Part 1 of Part 2 of the 3 Day Tour

Well I've done some interesting things since my last real update but they will remain shrouded in mystery until I finish talking about my trip. So picking up right where I left off: riding the Torokko was a lot fun. The scenery was amazing and the train sort or reminded me of the one I used to drive when I worked at the park. I really don't have the words to describe most of the scenery so I'll just stick to posting pictures and videos.

The train as it was getting ready to go into a tunnel.

We were by a river for most of the ride.

The leaves are just starting to change color.

I really don't know why there was a building that looked like a castle but it was cool anyways.

Cool bridge over the water.

When we arrived at Keyakidaira Station, the last stop, we explored the area and found a foot bath and some scenic spots to take even more pictures at. This is where I bought omiyage for one of my schools. I decided that since Monday was the day I would normally be at Jusan and Monday was the day that I was on the vacation that Jusan was the only school I would get omiyage for.

The final stop of the line.

A foot bath. It felt really good and they drained it shorty after we were done so we had great timing.

Finally, a group photo! Akeem, David, me, Xue, Sheila, and Martyn.

As we were hiking we had to pass though many dark tunnels. In one I actually managed to take what could possibly be considered an artistic photo!

The cool moss covered steps we climbed down to get to the area called Sarutobi or literally "jumping monkey." It got this because this area is the narrowest stretch in the Kurobe River and monkeys would jump across.

Sarutobi

That night we stayed in the Toyama Chitetsu Hotel. It was a basic business hotel and it was right by the Toyama train station. We each had our own rooms and they told us this was the sort of place that was comfortable but reasonably priced (as opposed to the place we stayed the next night, but I'm getting ahead of myself) and so would be a good place to recommend to visitors. I agree with their assessment. The room wasn't that big but the bed was comfortable, the bathroom was clean, the staff was friendly, and breakfast the next morning was fairly decent.

After depositing out stuff in our rooms we were treated to dinner at an izakaya. Like with many of the izakayas I've described before, we had out own room and ordered a bunch of little dishes to share. Afterwards we went out and karaoked. Even our shy chaperone who didn't speak much English sang a song. The place we went was fun because our room actually had a little stage you could go stand on and sing. No one was that concerned about staying up late because we knew we could just sleep on the bus the next day.

Akeem on the mini stage in our karaoke room.