Adventure Monday continues

So today I returned to my practice of going on an adventure on Monday (my day off), it was fun, but not quite the same without you, Mary. Anyway, I kept hearing people talk about this little town called Asuke. I was on my way there when I got a text from my friend reminding me that I had cooking class today, so I turned around and went to cooking class. We made sushi and it was delicious I was glad that I went back for it.

I still wanted to go to Asuke and part of the draw is that they illuminate the autumn foliage at night, so I thought I would still get there for the evening illumination. I found on the internet that I was supposed to take a train and then transfer to a bus, I didn't think that that sounded too difficult so off I set. I decided to ride my bike part of the way, because I like riding my bike. But when I got to the place (Umetsubo) where I thought I was supposed to take the train, the train I wanted was not listed. So after much debate with myself, I pushed the call button to get some help. I was afraid to do this, because I don't speak Japanese. But I was able to convey where I wanted to go and I think the man basically said, "You can't get there from here." He told me I had to go to another station (Sanage) and transfer. So I set off for Sanage.

When I got there I was told that I had to take a bus, not a train. The man at the station told me where to go to get on the bus, so I went there. I don't take the bus very often, mainly because it isn't very gaijin (foreigner) friendly. There is very rarely signage in English; it is almost always in kanji (Chinese characters), which I can't even pretend to read. So when I got to the bus stop, there was a high school girl also waiting. I checked with her to make sure that I was waiting for the bus that was going in the direction that I wanted, she said it was. I ended up being able to take this bus all the way to Asuke without having to change, which was very nice.

Once I got to Asuke, I had no idea where the illuminated trees would be. And I had to make sure that I didn't get lost, because I had to be able to get back to the bus stop to catch the bus home. I would have been in real trouble if I had missed the last bus. So I didn't want to venture too far, and it was cold and dark. So, I never was able to find the illuminated foliage, but I did discover that Asuke is a very cool little Japanese town. The shops looked like fun and everything seemed authentic and untouched by time. I have decided that I will have to go back next week and explore when it is still daylight.

When I went to find the bus home, I didn't have any trouble. In fact, I ended up getting on a different bus that dropped me off literally across the street from my apartment. So now I know the easy way to go next week. Of course this means that my bike is still at Umetsubo, but that isn't far, so I can pick it up in the morning. So that was my fun adventure Monday, hopefully next week there will be pictures.