Nagano - Day 5 - 8 Dec 2016 Zenkoji temple

We checked out of our Hakone hotel after our breakfast and took a bus ride back to Odawara terminal. As  the frequency of the buses were not high, we ended up waiting at the bus stop for nearly about 25 minutes. Since it was a bright clear sky, we took some pictures to pass time :)

The natural sun rays made our pictures looked so nice :)

waiting for our bus

As our Hakone free passes ended yesterday, we took a ticket from the ticket box when we boarded the bus. It's actually quite fun taking public bus rides in Japan as you marvel at how the machines can help to provide you with loose change (coins) when you insert a 1 thousand dollar note to pay for your bus fare (which can cost from 170 yen to 300 over yen).

We then took the local express train back to Tokyo JR station at Odawara, From Tokyo JR station, there was some time after we reserved our seats on the Shinkansen and we decided to pop over at Daimaru supermarket to grab some light lunch to eat on the bullet train. I bought some fried chicken and sushi, as we already had some bread we bought at Odawara. The bakeries at each train station offer good pastries and bread so we always take every opportunity to buy the bread each time we stopped by.

we loved this bakery in Hakone at Odawara

The ride from Tokyo to Nagano station took us 1 hour plus, and by the time we reached Nagano, it was almost 2pm. Some of us went to the Nagano tourism booth near the station to check out the attractions to do in the city while the rest went to grab coffee and jagar the luggage and boys.

Nagano JR station

We decided to rent the luggage lockers located near Nagano station so that we can head off to Zenkoji temple. One kind local at the bus terminal pointed us the correct bus to board. It's a ten minute bus ride or alternatively, a half an hour walk to the temple from Nagano station. As the nightfall comes about 4.30pm each day in December, by the time we reached the temple, it was considered late (close to 4pm) and hardly any visitors around. From what we read in some guides, Zenkoji temple is one of the most popular temples in Japan and founded in the 7th century. There were many shops set up along the roads leading to the temple so we decided to walk back to Nagano station after visiting the temple. Some of the shops were rather interesting and the boys each got themselves some Ninja Shurikens.

near Zenkoji Temple

same Dab pose again

information on different structures of the temple area

many wishes were seen on this tree in the temple

We had our dinner at Mos Burger (first time we tried Mos in Japan) and the burgers were great! The thing about fast food chains in Japan is that they charge you for Chilli or Tomato sauces so we have to get used to not dipping these sauces when having our fries.. haha

We quickly make our way back to Nagano station after our dinner to catch the last train to Yudanaka station (where our hotel was located). It was near 8 plus at night when we reached Yudanaka station and the roads were pitch dark. We had alot of difficulty navigating in the dark with our GPS as we could not see the road blocks ahead of us. The cold weather that night did not help our journey any easier as well. One of the boys pointed out the building (because I showed them the picture when we were lost) and finally we managed to check in and saved ourselves from the chilling weather.

Hotel Yudanaka does not have attached bathrooms for most of the rooms (unless you book the most expensive room type) so it was a hassle for me to bathe with the rest of the hotel guests and even for the locals staying in the area in the common bath area :( although this is so part and parcel of the Japanese culture.

We couldn't sleep well in the hotel as we were not used to the tatami provided (too thin for my comfort)..