Nozawa Onsen = Shane on the snow

We left Awanoyu after breakfast. We were on the road by 10. We had a period of about 15 minutes panic trying to set the GPS and we madly went through the paper Japan road atlas to figure out how to get to Nozawa if we couldn't work out the GPS. The whole time it was pouring with rain too. To top off this interesting morning I've come up in a painful itchy rash over most of my body. I've had some sort of reaction the to Onsen water I think. Somehow we were able to get the GPS into the menu to enter the phone number for the place we're staying in Nozawa, Pension Schnee. Japanese GPS also work on phone numbers which is really handy because we'd never be able to enter an address.
GPS programmed we drove up out of the Shirahone Onsen valley and made our way back to the highway. Past Matsumoto, where we will be returning in a few days, then past Nagano, home of the '98 Olympics, and then up to Nozawa. A pretty straightforward 3 hour drive.
We had to park in one of the large car parks at the top of the town and then call the Pension for our over snow transport. The girl on the phone told us it would be 15 minutes. In the time it took me to tell Michelle the message a guy taps our window and said he is from Pension Schnee and asks am I Mr Nixon. He had a big four wheel drive but instead of normal wheels it had track with 3 wheels under each of the wheel arches. It turned heads all the way across the snow.

Dinner at Awanoyu round 2

Another delicious meal with some unusual, for us, dishes. All tasty as something tasty though. We had raw horse sushi, bream head, crab omelette and shabu shabu - thinly sliced beef that we had to drag through the heated broth for 1 shabu, 2 shabu and 3 shabu and it was done. Gorram lovely that was.
The only thing weird that happened is I think my dental crown moved while eating the rice. I'll have to keep an eye on that. Then it was back to the onsen. We'd already spent an hour and a half in the onsen before dinner. Iko even mentioned she'd seen us every time she walked by.

A drive in the Japanese Alps

We decided to go for a drive and look around Shirahone and the ski resort 8km down the road Norikura Kogen. After taking in the view for a bit it was lunch time. Not much doing in ol' Nori as far as lunch goes but we did find one place that had a few people there so we thought it might be okay. It isn't obvious why they chose the name Abbey Road but they did appear to be dishing up some huge meals. We shared a plate of fried chicken and salad and the usual miso soup and rice.
A couple of workers where have lunch and they were catching up on their Manga while they ate. I read some Manga while I had an ice-cream.
There's a number of gift shops all seling the same junk in town but they also sell those delicious Japanese sweets - rice dumplings stuffed with stuff. Yummo mate. Also bought a local beer for beer o'clock for when we got back to the Ryokan.

Breakfast at Awanoyu, snow and onsen

There was a huge spread for breakfast including fish, miso soup and a delicious rice gruel. We had coffee in the lounge and that is where you can see some of the snow surrounding the place. The shots of the onsen were taken from the carpark before we went out for the day.

Evening in the Onsen

No cameras allowed. But I was naughty and sneaked mine in because nearly all the other guests were still at dinner. Luckily enough the onsens, indoor and outdoor, were empty and we were able to get a couple or snaps off before someone else turned up.

The first dinner at Awanoyu

We have our own little dining room with a table over a hole where we put our feet on a heated mat. We wore our yukata which also has a formal jacket. The meal is a multi-course gastronomic feast served by the lovely Iku whose English is very good. Turns out she studied English in Perth Western Australia some time ago. She is self deprecating about her English but she is full of personality.
When we get back to our room the futons are laid out and we have a snack waiting for us on the table. Onsen time again. It is only 8pm.