Kiso-Fukushima

Kiso-Fukushima (KF) is my second stop on the Nakasendo Trail (NT).  According to my plan, I was supposed to hike the Torii Pass from Narai to Yabuhara, then take the train from Yabuhara to KF, where I will spend the night.  It was about a 30-minute train ride and I arrived in KF at about noon.  The Tourist Information Center is conveniently located right across the street from the train station.  The ladies in the center gladly allow me to leave my big backpack there while I roam the town.  They gave me a map and told me where to go.

Kiso-Fukushima Train Station

The building in the middle is the Tourist Information Center

My first mistake was not listening to them carefully.  Instead of turning left, I turned right.  The map kept not making any sense to me; because I was going in the wrong direction!  I ended up at a dead-end at a hospital.  It's not even on the map.  I decided to backtrack and saw a large grocery stop.  I thought I will ask someone there.  I found a couple of girls in the bakery section and one of them speak and understand limited English.  That's the challenge traveling in Japan.  Very limited English is spoken here.  She set me straight and told me which way I should go.  Now I am hungry.

In Japan, it's easy to buy prepared food, either from a convenience store like 7-eleven or any grocery store.  I looked around and found a box of katsu pork and another box of sushi.  They cost 649 yens, a little less than $6.  That was my lunch.  It was not warm but at least I am not starving now.  I also bought a slice of cake.  Now I am ready to go.

I walked around town for about a couple of hours.  Nothing exceptional.  There are a few museums and temples but since I wasted about an hour getting lost, I only stop at one of the temples.  Eventually, I made my way back to the Tourist Information Center where I asked the ladies to call the ryokan where I'd be spending the night to pick me up.  The ryokan is about 15 minutes by car from the train station.

Kozenji Temple

Kozenji Temple

Bell at Kozenji Temple

If there's anything that I remember about KF, it's the Komanoyu Ryokan.  This is an exceptional ryokan, run by a family.  The facility is beautiful, the meals are delicious, and the service is something to remember.

Front of the Komanoyu Ryokan

A shrine behind the ryokan

Entrance to its popular onsens (bath)

Lobby

My room - very spacious and comfortable

Dining Room

A view of Mount Ontake

The ryokan even have a star-gazing event that evening high up in the mountain behind the ryokan.  Because it is located in a sparsely populated area, the sky was very dark.  We were loaned binoculars.  We were able to see a lot of the galaxy:  North Star, Big Dipper, Milky Way, Seven Sisters, etc.  We learned that Subaru derives its name from the Japanese name for the Seven Sisters.  Hence, you see stars on the Subaru logo.

In the morning, we had another delicious breakfast.  After that, we were driven to the train station to continue to where we were going.  Many of the other guests were traveling with Oku Japan on self-guided tours.  They started in Kyoto and were heading towards Tokyo.  I waited for my 11:47 am train to Nagiso, where I will continue onto the next leg of my journey.

Narai

First, let me explain a couple of terms about lodging in Japan.  A ryokan is a small family-run inn.  Even smaller are minshukus, which are also family-run but with less rooms.  I don't think there is a clear cutoff where you call one a ryokan and the other a minshuku.  It's up to the owner.  In my researching into places to stay on the Nakasendo Trail, I find that the ryokans have a few more amenities than the minshukus.  It probably has fewer rooms as well.  Ryokan or minshuku, they show the hospitality of the Japanese.  They usually include dinner and breakfast in the price of the room.  Each meal is a feast, with about10 items, as shown by a couple of the pictures below.

I arrived in Narai on the JR Chuo Line from Shiojiri City, about a 30-minute ride.  It's a slow local train and it runs almost parallel to the Nakasendo Trail (NT).  Being local, it stops at almost all the small towns along the Kiso Valley.  It's like a light-rail in the US or a tram in Europe.  The driver is also the conductor.  Except in bigger towns, the does the driving and at every stop, everyone has to go to the front of the train and give him the ticket, or in my case, show him my JR Pass.

