Beans and Boars in Sasayama

AM

Least: At 10:01am, I had to face the drudgery of calling in sick. The awkward conversation lasted only a few minutes, but after being put on hold a couple of times it seemed to last an hour. At least I felt much better knowing that I didn't have to work today - it's amazing what a day off can do.

Most: By 11:50am, I was speeding through the mountains with my mum, towards Sasayama, about 70km northwest of Osaka. The trees in the mountains were well on the way to their Autumn hues and the landscape was spectacular. The only downside were the long tunnels which took away the views just as quickly as they appeared. A great trip.


PM

Least: Just after 5:00pm, I was beset with a nagging headache. It could've been a lack of coffee, simple dehydration again or the towering beer that I had for lunch with my sukiyaki. Either way, it made the last leg of my journey home twice as boring as it otherwise might've been.

Most: At about 12:45pm, we arrived at the smallish town of Sasayama. After reading about the town in a local English magazine, we thought it might be a good day trip. The town had lots of small interesting shops, food stalls and the ruins of a castle that was built in 1609. The town is famed for its black beans and wild boar - many taxidermied versions of the latter adorned almost every restaurant. For lunch though, we tried the local beef and it was spectacular. As the only Europeans in town, numerous people came up to us and said hello - a really friendly and interesting town off the Lonely Planet map.