Well after enjoying the first five days of crazy city life it was now time for me to head further a field from the hustle and bustle of Kawasaki and make my way to Gotemba in the Shizuoka prefecture.
It took quite a while to get over there on the train however the views out the window of the train along the way were simply staggering! There were beautiful views of mountains and flowing rivers and rocks all around it was heaven!
Upon arrival it took a little time for me to adjust to how incredibly peaceful and quiet it was. The hotel I would be staying in was fortunately just a short 2 minute walk from Gotemba station. I got a beautiful traditional style Japanese room with a futon and the tatami mat floor and sliding door. I was quite pleased with the simplicity and tranquility of the room.
Anyways I decided to do my usual and head out and get a feel for the town and try and get my bearings of where I was and where the nearest shops were. Immediately I realised there wasn’t a whole lot in this area just a few small stores selling fresh foods and some clothes stores. I continued walking an eventually found a supermarket so I stocked up on some essentials and for the first time on the trip did somewhat of an actual proper food shop! not much further down the road I turned the corner and went from this silent peaceful community onto a street filled with restaurants and stores full of everything and anything. By this point though it had started to rain and so I headed back to the hotel to relax a little while before deciding what to do for dinner!
Shortly after getting back I decided to go for a walk up to the Gotemba Premium Outlet area and see what it was all about as honestly there wasn’t a whole lot else to do here. The walk up there was beautiful though, the whole area was stunning with mountainous views and clean streets and also the cars here were pretty impressive which doesn’t surprise me as it’s not too far from the Hakone Pass!
After a long walk I finally reached the Premium Outlet and decided to go for dinner and found a nice Italian restaurant as I was craving pizza! Safe to say it was a good choice and one of the best tasting Pizzas I’ve ever had! At this point I only had about an hour before the Outlet closed due my getting there so late so I had a quick look round at some shops and enjoyed the Pokemon Store maybe more than I should have!
By the time I had finished it was coming up to closing time so I started the long walk back to the hotel once again enjoying he views along the way with the sounds of crickets and rivers flowing. You could say it wasn’t the most eventful day of the trip but it was nice to spend some time relaxing and not rushing around and also gave me a bit of time to catch up on needed rest from the hectic days prior. The next day was also going to be a busy and tiring one so it wasn’t all bad that I got my rest in while I could!
Rendle.
Kyusha-Riot Autoworks 