For our one night in Nikko we decided upon the Funamiso, about 20 minutes away from downtown Nikko on the train (Kosagoe Station 小佐越駅 covered with our Nikko Pass). We were debating between a place right in Nikko (without an onsen but convenient) or a place far from the city (which would have taken more than an hour to get to from Nikko but with a great-looking onsen). The Funamiso seemed like a happy medium. I’m not sure if this place is technically a hotel, ryokan, minshuku, or pension. I suppose it could fit into any of those categories.

Not being a huge fan of seafood, I opted for the no meal plan at Funamiso. I’m sure I would have enjoyed the shabu-shabu dinner, but 7,000 yen each is more than I want to spend on a single dinner no matter how delicious. Waking up to a Japanese breakfast of fish, rice, and vegetables isn’t my cup of tea either. The no meal plan is affordable at 5,000 yen per person.

Funamiso was a bit disappointing from the outside, but once we made it inside everything was great. The place was very clean, the staff was nice, the views were good, and the outdoor part of the onsen was spectacular. Our room was Japanese style so we slept in futon on tatami floors. We had a private bath in the room that looked like it had never been used. We didn’t use it either. Who would when there is a wonderful onsen downstairs? My only complaint is the privacy fence around the outside onsen. It provided very little privacy (not that I cared) and obstructed the view. Lose the fence and this onsen is close to perfection.

The above picture is from the room on the evening we arrived. The steam from the onsen below beckons. Snow had just fallen. A couple of spotlights allowed onsen users to view the snow-covered trees and a little waterfall into the river even after dark. Speaking of users, I was the only user of the male onsen. Funamiso has several dozen rooms, but only three were being used on this weeknight in February. I had the onsen, all three pools, completely to myself each time. I have had fun talking to random Japanese strangers in onsen, but I didn’t get the chance with this onsen basically being private due to a lack of guests.

We arrived at Funamiso at about dusk. The view from our room was more stunning the next morning as the sun rose.

The moon was setting as the sun was rising.

After checking out we went for a walk that took us over two different bridges spanning the Kinu River (鬼怒川).

Would I recommend Ryokan Funamiso? Absolutely.

Posted on February 17th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: nikko, onsen, reviews, sunrise. Comments: 2

On our last morning in Bangkok I took the elevator to the top floor of the hotel in hopes of seeing the sunrise over the Bangkok skyline. Unfortunately, the windows were dirty and the Bangkok air was quite smoggy (for the first time–a morning wind took care of the smog on the other days).

The top floor of the hotel looked quite a bit different from the other floors. These must have been some sort of penthouse suites as you had to enter through a seperate set of glass doors to get to the special rooms. There were also sculptures and other decorations that the other floors didn’t have.

A guard also “prevented” entrance to this exclusive location. I put prevented in quotes because in actuality the guard was sound asleep, curled up in the fetal position on the floor (just out of range in the above photograph).

We split town and headed for the airport with a cab driver who refused to turn on his meter. He wanted more than we paid with the meter for the same ride we had on the way in. I told him I would pay what we paid with a meter on the way in. He didn’t complain and after dropping us off and getting paid he left us with a smile on his face.

The above photo is what happens in the Bangkok airport while dad is checking in.

As I mentioned before, the new, Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok is really nice–both inside and out. Personally, I wouldn’t have minded had they cut a few corners on the airport and spent the savings on fixing the sidewalks in downtown Bangkok.

Posted on January 11th, 2010 under Thailand. Tags: bangkok, ellie, people, ryan, sunrise. Comments: None