Narai Station

View of Narai Station

Inside the train, with the driver collecting fares

Why am I stopping in Narai?  Narai is one of the 69 post towns along the NT.  In its heyday, it was called "Narai of a thousand houses."  It was a thriving town, an important stop for the weary traveller.  Today, it's a quiet town with only 1 main street.  The reason why I am here is because the start of my hike on the NT begins here, through the Torii Pass to the next town called Yabuhara.  This is a beautiful hike through the forest, with gradual ascent and descent over the mountain.

However, when I arrived in Narai in the late afternoon of March 27, it was snowing lightly.  My first priority was to find Ikariya Minshuku, where I will be staying for the night.  I walked about a 500m along the main street and did not see any sign for the minshuku.  I happen on a Tourist Information Center and asked the lady.  She told me I passed it.  She showed me a picture of what it looks like.  I backtracked and try to find Ikariya again.  Then I heard the same lady calling behind me.  She told me that I had just passed it.  Without an English sign, there was no way I could tell where the inn was.  It just blended in with the other buildings along the main street.

Ikariya Minshuku

My room with a traditional futon

A feast for dinner

Another feast for breakfast

The street of Narai looks like it is frozen in time.  The houses retain their architecture of years past. They have been beautifully restored.   The following are some of the pictures I took.

Iseya Ryokan, a popular inn.  It was snowing when this picture was taken

 As one of the pictures above show, it was snowing in the late afternoon and evening when I arrived in Narai.  In the morning, I was going to check out the trail to see if I can hike on it.  The owner of the minshuku called the Tourist Center and asked.  They emphatically told me that unless I have snow shoes, I am not allowed to go on the Torii Pass.  So much for my first hike on the NT.

Having a couple of hours to kill before the next train arrives, I decided to walk to the town before Narai.  It's called Kiso-Hirasawa.  It's about an hour walk.  It's not as beautiful as Narai.  It has quite a few shops selling lacquer ware.  Then I turned around, and took the 11:20 am train to Kiso-Fukushima, my next stop.

A shop selling lacquerware in Kiso-Hirasawa

The Nakasendo Trail

About 500 years ago, the Tokugawa Shogunate (government) developed a network of roads.  The five routes are Tokaido, Nakasendo, Koshudochu, Nikkodochu, and the Okushudochu).  All five originated in Edo’s (now Tokyo’s) Nihonbashi.  The roads were intended for government officials and supplies.  However, ordinary citizens and also used the road for distribution goods and services and communications.   Samurais also used the road to travel between different towns. Two roads, the Nakasendo and Tokaido connect Edo (now Tokyo) to Kyoto.  Of the two, the Nakasendo is more challenging because it goes through some mountainous terrain.

There are 69 post towns on the Nakasendo Trail.  Each post town is meant as a rest-stop for the travelers.  With modern transportation and over time, the towns fell into disrepair.  In the 60s', there was a movement towards restoring and preserving some of these towns.  The first to do so was Tsumago.  

I first read about the Nakasendo Trail in a 2016 article in the New York Times.  Like most people, I was only familiar with the big cities of Japan:  Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, etc.  I never thought that there is a backcountry part of Japan that is worth visiting.  I put that on my "places to go list."

Another thing I've very much wanted to do for a long time is to see the cherry blossoms in Japan.  When Singapore Airlines announced a sale in early December, I decided that this was the time to do both.  So I targeted my trip for late March to early April.  I seriously thought of signing up with one of the companies that do guided and self-guided walks through the Nakasendo Trail - Oku Japan, Walk Japan, etc., because planning a trip to such an area with very little public information is a daunting task.  Even Japanese don't know much about the Nakasendo Trail.  I was lucky to meet some people who have been on this trail and gave me some very good information.  Still, it took me months of research and information gathering to feel very comfortable with doing this trip on my own.  I have three friends, two of them Japanese and one very familiar with this type of travel in Japan, helped me put this trip together.  For those who don't have the time and resources, my advice is to sign up with one of the tour companies that offer walking tours in Japan and let them do the planning for you.  The nice thing about it is that they give you step-by-step instructions and book the hotels, ryokans (family-run inns) and minshukus (small family-run inns) for you.  If you have a bigger budget, you can even go on a guided tour with them.

