We felt like we were in paradise when we opened all the sliding doors that surrounded 3 sides of our tatami room. At 6am, the muted daylight could not dim the dazzling array of autumn hues of crimson red, pink, shimmering gold and different shades of orange and brown that cloaked the trees and the grounds of the ryokan.
Our plan was to go for an early dip in the onsen hoping that at that early hour, it will be devoid of the crowd. We were disappointed to find many like-minded visitors.....I decided to skip the onsen and went on a quick tour of the interior of the ryokan as breakfast will be served shortly in our room at 7.30am. We had our fill of food and quickly proceeded to romping the the spacious grounds of this very traditional ryokan
The dazzling colours literally took our breath away. We turned poster girls in the picture perfect scenery and spent almost 3 hours strolling the grounds absorbing the vivid hues with our camera and smartphone clicking away almost without ceasing!. Will let the pictures do the talking......more will be available in Facebook after I have compiled it into an album.
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| Relishing the awesome autumn hues on the grounds of Chojukan Ryokan in Gunma |
It really doesn't hurt to ask. I almost squealed with joy when the staff agreed to let us back into the rotenburo just to snap pictures of the outdoor hotspring bath. Probably also because it was cleaning time and no guests were using the outdoor bath. For those unfamiliar with the Japanese onsen/hotspring bath, no photography is allowed for obvious reasons as all bathers are clad only in their birthday suits.....
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| The outdoor hotspring or rotenburo |
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| Indoor onsen with a view of the rotenburo/outdoor onsen |
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| The indoor onsen and the scrubbing area on both sides behind me. |
We were totally carried away the whole day with seemingly endless photography as the whole of Minakami was draped in the most glorious colours of autumn. We lost count of the number of stops we made along the short drive to our next destination.........But the afternoon was somewhat marred by a light snow fall and a short burst of tiny hailstone. The ropeway and chairlift rides brought us to a summit shrouded in drifting dense mists. It was too wet and cold to enjoy a proper hike, not to mention that the mindblowing autumn colours were totally obscured from view. We lingered briefly and departed for our next ryokan to arrive in time for the kiseki dinner, followed by a relaxing hot bath in the rotenburo. There are only 2 at Higaki Hotel but both are outdoor hotsprings with different ambience. The next morning, the use of the rotenburo will be swapped to ensure that both genders get to enjoy the different outdoor hot bath.
I retired early to bed after the soothing hotspring bath and with beautiful images of Minakami draped in a myraid of enchanting colours....
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