Day 19: The Tempest
I have to say, I was underwhelmed by Typhoon Ampil when I woke up - it was a still, albeit very gloomy, day, with not a raindrop in sight! However, all that was about to change!
After breakfast, we hopped onto the Hakonetozan line to head up the hills towards our pre-booked hotel.
The line trundles merrily up the hill, zig-zagging through three switchbacks to help it reach the top! At one point, the gradient of the hill was 8%, meaning the front of the train was 3.4m higher than the back!
While we were on the train, we noticed the rain behind to fall. Gently at first, before growing heavier and heavier, eventually turning into huge sheets of water crashing through the air.
When we reached Gora, the rain continued to fall, with the queue for taxis being long (and full of violence!). After a mad dash around the corner, we managed to summon a taxi using GO to take us to our final hotel. Needless to say, we got soaked to the skin as we tried to ram our suitcases into the boot!
Despite the mad rush through the rain, the hotel is great! While we waited to check in, I had a lovely couple of hours doing some fabric painting, and colouring in a beautiful foodie scene! It was great fun!
We also had an absolutely excellent evening meal at the hotel, which encompassed a wide variety of Japanese dishes! I thought the crab was particularly special!
In spite of the absolutely torrential rain, it was a very good (and pretty relaxing!) day!
Buckets of water
No pitter or patter here:
The rain falls, ceaseless.