Got up again at around 5:50am. Really can't sleep in those flat floor mattresses of the traditional Japanese house. I have the worst back ache. So does Conrad and Clare.

A Breakfast Run

Many of the shops are still closed (shutters down). Most shops in Japan don't open until late, with over 50% not opening until 11:00am. Though they stay open until 8:00pm. I'm assuming that's to allow workers to shop after hours.

Packed and Ready

Kim and Julie wearing the hats they purchased at Universal Studios and Clare pushing the new pink additional suitcase (for souvenirs).

Managed to pack up and leave around 8:30am to Kyoto and got there a good half hour early so we could be food, drink and Ekibens (train bento box or lunch box) for the train trip. We caught the 10:09 Thunderbird bound for Kanazawa. Most of the trip was through low hills and coast line along the western (northen ish) side of Japan and 80% of it was covered in snow. Really encouraging to see. Overall, a 2 hour and 10 min ride.

At Kanazawa, we caught the "Kagayaki" Shinkinsen bound for Tokyo, though, we'd get off at Nagano. A 1 hour 13 minute ride. At Nagano we went to bus stop 23 for the bus going to Snow Monkey Park. About another 1 hour 30 minute ride. We got off at the Shiga Kogen Yamanoeki bus stop, also known as the Maruike (Maru Lake) bus stop. Once there we were promised the hotel would send a bus to pick us up. Didn't happen and I don't know how they could as there was a heavy snow cover from the bus stop to the hotel. We were informed we should take the free gondala ride down to the hotel. That was relatively easy (except for the heavy bags we had, we had too much luggage) as it was only 50ft to the Gondala and 50ft from the Gondala (at the bottom of the slope) to the hotel.

We Made It

We checked in and waited one and a half hours for dinner time. We just chilled in the room as we were tired after the trip. Dinner is at 6:00pm sharp and is a buffet deal of a mix of Japanese and Western food. Clare was not impressed in dinner. I enjoyed it, but I'll eat almost anything.

After dinner, we organised the rental gear for Conrad and Julie and then retired to our rooms.