I remembered we got on and off trains a lot to get to the Chichibu onsen. It wouldn’t be far from the truth to say the journey left a deeper impression than the onsen. Yet, we weren’t done after we stepped off the last train at Minano – […]
Like a virgin Since 2010, together with my running buddies, we have been making yearly trips to Japan and onsens always feature prominently in our itineraries. Takaragawa Onsen was one of the first they visited. I wasn’t with them at that time but they made sure I became […]
Can’t last a day without Men (麺) When in Japan, you can’t not eat ‘men’. There are all kinds of men in Japan. Ramen. Soba. Udon. Instant. Bespoke. Have them hot, in boiled savoury soup, or eat them cold/dry, dipping them in sauce/soup. Or fried – with vegetables/meat/seafood. Recently, […]
First, to the Blue Lake From inside the cable car, Lac Bleu looked like a deep, sapphire-blue oval nestled by the side of the snow-white slope. It appeared big, yet close-up, it was tiny, more like a pond. By itself, it didn’t warant the 15-minute detour from the Plan de […]
When I read tripadvisor posts complaining about the long queues for tickets, hours-long wait to get up the cable car to Aiguille du Midi station (3777m), overpriced tickets, how bad weather foiled the best of plans etc etc, I realised those comments were true. Many moons later, when […]
the last word 