My journey started on the morning of March 27, 2017.  Two things I decided to do to make my trip easier is one, rent a pocket wifi, which means I will have constant access to the internet and messages; and two, to buy a JR (Japan Railway) Pass.  The pocket wifi has been invaluable because it allows me to check train schedules on the fly, check maps, and receive messages.  If needed, I will have access to Google Translate as well.  Having the JR Pass means that I don't have to worry about how much the fare will be and focussing on the route rather than thinking about finding the cheapest route.  On that first morning, I started from Shinagawa station, and took a shinkansen (high-speed or bullet train) to Tokyo Station.  There I took another shinkansen to Nagano (about 80 minutes), followed by a regular train (60 minutes) to Shiojiri and finally, a local train to the town of Narai.  

After Narai, I will stop at Kiso-Fukushima, then Tsumago and finally ending in Magome.  These are the most beautiful parts of the Nakasendo Trail, because of the historic preservation of the towns and the beauty of the forest that it goes through.  Obviously, at a length of 534 km, or 332 miles, there are more places to hike.  But, I am not here to test my physical ability.  Rather, I am here to enjoy some of the most beautiful parts of Japan.

I was given this guidebook by the Tourist Information folks at Shiojiri train station.  It gives very detail information about the Nakasendo Trail through the Kiso Valley.  If you plan to hike this part of the trail, try to get a copy of this guide.

I will write about my experience in each town as I go along.

A bullet train at the Tokyo Station

First Impressions of Tokyo

This is not my first visit Tokyo.  It's the third time.  However, in my two previous visits, I was pretty much chaperoned around by my friend Takeshi.  This time he is too busy at work to show me around except for the weekends.  This is good.  It allows me to explore things on my own at my own pace.  It's exactly what I love about traveling alone.  I don't have a set itinerary.  I know what I want to do but I don't know the details.  They are filled in by what I see and what I encounter.  What I see and feel is different from what another person sees and feel.  Nothing is orchestrated.  That's why I try to stay away from group tours as much as I can.  Group tours are planned down to the minute or hour and everyone in the group swarmed around the same thing.  Enough said.  Let's get on with it.

My first morning in Tokyo, I went with Takeshi to the Shinagawa train station, across the street from his apartment.  It was crowded.  The mass of people going into and leaving the station is overwhelming, just like any big city.  However, the difference here, I noticed, is that people walk almost in an orderly manner.  The crowd just flows.  Someone might cut in front of a group but there is no collision or dirty looks.  If a stray bumps into someone, the protocol is to bow.

Morning crowd at Shinagawa Station

I took a local commuter train to the Ginza district to meet a friend.  In spite of the crowd, people were orderly.  Yes, everyone is trying to find a little space.  But, there is no pushing and shoving.  The other thing I noticed is that everyone dressed well.  I didn't see many wearing T-shirts or jeans.  I am sure not everyone has a managerial job.  Another thing I noticed was that everyone was well-groomed.  No messy hair; nice but not excessive makeup.  Definitely, no strong perfume.  Whereas Americans like to be different and unique, Japanese like to conform.  They don't want to standout.  That's why everyone is smartly, not overly, dressed.

At the store and restaurant, you are treated with the utmost respect.  There is no demeaning talk back or loud responses.  Even the lowliest paid workers are polite.

One other thing visitors to Japan will notice is that small-time theft is very uncommon.  I've seen Japanese leaving their purses and just walk to the counter or bathroom without worrying someone might take it.  It just doesn't happen here.

Tokyo is a very crowded place, just like New York City.  Real estate prices are very very high.  Therefore, rent is very high too.  The average person just cannot afford to buy a condo or house.  If my friend is an average worker, then most Japanese professionals can afford only a small apartment in the city.  Otherwise, they have to live further away from the city and have a long commute everyday.  Like they said, it's a nice play to visit.

How do you move so many people around in Tokyo. Trains.  That's what I will talk about in another post later.

