Japonska – zimska jesen in prvi japonski Onsen

Pravijo, da prvega ne pozabiš nikoli. 🙂 🙂 In glede na doživeto to velja tudi za obisk japonskih toplic ali po njihovo Onsen-a. Kljub temu, da smo vedeli, da bo v japonskih Alpah že pozna jesen, so nas kar presenetile skoraj zimske razmere. Temperature niso bile prav nič jesenske, poleg tega pa je na nekaj lokacijah že padal sneg in zaradi tega so bile nekatere doline zaradi poledice že zaprte za promet. No in mogoče tudi zaradi tega, predvsem pa tudi zaradi našega non stop pohajkovanja in pohodništva, so bili obiski japonskih Onsenov še toliko bolj posebni. Prvega, Takaragawa Onsen, smo obiskali že takoj na začetku naše poti in težko bi izbrali boljšega. V idilični dolini, odmaknjen od japonskega vrveža in obkrožen s fantastičnimi jesenskimi barvami, je bil prava izbira za prvo japonsko onsen izkušnjo. A kljub lepoti in prebranim navodilom, kako se pravilno obnašati (na japonskem je podobnih pravil res ogromno), je bilo na začetku kar stresno. Obisk onsena se prične v garderobah, ki so razdeljene glede na spol obiskovalcev. Sledi slačenje, potem pa se v adamovi podobi odpraviš do naslednje sobane. Sledi temeljito umivanje, med katerim sediš na nizki leseni pručki, za polivanje pa uporabljaš kar lesen čeber. Pri tem moraš biti čim bolj uvideven do ostalih prisotnih – torej brez špricanja, petja in ostalih neumnosti. Ko si res čist, se lahko končno z majhno brisačko v roki (ali pa pred tvojim bogastvom) počasi odpraviš do bazenov, ki pa so običajno prava paša za oči in dušo. No, v našem primeru sva z Jakom celotno proceduro kopirala kar od sumo borca, ki je sedel med “obrednim” umivanjem med nama, Ana pa je velikodušno dobila lekcijo kar od vseh prisotnih dam v ženski kopalnici. 🙂

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They say you never forget the first one. 🙂 🙂 And considering the experience, this is also true for visiting Japanese spa – Onsen for the first time. 🙂 Despite the fact that we knew that during our visit its going to be late autumn, we were still surprised by almost winter conditions. Temperatures at nights were well bellow zero and it was already snowing on some locations – because of that some valleys were already closed. Well, perhaps also because of this and because of our hiking tours, it was always really special visiting Onsens. We visited Takaragawa Onsen at the beginning of our trip and it would be hard to choose better one. Positioned in an idyllic valley, hidden away from Japanese everyday hustle and surrounded by fantastic autumn colours, it was the right choice for the first Japanese onsen experience. But because of all the rules about how to visit onsen in a correct way, it was a bit stressful at the first time. The onsen visit starts in wardrobes, that are divided according to the gender of the visitors. You take off all your clothes and after that you proceed naked to the next room. There you sit on a small wooden chair and use wooden bucket to clean your body properly. Doing that you have to be polite so no singing, splashing and other nonsenses. When you finish you can proceed to the outside pools, usually with a small towel in front of your belongings and then you take a dip, put a towel on your head and enjoy your spa. In our case, me and Jaka just copied everything from a sumo fighter, who was sitting between us and Ana generously received a lesson from all present ladies in their bathroom. 🙂