Hello everyone, thanks for reading my post.
Here is my story. I hope you enjoy it!
I endeed enjoyed it at the moment, besides all the fears and adrenaline going on.
I was travelling with my mother over old towns of Japan, and we decided to go and give it a try to do the Nakasendo Trail, (on a future post I will tell you more about it). But for now; To the old School!
We divided the tasks with my mother, I searched the ways to acces the places we wanted to visit and she looked after where to spend the nights.
I found that we needed to get to Magome Town so we could start the walk of Nakasendo Trail.
And my mother found an old school that was working as a hostel. So fun! Right?
So, we were coming all the way down from Takayama city by train, all beautifull landscapes and a smooth wheather with grey clouds in the sky.
We knew we had to abandoned the train at Nakatsugawa Station. And there it was suppouse to be a Bus Stop for the bus that would take us to Magome Town.
We didn’t know exactly where and how to buy the tickets, because our Japan Rail Pass for sure wasn’t going to cover the fee. And we weren’t sure of wich bus was the correct one. With all those questions we arrived at the Station and as we found on the floor of the street a yellow mark and a Bus Stop Number, the rain slowly appeared.
No one was in line, but a bus came several minutes later. Once it arrived a few people came. We tryed to ask them but no one was able to understan our english. Not even the driver. So, I showed him my cellphone with Magome Town marked, and he nodded with his head. And that was all.
So a little wet and knowing for sure that we should be paying attention to not miss our stop we started our bus journey.
The longest bus ride I can remember. Not knowing how long it was going to take us. Trying not to be
disrespectul. (At Japan you can not bother the driver while he is doing his job.)
Spending our wifi on the travel was not an option. With nowhere to plug the charger there -how we missed the confort of the train!- on that tiny bus, with seats for tiny people. (No intention to insult. It’s just the facts that you learn living in other places of the world.)
It started to rain SO much!
I couldn’t even see trough the window.
I searched for signboards, roadnames, anything. All I could see was water.
My mother couldn’t remember the name of the old school we were going to spend the night. It is a Hostel but… with a japanese name that we couldn’t pronounce. Not even remember.
So she didn’t know where we were going to and I didn’t know where we were. We leave it to destiny to some other person ask for the stop that we were going to have to get off.
And it happend! With all the rain pouring down at that moment.
Making a huge effort to not bother others with our luggage, we got off the bus.
So. It was getting dark. No one stayed at the stop. As soon everybody got down, they cover themseves with a jacket or an umbrella and ran off.
So there we where. Japanese people are trully polite with foreign people. But there was no one there.
We didn’t had a map and no clue where we where and which direction to start walking.
So I volunteer and left my mom with our stuff on a little roof where the rain fell by the sides, and went for a walk to find some shops to ask for guidance.
After 1 or 2 blocks I found some shops. At the first one the employee couldn’t give any indication. But at the second one the girl was able to confirm what my phone was trying to tell me! Take a left!
Of course walking, under the rain.
And Up hill.
So there we where. With our luggage and the pouring rain.
Some blocks later, we guessed that that huge bulding on the left entrance was the school.
No signs on the street that we could see. But maybe the rain blocked our brains. Anything was possible.
We came in, all wet. We left our shoes on the entrance. And WOW.
All wood building, all cozy, stairs everywhere, tall roofs, huge bedrooms, a kitchen for short people, a laboratory also for short people, all the classrooms, rugs, soft light on the hallways.
We fell in love!
It was worth it, all the wet travel, all the guessing, the whole adventure!
The school was huge, even looking at it at night and tired.
I leave you some photos of it. I hope some day I can go back. Not specifically on a stormy day but still.
So, in summary, keep going. It will be worth it. Even if you doubt about it. Trust the way.
And share what you have with others. Thanks to the marks I already had marked on my Google Maps I was able to show people where I was trying to go. Don’t trust wifi for sure, hahaha. And have fun living with out it. But be prepared. I did my research and saved the places ahead of time. I looked for the maps of the routes of the train. Everything that was possible. Couldn’t find the one of the bus. But still.
I hope you enjoy the pictures! Thanks for reading again! It was an awesome adventure.