Hermosillo

January 20, 2017 was a special day for the United States.  It's the Inauguration for a certain person.  Since the last election in November 2016, I have not gotten over the fact that this unqualified, racist, misogynist, cynical buffoon is going to be president for the next four years.  I wanted to get out of the country so that I don't have to watch or listen to the news about the inauguration.  The closest is Mexico, a country that this idiot has criticized and derided for no reason.

The last time I was in Hermosillo was in 1978, almost 40 years ago.  I remember it as a small traditional Mexican town, unspoiled by all the American influences.  Although not very far away, I had to decide how to get there:  drive, fly or by bus.  I found a couple of bus companies that go there.  One is called Tufesa, which also go to many places in Mexico.  I rode there in a luxury coach but had to come back on the regular coach because the luxury coach was leaving Hermosillo at 5 am.  The round-trip ticket costs $98.  The ride there was very comfortable.  There were maybe 24 seats on the bus with a lot of space to stretch out.  The bus stopped in Tucson, then Nogales, before heading straight to Hermosillo.  We left at about 11 am from the bus terminal at 27th Avenue and McDowell Road in Phoenix, and arrived in Hermosillo at about 7pm.  However, it took a little longer coming back because we had to go through a slow line of cars to the border, then through US Immigration.  We left at about 2 pm and arrived back in Phoenix at almost 10 pm.

Tufesa Bus Terminal in Phoenix

I did not have an agenda in Hermosillo.  I stayed at a Hampton Inn.  On the bus I met an engineer who lives in Hermosillo and he gave me a lot of tips.  Marco's wife and two sons were picking him up at the bus station and they gave me a ride to the hotel.  On Sunday they took me around town and even to his parents' house to meet them.  What a nice gesture!

The first day I was there, I took an Uber ride to the Cathedral.  It was a 15 minute ride and the Uber ride costs only about $1.50.  Like many old Mexican towns (and even in Europe), everything revolves around the church.  The inside of the church was quite ordinary but the outside is beautiful.

Inside the Cathedral

Beautiful Cathedral located in a park

Vendor selling fruits in front of the Cathedral

After hanging around the Cathedral area for about an hour, I walked towards the downtown area.  Marco had drove me through the area on the way to the hotel the night before.  He said there is a lot of activities going on the downtown area during the day, especially in the morning.  He was absolutely right.  The place was bustling, with people shopping, food trucks on the side of the street, people hanging out in the plaza, etc.  I found my way to the Municipal Market or Mercado Municipal.  I walked in and that place was humming:  cafes, taquerias, vegetable stands, butcher shops, etc.  I love visiting markets anywhere I go because that's where you actually see what the local people do, buy and eat.

Cafe Elvira, just at the entrance to the Mercado

A restaurant

A Taco Shop

A fruit and vegetable stand

Butchers' Alley

Cinco Amigos, hanging out outside the Mercado

Outside the market, are some interesting shops and food trucks.  Again, my favorite thing to do when traveling is eating street food.  Fortunately, I have a tough stomach.  I can eat almost any kind of street food anywhere in the world.  They are what the locals eat and they are usually the cheapest and the best!  Here's a sampling:

Mixed fruits:  coconut, watermelon, pineapple, etc

Roasted jalapeños

Preparing tortillas for tacos and quesadillas

Tacos and quesadillas for 60 pesos or less than $3

Sonoran hot-dog, a local specialty

All kinds of snacks in the evening around the cathedral

There is not much else to do in Hermosillo.  Many tourists use this place as a jumping point to nearby tourist spots like Guaymas, San Carlos, etc.  One of the highlights is going up the mountain in the middle of town and have a panoramic view of the city.

