C h i b a

In all my travel holidays, I would include a day or two trip out of the city. Likewise on this trip, I have done the same. My initial plan was a 3 days 2 nights to Yamagata, and visit the surrounding attractions. After careful consideration of the driving distance and costs involved, I decided to give this plan a miss. Instead, I settled for a 2-days trip to nearby Chiba. Being first time visitors to Chiba, we took off in our rented Toyota Vitz and relied on the ever trusting in-car GPS. I know that if I have the correct telephone numbers, we would get to our destinations. This is how accurate the GPS is.

It wasn't a great start, as it started to pour heavily once we were on the highway. In fact, the weather forecast said that it would rain all day. Is this going to be like the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route trip we had last June? It rained the whole day and we ended up unable to see anything up in the Tateyama mountain range. That was really a disappointment. Looking at the incessant rain coming down, I think it is deja vu all over. Sian! 

Chiba lies on the South-eastern part of Tokyo. We could reach it either by driving along the coast of Tokyo Bay or via the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line. We chose the latter which is much faster but I had to muster a lot of courage to cross the 9.6km tunnel underneath the bay. I have a fear of being buried alive or trapped inside an enclosed water cave, so the drive gave me cold sweat throughout. I was glad to 'surface' when we reached Umihotaru rest area.

This man-made island in the middle of Tokyo Bay is a rest area. It consists of cafes, restaurants, souvenir and amusement shops. We took respite here from the rain for a coffee break. From this photo, facing this direction is towards Tokyo City. The tunnel starts from a faint structure in the middle on the horizon.

From this point onward, we drove the remaining 4.4km surface bridge towards Chiba. The total length is 14km, and we shaved off at least half-an-hour compared to using the coastal road.

Here's me braving the rain to capture the shots.

My plan was to spend half a day at the Mother's Farm, but the rain completely ruined it. We ended up driving around the eastern coast of Chiba, and hid inside Aeon shopping mall eventually. Shopping so early in the day is not part of my itinerary, but we must always have a wet weather program don't we? At least the wife is happy. It was almost late afternoon when we got some respite. We headed straight for Mount Nokogiri via cable car.

On a clear day, we can Mount Fuji in the east. Not today definitely.

The nearby mountain range is partially shrouded by fog, with a tinge of leftover autumn.

Met this family of litters. How did they get so high up the mountain? 

Same family crowding near the cable car station. I think they are waiting for food, or are they seeing us off?

This is the highlight of our trip. We spent a very expensive night here at Zekuu Ryokan, and judging from the furnishes we saw in the room, it is all worth it! We have a seaview room, and a private bath to soak our tired bodies in. Now I know why people spend top dollars on luxury Ryokans - to be pampered!
This is our dinner course. We actually had live lobster sashimi, but the thought of seeing its feelers moving while I eat it sort of putting the wife off. The kitchen was kind to remove the flesh and serve it in a platter as seen in bottom left photo. 

This is our breakfast course, with a sunrise sea view. As expected, the serving and quality is top notch.

This is the view that we woke up to. The splashing of the waves soothes the mood, but can be irritating to some (aka the wife).

We woke up at 6am to catch sun rise. Befitting, this is the land of the rising sun, and we didn't want to miss it.

Sunny side glowing.

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And God saw the light, and it was good;

Catching the early activities with my tele-lens.

Smoke rising from the rocks? 
Wife's interpretation of a satisfying retreat.

I have to say this is probably the nicest Ryokan that we have stayed in Japan so far. We enjoyed the sea view room and its own private bath, the excellent meals, the attentive and friendly service, and of course the outdoor rotenburo where we freely used. From here, we would move on to explore the rest of Chiba. If opportunity and money permit, I would like to come back to Zekuu for another short stay. 

And another travel trip awaiting....