EC - here we come!

The long haul to Sado Island Earth Celebration begins at 5am...with a ride into town to catch the bus to Nagano. At Nagano we grab a snack at a little cafe, then onto the train to Naoetsu.
Boarding trains and stuff is kind of stressful - is this the right platform? does this train stop at my station? how much is the ticket? ...etc. But once you're on then its pretty nice. You can just watch the scenery and have a nap :)
We get to Naoetsu and luckily find there is a bus to the port....
I met my coach (Kitamura-sensei) and the other students I will be staying with there. It is so funny, both of us were worried we wouldn't be able to recognise each other after so long...but of course it was fine!

The ferry to Ogi is incredible. It is more like a cruise liner! There are 1st class compartments which are like a hotel suite!, 2nd class gives you a lazyboy chair to sleep in, 3rd class gives you a futon on the floor, and cattle class - you just find a space on the carpet to sit / lie down.

on my way...

It takes a couple of hours to get across to the Ogi port on Sado, and from there we headed into the main village where our ryokan was.

I have to admit that the ryokan is much older and not as flash as misaka in Nagano. But it is sooo close to the action! We are literally less than 5 minutes walk from the shiroyama park. We could hear Kodo practicing their songs for the concert!
Being a port town, seafood is a specialty of the place, so for dinner we went to a little restaurant that does seafood - they all ate sashimi (ie raw) but I had cooked, because unfortunately raw meat doesn't really gel with me.
A good night sleep on the futon and tomorrow it all begins....