Panoramic view of the city from Cerro de la Campana

Marco, his wife and two sons

Cathedral is beautifully lit at night, with lots of activities going on around it

Canyon de Chelly - A Photography Tour

After a memorable 2-month trip in Europe, I was ready to come back and enjoy some familiar surroundings.  On October 20, 2016, together with another Trip Leader, I was off on another Arizona Highways Photo workshop to the northeastern part of Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation, an iconic and historic Native American site called Canyon de Chelly.  Navajo families still live and farm in the canyon.  Visitors are only allowed to be guided by Navajo guides.  With 16 participants, we were taken into the canyon on two days by Antelope House Tours, owned by Adam Teller.  We then spent another day shooting scenes that are unique to the area.

For those interested in a history of Canyon de Chelly, I included at the bottom of this blog, a short history.  It gives one a deeper appreciation of the canyon and what it means to Native Americans

LeRoy DeJolie, our photographer, took us to sites that he has picked to photograph special scenes.  Below are some of those scenes:

A Cliff Dwelling

The famous "White House"

Petroglyphs on the canyon wall

A Sheep-Herder and his flock of sheep

Another view of the sheep-herder and his flock

Andrew, the Navajo jeweler

Two Navajo lady models

The famous Spider Rock

A Short History of

Canyon de Chelly

        

Following millions of years of land uplifts and rivers cutting through the area, Mother Nature has endowed on us today one of the most beautiful landmarks in Arizona.  When you visit a place as significant as Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d’SHAY), it helps to understand its history.  This is a place that has been inhabited by humans for almost 5,000 years but many visitors to this National Monument came only to admire its beauty, unaware of its contribution to mankind, the state of Arizona and native American history.

         The first known settlers in Canyon de Chelly were the Archaic people about 5,000 years ago, from 2500 to 200 BC. They did not build permanent homes but lived in seasonal campsites.  They hunted and gathered for their food in the area.  Their stories were told through remains of their campsites and images they painted and etched on the canyon walls.

         Then came the Basketmakers who lived in the canyon from 200 BC to AD 750.  They were farmers instead of hunters and gatherers.  Over time they built a farming community complete with large granaries and public structures.  Life was good but that slowly changed.

         From AD 750 to 1300, a new group of settlers called the Pueblos, started to build stone houses above ground. They connected the stone houses and built multi-story villages with household compounds and kivas with decorated walls.  They are often referred to as the Anasazis, or the “ancient ones.”  Most of the ruins that you see today are from these settlers, including the well-known White House.

The Anasazis left the area probably because of poor farming conditions.  Then the Hopis started using the area for seasonal farming and occasional lengthy stays until the early 1700s’.  The Hopis then encountered the Navajos, who were pushed from their homelands by their adversaries.  The Navajos brought with them domesticated farming that they have learned from the Spanish settlers.  However, this was not a peaceful time for the Navajos, as they continue to fight with other Indian tribes and the Spanish colonists.  In 1805, a Spanish military expedition fought with a group of Navajo people at the Canyon del Muerto.  At the end of the day-long battle, 115 Navajo warriors were killed.  The rock shelter where they took cover is today called Massacre Cave. 

In the 1800s’ the United States military started pushing westward and claimed the area as its territory.  They tried to relocate the Navajos to eastern New Mexico.  Colonel Kit Carson forced 8,000 Navajos to walk 300 miles from the area to Fort Sumner, NM.  Many died and this is sadly remembered as “The Long Walk.”

After four years they were allowed to return to Canyon de Chelly.  Today, it’s a living community of the Navajo people.  A visit to this National Monument not only brings you back to 5,000 years of history but to see first-hand how our fellow citizens live today.  It’s a unique and special place, jointly managed by the National Park Service and the Navajo Nation. 

         Visiting Canyon de Chelly as part of an Arizona Highways Photo Workshops trip is even more special.  First, you are led by acclaimed Navajo photographer and author, LeRoy DeJolie.  LeRoy knows the people, speaks the language and knows where all the best places to capture the most memorable photographs.  Along the way, you will get lessons on Native American customs and culture, and showered with Navajo hospitality.  This workshop is usually offered only once a year, and it’s almost always fully-booked. 

References:   https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/cultural_diversity/Canyon_de_Chelly_National_Monument.html

https://www.nps.gov/cach/learn/historyculture/index.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_de_Chelly_National_Monument