Tokyo: Episode Six Nagatoro 長瀞

We woke up very early on Sunday morning to make this trip to Nagatoro (長瀞). Let's just say it's very far away from where we stay, lol. When you no longer see skyscrapers outside the train window but moutains and blue sky, you know you are far away from the city. I think we took about 3 hours to get there? Chin Boo had to meet us at the hotel to bring us there. We met Hiromi and the kids at Seibu Chichibu Station (西武秩父駅). We were so glad to see them! It has been about a year since they left Singapore for Japan.

Hiromi had intended for us to try the steam locomotive to Nagatoro but it wasn't in action that day. Here you see her telling the significant other the price of the train tickets.


Finally we were there. Take picture take picture, lol

From the station, we walked a short distance to buy tickets for river boating. Today is actually the last day for river boating. The water level will be too low for the boats to cruise. Here, the boys were playing with a wind-up train at a resting area beside the ticketing booth.


Then it was another short walk to the river. Here Hiromi bought some mandarin oranges. 7 for Y300 and Hiromi told the lady that there are 8 of us, how to divide? The kind shopkeeper gave her another free, lol.

A bit about Nagatoro. From here: The entire town of Nagatoro north of Chichibu has been designated a prefectural nature park, and the Ara-kawa River runs through the center of the town. There is a natural monument, a 5-kilometer-long rock bed along the river bank near the railway station. This rock bed dates from the earliest period of Earth's history. You can appreciate the beauty of the Nagatoro gorge from a riverboat. A boater steers a small boat with a pole and takes you down the Ara-kawa River, which has varying rapid and slow currents. You can enjoy the views of the rock beds and precipitous cliffs called Chichibu-Sekiheki, or the red walls of Chichibu.

Wow!

A little about the significant other: he unzipped the inner layer of the jacket and left it at the hotel because he actually perspired in the cool weather the day before. But you know what? It was an extremely cold day, lol. Chin Boo contributed his scarf, he wore the kids' gloves and bought a can of hot coffee from the vending machine. You wouldn't be able to tell from the pic that even though it was so sunny, it was sooooooo cold ;-)

One of my favourite pics of the trip. Pic taken by Hiromi.


This is Yuri. She has grown so much taller since we last saw her. She is finishing Grade 6 and will be in High School in April next year.

The kids ran along the rocks and after a while, they all took off their jackets. Guess that is the remedy to the cold!




Hiromi so kindly prepared lunch for us. We had a picnic there before we took the boat.

Jimmy had flu and was a little quiet that day. Hiromi told us that he would need time to get into the habit of speaking English again. We later got into one of the boats behind.

Us in the boat. There were 2 boatmen. One in front, one at the back. The one at the back gave a commentary as we cruised down the river. Though we were at the back, it wasn't an advantage because we didn't understand a word, lol. Chin Boo had to translate ;-)

From here: Nagatoro is famous for its Rock Tatami Cliff (Nagatoro no Iwadatami, 長瀞の岩畳), namely crystalline schist creating successive layers of rock overlapping each others. It seems that this geological feature was in fact created in the ocean (when the area was covered by the sea) and shaped later by the river. The name Iwadatami underlines the ressemblance with a tatami mat floor.



After the boat ride, we went to a small zoo atop a mountain.

We saw pine trees - lots of pine cones!!

This is called cabbage flower because it resembles errrrrr a cabbage, lol

That's the cable car station

Mr and Mrs Tan

Reaching the summit of Mt Hodo (宝登山) which is 497m high.

Another family pic.

We saw bikers on the way to the zoo.

It's a very small zoo. Here Ewan was getting ready to fling the peanuts to the monkeys below.

Pigs and deer run freely at this zoo.





We only got to spend about 45 minutes at the zoo. The 2 papas didn't go in lah. We had to catch the last cable car down. But it was sufficient coz it is a really small zoo.
Some last pics while waiting for the cable car. Hiromi sent a similar pic of us taken with her handphone to Cat there and then. The Japanese mostly use clam-shell kind of mobile phones which have all the internet and TV functions.
We couldn't find anyone to take a pic for us. My camera was put on a table. Too low leh. But still it's a group pic, lol.

On the way to the train station we saw the only maple tree that still has colours, lol


It was really a blessed day. We are very touched that the Tans missed church to bring us out. I had a good time catching up with Hiromi and am very glad to see her so chirpy.

We went for dinner at a town called Tokorozawa (所沢市) which is mid-way between Nagatoro and Shinjuku. So the journey back isn't a long stretch.

The Tans treated us to a fantastic Japanese meal. Thank you so much!

This is not the last we see of them lah. We met another day for an outing to a theme park.