We now know where they go

Alaska is quite fabulous. I have never seen anything quite like it. And we now know where the Japanese go for Christmas.

We flew to Anchorage and the next morning caught the train to Fairbanks. There was just us – the two Aussies sitting behind us – and 10,000 young Japanese people.

The train takes twelve hours and the scenery is spectacular. There really is not much in Alaska except wilderness.

There was a dining car and you had to go in carriage order. We blotted our copy book when we went early and sat down. They did not evict us but were not happy. You could have anything you wanted to eat as long as it contained eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy. The gravy is white. How can you have white gravy?

They then made a special announcement that you had to wait your turn to eat.

We arrived at our hotel and there were no Japanese.

The next day we picked up our SUV – I want one of those – and drove for five hours through wilderness.

We found out where the Japanese were when we got went to the Chena Hot Springs Lodge – or Hovel as we preferred to call it.

The room was interesting and possibly unique. The room we were in was built by a blind  unskilled carpenter in the early 20th century. The blinds at some stage had either been machine gunned or attacked with a machete.

We went to the hot springs and wallowed about in hot water with about 10,000 young Japanese who were all  very friendly.

Soon I will tell you about the exciting flight we did not take.