Yamagata Bus Tour 7

Last breakfast for this trip.

We finished everything, except for the nato. We also offered it to our neighbors this time, but our neighbor for breakfast this morning did not touch it. Our neighbor the previous day ate them up.

The view is nice in the morning as you can look out the windows. I assume this place would look really nice during spring as there is a river right below and there are trees that line the river.

We were supposed to go to Zao to see the snow monsters today. But unfortunately, due to strong wind, the ropeway was closed. Sadly, as we neared Zao, I could see that there is not much snow too, just a few patched here and there on the ground. So obviously, there will not be any snow monsters. Even so, I wanted to at least get on the ropeway as visiting Zao and to see the snow monsters was the reason why we picked this tour.

So, we went for onsen first at Zao Onsen (蔵王温泉). This was a really old onsen place and the onsen was really small. Hence, I didn't really enjoy it. We were really close to each other and not the relaxing kind of onsen I imaged. I left after just 5 mins in the onsen.

Unfortunately for us, even after the onsen, the ropeway was still not running. Hence, we continued on with our journey to go back home.

We were served lunch in the bus and this has got to be the most amazing lunch bento I have ever received. It is a beef tongue rice bowl which came with it's own heating system, so you get a bowl of hot food. And all we had to do to heat the food was to pull this string that was attached to the box.

I really enjoyed it as it was delicious and also it was a hot bento on a bus, that is travelling in the cold winter weather!

Lastly, some pictures of the view that we got on the bus as we neared Tokyo.

Here, you can see Mt. Fuji.

The scenery from the bus was really pretty and it made it feel like it was a good end to our 3 day trip to Yamagata.

Yamagata Bus Tour 6

Before arriving back at our hotels, we were brought to 将棋むら天童タワー (Shogimura) for some souvenir shopping.

As you can see based on the big shogi behind us, Tendo is famous or Shogi.

Right next to our hotel is a hot spring park, and there is a hot spring shrine there too.

Dinner that night was sukiyaki.

Once again, dinner was lovely and everything was delicious.

There was only one problem though, the menu provided was wrong. However, no one in my tour group actually voiced it as I guess none of us are too bothered by this as the food was good. Obviously, there was a confused look on everyone's faces when we checked the menu and compared it to the food on the table.

For dessert that night was some items that I got during the day. The caramel flavoured pocky was delicious! Love caramel~ 

This fig chocolate was also super good. I enjoy figs and to have it in chocolate makes it twice as enjoyable.

Yamagata Bus Tour 5

Next stop was Dewa Sanzan Shrine Sanjin Gosaiden (出羽三山神社).

Website: http://www.dewasanzan.jp/publics/index/47/

When we were there, there were many people building these straw wheels. Not sure if they were preparing for any festival.

The lake in front of a shrine was completely frozen. I wondered if one could ice skate on it.

This Dewa Sanzan Shrine Sanjin Gosaiden is located at the top of Mt. Haguro.

 It is said to be dedicated to the deities of the three mountains, Mt. Haguro, Mt. Gassan, and Mt. Yudono.

The area was huge and we were given about 50 mins to roam around.

As there were a lot of snow on the ground and it drizzled before we arrived, the snow turned to ice at some areas and made it harder to walk around.

Yamagata Bus Tour 4 (Mogami River (最上川))

Right before lunch, our bus stopped at New Yamazaki Daily Store Yamagata Shiraitonotaki for the tour guide to collect the lunch boxes and for our toilet break.

There, we got a nice of a waterfall behind us.

Bento lunch was a nice warm one and we immediately ate it once we received it.

After lunch, we enjoyed a boat ride along Mogami River (最上川). 

We all squeezed into this boat and listened to some stories about the place.

The sell coffee on the boat and apparently it was really good so J bought one too.

The guy who was guiding us was apparently the writer of this book!

I imagined that the view will be better when the hill is covered in snow. 

Yamagata Bus Tour 3 (Ginzan Onsen)

Day 2 of the bus tour

We were back in the same hall where we had dinner for breakfast.

Grilled saba was served for breakfast.

Once again, the food was really good. We ate everything except the natto which we offered to the guests next to us.

The first stop of the day was Ginzan Onsen.

The bus stopped somewhere further up and we had to walk down.

With not much snow that winter, the place looked different from the pictures that were posted in stations in Tokyo.

Onsen here must be good. As you can see, the heat from the onsen is causing all the smoke in these pictures.

There is also an area where you can enjoy foot onsen for free.

The area is pretty small. There are several bridges that connects the buildings on both sides.

And this row of shops that you can see in this picture is basically it.

I guess if you really want to enjoy this area. You need to come and stay at the ryokan here to enjoy the onsen in the middle of winter. As in all the pictures that I have seen, this place looks amazing covered in snow.

Once you pass the row of shops in the picture above, you will read this waterfall.

There is also a public toilet nearby and this tunnel.

We had 1 hour of free time here and that was seriously too much as there is nothing much to see in this area. 

It was slightly underwhelming for me as I have always wanted to visit, but to see it in person and then realizing that this is all there is to it. It sort of makes sense why most pictures that you see of Ginzan Onsen used in promoting the area looks the same. This is because the pictures all show the same view.

One of the reason why I picked this tour was also because it had Ginzan Onsen on it and this was one of the places that I really wanted to visit!

On the way back to the bus, we spotted this interesting looking vending machine that was covered in this wooden box. I guess it was made this way to blend in with the area that it was in. 

Made it back up to the top f the hill where the bus was parked.

The view from here is really nice. I saw some pictures of people taking their pre-wedding pictures during winter and the pictures looked amazing!