The trip is winding down now for Stephanie and Alex as they left early this morning for Tokyo and are flying to Shanghai tonight then for home tomorrow. We didn’t have any plans for today as tomorrow will be a big travel day for the rest of us so we kept it pretty chill.
The ryokan staff recommended that we explore the village as there really aren’t many thing to do besides see the monkeys and do onsen so we walked about 5 miles along the river admiring the awesome mountains in the background.
We wanted to check out another onsen so we’d get the full experience since we’re staying in a town specifically for onsens. Photos aren’t allowed but there was no one around so I managed to sneak pictures of Jack and me being bros hanging out in an outdoor onsen. The girls are on the other side of the wall.
I feel like the town we’re staying in is sort of like in Spirited Away where things get more lively at night. Several shops and restaurants that we wanted to go to during the day were closed until sunset and people were wandering the streets visiting the many public onsens.
We saw a sign for chicken kaarage (fried chicken thighs) and ordered 3 orders. The chef yelled “WAHH?! Sree kaarage?” and said it was too much for him to make at a time so we had to settle for 2 orders 🙁 They were delicious though and super juicy.
Pretty non exciting day today. I’ve got to start packing as Joanna and I are headed to Sapporo early tomorrow morning which will take about 11 hours. Jack and I are going to get one last onsen trip now.
