' and '' lady's '' on the door clearly show the separation of rooms. I go, equipped with my little basket containing all the survival kit: soap, shampoo, conditionner and towel!

I try for the first time in my life an entry in the world of hygiene rituals of Japanese.

So :

1 - you remove your shoes upon entry

2 - you put carefully your shoes on the lowest shelf and the rest of all (yes all) your clothes in the lockers above.

3 - you take your little basket and you will sit on the edge of the pool and take a small bucket

4 - you take hot water from the basin and you sprinkles yourself with hot water (you can cut it with cold water if it is too hot because the water is often over 40C and this naturally!)

5 - you soap yourself and rinse

6 - you nuster the courage and enter in the bath which is 40C and more

7 - you stay as long as possible while trying to relax at best

8 - you win! You're red like a lobster you are not anymore cold and you have the right to finish your toilet outside the basin and start over as many times as you want

9 - You go out relaxed and most beautiful in all is that you do not pay anything, you go there every day and you can try all the baths of the villages about 13 hot springs and they all have their little name, here Oyu

Some smell more eggs than others, some pools are made of wood, others the water is more or less hot and sometimes you exchanging laughs with old ladies who look at you trying somehow to get into the super hot water in the most natural way! There is also an outdoor onsen so hot that it serves to cook eggs and vegetables, but it is only for villagers!

Life is sweet to NozawaOnsen. All the team work in the morning in different lodges, villas (6 buildings in total), cleaning, household waste transport, participating in renovations, preparing beds, it was not idle! The afternoon is at the discretion of each .. You can have a walk, take it eas or if you're addicted to work you can always work with a small remuneration.

La météo change souvent dans les montagnes. Il y a des jours, on est dans les nuages !

For my part, I quickly took hold of the vehicles and transport mission-off between the villas, or bring volunteers and participate in tasks, moving sheets, futons, or take the cardboards to the recycling site. Everything is usually in a good mood with good weather for the beginning of the week ... the rain did not take long to arrive. In this case we take advantage of the warmth of the fireplace, we watch some movies and go to the onsen during the evening.

The friendly atmosphere is always there, in the kitchen is a moment of exchange between volunteers about each travel plans.
At my second night, the Belgian couple Annelys and Thomas celebrated their leaving with beers, vegetable tempura, veggie sushi, curry and cakes!
The days pass, I discover the village with Cassandra, and we used to buy our vegetables at Saton's market, a crazy Japanese man that gives us a good laugh or attend the festival village with evening fireworks! Another time it was with Isabelle and Macon that I went to the foot spa, a village location where poolsare were organized to be able to soak your feet in hot water or cooking eggs in trays next to it.

The villagers are also in preparation for winter. They pick up the last vegetables they grow on the bottom of the ski slopes and dry them just in front of their house before canning. There are also a lot of persimmons in the village.

Le lendemain, nous sommes un petit groupe de 4 à partir pour Obuse le village de la châtaigne ! Ce fut une journée sous le signe de la gourmandise ! On n'a fait que manger des choses à base de châtaigne.

A week has passed and people start to leave, it gets a little sad. We have to celebrate departures almost every night .. We will say that Rose and Vincent night will remain engraved in memories. After a ramen dinner in a small restaurant. We pursued by a furious karaoke and it is on english classics that we hoarse and dance in laughting to no end!

The next day we are a small group of 4going to the village of chestnut named Obuse! It was a day under the sign of gluttony! We have only eatten things made from chestnuts.

And noe THE quintessential chestnut pastry : a chestnut shape waffle envelope (! Of course), you bite the first time and you fall on a creamy chestnut cream, you bite a second time and you come across a candied chestnut in the middle, mwwwaaahhh !!

We had to digest, so we went for a short walk to the temple to have the opportunity to see the apple trees with fruit as big as grapefruits, as saying that Quebec apples are tiny next to it

;

A sake tasting and we are back to the village with the surprise arrival of 5 new volunteers!
The change of new faces brought me a small retreat of myself, not easy to have to get used to new people. It took me a little longer. But not for too long, Sam's birthday allowed us to strengthen the bonds very quickly. Between karaoke parties, meals together, or cozy evenings by the fire place watching movies, the small family was reconstituted.

During the two weeks that followed, I could make some beautiful hikes, I think even having met a bear (not seen with my own eyes but I try not to go check in the bushes so that moved was a big Teddy or a mouse)
From path lined with small figures, from the village, up to the cemetery, there is a breathtaking view of this little corner of paradise.

Before the snow arrives, I am also tempted to climb on the slopes of the ski area.

Finally with a young French couple, we ventured to the heart-shaped lake, then a little later we made a jump in time arriving in a small farming village. We started to climb at the top to see the temple of this village located in the hills, beautiful ride that vallue us an hour to climb and a return in the night but the atmosphere was good with special night views on the valley and wild animals lurking around ...