Onsen and a Merry Fish

Or so DS thought. I knew there was going to be more...after all, I planned more :) When we walked into the room, all we could smell was the tatami mats *ahh* such a nice smell. We got changed into our yukata and headed down to the baths. If you've checked the hotel website, you'll see some images of the baths, and when I walked in, I was in gokuraku, heaven. I have been dying to come back to the hot springs ever since I left Japan last time. Needless to say, I was in there for a half hour (and DS slightly less) and I enjoyed myself thoroughly, alternating between the 5 baths, the sauna and a cold shower.

After the soothing onsen and DS' short blog, we took some photos of the room and headed down to dinner...which I was dubious about, having seen those photos of deluxe Japanese meals...those who know, will know. I was pleasantly surprised when we sat down to a table with fish steaming merrily away on the table, an entree of green tofu (made specially with local ingredients), a glass of a fruity Rose (which was very nice) and a platter with a couple of prawns, some strange seafood wedges, a lemon with some jelly stuff in it, some green stalky vegetable mixed with the special tofu (only a creamier version and not green this time) and something that looked like sliced tentacle ><; The attending waiter asked if we understood Japanese, the obvious answer being very little, and he sent over a nice waitress who spoke better English than we spoke Japanese. She apologised straight away in case she said anything rude and then proceeded to speak to us in a mixture of Japanese and English which we could understand just fine. She brought some water and I ordered a small vial of sake, which was smooth and very pleasant and made with the water from the waterfall in the area. DS declined to join me...I can't think why ;) That is just where it started. Next we were brought a small serve of some of the softest and meltiest sashimi I have ever had, again served with a side of the special tofu and wasabi! I have now learned the trick of wasabi...it's taken many years of eating sushi but I finally discovered it on my own...breath out though your mouth...I know you already know...I just thought you'd like to know... So next our lovely waitress served out the steamed fish. Did I mention it was a whole fish? She took all the fins and the tail off and proceeded to tell us that eating the eye and it's surrounds was good for ...I missed it, I was looking at the eye! We declined and she laughed and said people take it back for their grandpas...yikes! So we ate our fish and the mushrooms and leek it was cooked with. Again very tasty and tender. Then we had two small baby potatoes (which she called tomatoes and then corrected herself) which were stuffed with a potato/crab mix. You couldn't taste the crab so it was good :) Then we had a bowl of rice with seasonal spring vegetables (carrot, shallot and bamboo) and a side of pickled radish and a bowl of miso soup. Then she served us sticky mochi won tons filled with pork, made specially by their Chinese cook. They were a bit strange...an acquired taste. Our attentive waitress came yet again and I asked if there was more food to come, she said no and I thanked the lord! I was at my limit and she had just served us green tea to finish. So we had a lot of food and at this particular moment I am still waiting for my stomach to subside so I can go back in the onsen...maybe after another drink...

Well, I didn't get my drink but I did get back to the onsen while DS played God of War in bed. I had made the mistake of telling him to get under the covers to check the temperature to see if he needed warmer clothes to sleep in...he didn't want to get back up. So I left him there and went down to the big open air bath on the first floor basement. I thought the bath upstairs was lovely but this was a whole lot better. There were four indoor baths (one of which was ice cold for after your sauna) and one outdoor bath. As soon as you walk out, the icy air steals the breath from your lungs. Once you recover and step down into the hot water, it feels kimochii, wonderful, and you don't even notice the cold. I stayed as long as my body would let me, said goodnight to the ladies and headed back up to bed. DS was fast asleep by the time I got back, so I slipped under the giant fluffy covers on my futon and fell asleep...eventually :)

Oyasumi nasai!

P.S. I had my first melon-pan (melon flavoured bread roll thingy) today on the train up here and it was very nice. The bread was a bit like a heavier croissant and the melon flavouring was a sticky green paste and had the red azuki beans in it as well. I'm not sure I could live off it though...those anime girls are crazy!