Today is our most a adventurest day.
We are going to nagano to visit the Snow Monkey Park.
It has been my dream to see this ever since I watched this documentary in National Geographic.
5am woke up.
6am left house.
7am reach tokyo station.
For the benefit of those that would like to visit this place, I've decided to state down in minute detail the things that you must pay extreme attention to, especially the time, and directions.
Before this, we have bought the shinkansen ticket from Tokyo Station to Nagano Station.
You must reach nagano station before 9am, because the bus that takes of from Nagano Station to the Snow Monkey Park leaves at 10:13am sharp. Give and take some time that you need to get out from the train station and a few trial and errors, 1hour buffer is just nice.
In Tokyo station , we had breakfast in one of the bread shop. Very nice bread. Blueberry cheese toast and cinnamon raisin bagel. Goes well with cappuccino and latte.
we bought a kiddy bento for our lunch.
Once reached nagano station, go out and find the main front exit of the station. If you can't find it, you can ask any staff from the train station. Here is a phrase which u can use...
"Bus stop WA doko desu ka?"
The bus stop is at the left side right after you exit from the Nagano station main door.
After exiting the main exit, you will see 3 exits which leads to staircase that walks you downstairs. Take the left one. Walk down the stairs. The bus stop is just there. If you walk opposite the bus stop, this is what you will see towards the station...
If you miss this 10:13am bus, the next one will be 12 noon.
The fare is 1400¥ per trip per person.
Around an hour ride on the bus, you will reach the base of the park.
The bus stops at bus stop C.
You will need to walk around 800m until the main entrence of park, which looks like this...
Boots are available for rent, but it's not cheap. 500¥ (around Rm20).
It's up to you. If you don't mind your shoes get muddy , and you find walking slowly to avoid the slippery muddy road while enjoying the nice nature enjoyable, then you can forego and save yourself a bowl of Japanese Ramen.
In we enter the gate...
It's 1.6km till the place where the monkey hangs out. But along the way, there are a lot of interesting stuff to see.....
The final stairs before the ticket purchasing gate....
And finally the ticket purchasing booth...
And the rest ..... the wonderful pictures of the Snow monkeys enjoying life ....
Despite there are staff to pick up the left over (shit) of our close relatives (the monkeys), there are still a lot of it on the floor. So...... for those that plan to give this place a visit, please be very alert and look out for bombs on the floor.
OK. Now. This is very very important.
You need to get your assistance out from the part regardless of how much you love those monkeys by 12 noon. The only bus that heads towards Nagano station reaches at 1pm. And you definitely do not wanna miss it. Start walking out from the park at 12 noon, and you will reach the bus stop (the same one where you came, just opposite it) by 1pm.
We reached Nagano station at around 2:30am. But our shinkansen ticket that we bought was for 7:38pm.
Now here is another thing. You could exchange the time for your tickets. Just go to the shinkansen counter and let them know you wanna change your ticket to the next earliest available train, and they will do it for you at no charge.
We got our next train at 3:23pm and reached Tokyo station at around 5:30am.
In Tokyo station , we were fainted by a shop that sells a lot of bento. All kinds of it , you name it. The best thing is they has the sample stick on the wall for your reference.
Since it was still early today, we decided to go to Harajuku. It's a place that fits us well, because it's the shopping heaven for youngsters only.
We went back to the Line Friends shop. This time we went inside and took some photos.
Danielle suggested that we eat the most famous Japanese Ramen for dinner, 一蘭 Ramen.
Very long queue.
Open 365 days a year.
Waited around 20min until our turn.
Place our order thru the kiosk machine.
And then enter the shop.
Was very impressed. Even the seating arrangement is fully automated by machines...
Very nice.
Soup was very thick , and hot. Perfect for the cold chilly windy weather , especially after you stand outside for more than 20min wait.
The above picture proves it all.
Went back around 8pm.
Need to rest early for our next adventure tomorrow.....
.... the Tokyo Disneysea!!!!
And guess what, today we dint forget anything
:)
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