Turning down the opportunity of the 04:30 train, our bodies now more adjusted to this time zone, we caught a more civilised 06:00 service towards Kamikochi. The journey consists of thirty minutes on a train followed by an hour on a coach. Neither of these were covered by our JR Passes and it was necessary to buy complete open return tickets for 4400 yen per person. From reading guide books I was prepared to find hoards of tourist marching in slow lines around the picturesque, but well visited Kamikochi. As we dismounted the coach at Taisho pond, I was pleasantly surprised to see only a few people around. The majority of these were elderly tourists who had come equipped with painting paraphernalia or SLRs with a bag full of lenses and clearly planned to settle in one spot for some time, and use the coach as a link between locations.
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