Beniya Mukayu

The 20 minutes journey from the Kaga Onsen station was very pleasant as our driver drove past a straight road full of nice quaint local sundry shops and Pachinkos. Pachinkos are arcades almost like casinos. Japanese lurve this....it's noisy with all the sounds emitted from these arcade game machines, and smoke fr cigarettes. Smoking is allowed inside these pachinko parlors and during weekends, we see ppl queueing up to get in to play. We tried it once and didn't like it :P but these arcade machines are being updated frequently to attract users. They have banners and announcements on the "new specs" of their games. Yep it's big business, something worth a case study on their one which we may wanna explore in the near future.

Anyway back to our lil pleasant ride to Beniya Mukayu, the pick up was very friendly with a lady driver. She took out a pretty cute wooden steps for us to hop into the MPV. Little did she know that Monkey can't be compared to those dainty beautiful well mannered Japanese women whom needed such wooden steps to get into the MPV. I just haiiiyeaaak and hopped into the car. :P While JS was helping her with the luggage. Well u can't just let a tiny japanese women in yukata hoist your huge luggage into the car don't you?



when we arrived at the property, the waiting area was so beautiful with huge windows to let in plenty of natural lights. Clean lines and integration of wood works and concrete, it's a marriage of men and nature. Kind of gave us some inspiration for our next home. :))))

We were then served some refreshments with hot towels while the concierge was preparing our registration and identification. We got a south american room attendant *obviously for his strong command of numerous language including english and japanese* 


then we were being shown around the property including its various facilities from the spa to the restaurants, reading rooms, a souvenir shop, its garden and finally our room :)))

Beniya Mukayu is a rather modern ryokan so u don't get to stay in a cottage. There are also more modern rooms available but we chose a japanese style room instead. The modern rooms were more raw with more concrete and looked even more like Benesse House museum in Naoshima Island. Read about it *here*


We have an area here overlooking a stunning view and served as a tea room. Then we made ourselves some tea and munch on the snacks, basked on the view. Lurve the textured flooring of bamboo strips. It also has got a lil garden for the hobbits.

yippeeee this is our lil corner.
Notice Chip & Dale on top of the zen stone? It was their first trip and Berr was upset that it's such a big entourage right now at every travel. He's no longer exclusive and this JS reminded me everynite as he shove Berr into my face. My dear JS though Berr is not exclusive u are very much exclusive to me OK? heeeeeee

From here there's the sitting area with dining table. This room is seriously huge!!!

it has got tatami-mats flooring :))))

From here there's our walk-in wardrobe and our bags were already there. Jackets hung nicely with our scarves :))))

As we walked past the living area to our bedroom, we caught a glance of our outdoor onsen :))) the smoke looked so inviting and it's zero degrees outside.

bedroom is on the other side of the room. Seriously this room is like a home!!! As usual, the decoration are minimalist very zen :)))

Bathroom was in a bamboo theme as well. Beniya Mukayu has their very own beauty and skincare products. Including toiletries. It has been created with no chemicals and very soothing for your hair and skin. If you would love to purchase it, it's available at the shop too :))) 

I lurve how each ryokan has their own lines of products from toiletries to food items and beautiful handicrafts that you can find in your room. Basically all the things you see, tableware, cups, glasses and foodstuffs that u eat here are available at the shops.

Hahahaha must always have a pic of the toilet.

with a pair of straw slippers :)))

the bath area is neat with the usual stool and a bamboo bucket. In-house shampoos lined up on the wall for our usage. They smelled so good :)))

Monkey's main draw of stay at Ryoka = onsen *that natural hot spring water bath*
JS's main attraction at Ryokan = kaiseki dinner served every nite

okie actually I love it all from its unique kaiseki dinner to the enormous breakfast and service and view and everything about any ryokan that we stayed in. :)))) This is wat I call a vacation within a vacation :)))

The modern wing is just below us :)))
and we saw some hot steam indicating someone is inside the onsen :)))


and that lil japanese tea house :)))

Soon we got a map and moved down to the town for some lil exploration.

When we got home, it's almost dark, time to shower, hopped into the onsen for some relaxation and prepare for our kaiseki dinner :))))

Monkey in her yukata.
Yeah this is wat u wear during your stay at any ryokan - yukata. Sometimes u get to choose the design and colors, sometimes everyone wears the same.

this is also wat u wear to the huge onsen downstairs for ur communal bath with the rest of the guests here. U wear this for your dinner ur breakfast and everywhere u go to at ur stay. :))))

I lurve yukatas, it's so versatile and comfortable :)))

We've only stayed here for a nite, as there's another city we need to move on to for more amazing food. Would love to return for a much longer stay and exploration at Yamashiro.

Mrs. Nakamichi the proprietress on the right, with her team members. The service here is so personalised and Mrs Nakamichi conducts yoga class every morning overlooking the stunning garden.

errrr we couldn't wake up to the early class after feasting a nite here with the amazing kaiseki dinner. That one would be in our next posting. :))) stay tuned.

For more info on Beniya Mukayu:
http://mukayu.com/english/