Nuya's Travelogue: Japan 2010, Day 2

Good morning! We checked in after dark yesterday and didn’t get the chance to see the view outside. It was almost pitched dark and we could hear very loud water gushing sound.. so zen ~~~~

And then… I woke up to a fantastic view outside!!

Awesome colors!

The view right outside of our window at the side

View from another corner

Breakfast included. Actually it is quite nice :P Warm breakfast on a cold morning

Soup. Nice way to keep warm :D

Our room name is displayed on the table. Each table are pre-assigned to your room. Meaning no choosing of seats :P

Breakfast ended with nice cuppa coffee ~~~ ah……… perfect!

Back to our room. A nice corner to enjoy the view

So sad that we only stayed one night here. Have to check out today :( Next time should really plan for at least 2 nights.

After checking out, we deposited our luggage at the hotel to take a stroll around the area since we have about 2 hours to spare before taking the train back to Tokyo

Nice autumn color in Winter :P

Another hotel in view. Looks nice! Probably should consider to stay there on the next trip :)

Autumn leaves on the railing

Interesting shadow cast by the furniture

Mini greens. How nice ~~~

On the way, we found these statues. Happy way to start the day :)

We passed by a narrow stretch of road towards the central of Yumoto

Some graffiti in the tunnel

40km/h. That’s the speed the bus drivers really adhere to.

I like how the plant grew over the metal pieces. Looks like art.. :)

Nice views along the way. Very relaxing with the cooling weather

We chanced upon this sign board and decided to go to Tamadare falls since it is only 8 minutes away :)

Along the way, we saw this artistic cascading river. It’s like abstract painting!

I like the red flower against the river as backdrop :)

We arrived at the one of the fall!

Natural drinking water. We tried and even filled our bottle with it!

There is a small sign next to it that says ‘Tamadare no taki, Enmei no wakimizu’ (延命の湧き水) which means ‘Tamadare falls, spring water for longevity’

A bamboo door

Tamadare no Taki

Very refreshing to view the fall up close

On the way back to our hotel, we chanced upon this nice little path. The signed board says that it’s only for their hotel guest. We decided to go explore a little anyway. :P No harm I supposed.. hehe..Anyway, one of the staff spotted us while we were there and is nice enough to let us wander around ^^

After a short walk there, we head back to our hotel, collected our luggage, struggled up the bus and went to take the train back to Tokyo

We checked in to Toyoko Inn located at Ikebukuro. Nice, clean room as always…

After taking a short rest, we went out to explore the Ikebukuro surrounding. We are a little puzzled at the long queue outside Auntie Annie’s. I have never seen such crowd back home :P

Vibrant lighting. A nice stretch of shopping area

Here’s my late lunch. Not too bad. Initially we were seated inside the restaurant. However, after telling the staff that we were interested to order from the lunch set, the staff politely tell us that we should be seated at the counter seat outside the restaurant.. even though the restaurant at that time was relatively empty. lol.. kinda funny

Saizeriya. We have one in Singapore as well :)

We decided to window shop at Yodobashi, Japan electronic store . (Actually I prefer to shop at the Yodobashi outlet in Sapporo, Hokkaido instead. It is more spacious and easier to walk and shop there.)

To give you some idea of the building, I shot the left and right view of the front entrance.