Thursday, October 24, 2013
Japan October 2013 - Tokyo to Takayama (Day 4)
Today is our transit day to Takayama. It's gonna be quite a ride on the trains but I love transits. I love being in a car without much aim.. just going around.. and trains too. I hope to be able to complete my train ride hopes in future (Beginner: Singapore to Bangkok. Intermediate: Around Germany. Advanced: Singapore to London)
It's actually quite fun riding trains in Japan. There are routes that are very scenic and you can totally breathe in all the sights as you go along.
We started the day with the hotel breakfast and then took the JR Yamanote line to Tokyo station for the Shinkansen. At 0830, the Yamanote line from Ikebukuro to Tokyo Station was crowded but still there was space, so it was quite alright for us even though we had our luggage with us. We nhad planned to take the 0933 Hikari to Nagoya as that had the least stops in between, but they did not have 3 seats together, so we took the 1030 Hikari instead.
So now that we had an additional hour, we walked around the inside of the station abit and found that the Tokyo Banana 8 pc pack sold in the station had a Tokyo Banana Dust Cover!!! -.-. Quite sian as I had already bought the Tokyo Bananas the other day >.<;
My friend wanted to try the ekiben and so she bought one to eat on the Shinkansen, I think she really liked the experience :D The Shinkansen ride to Nagoya was pretty uneventful. Tried to pretend that I was revising my modules but felt more like sleeping instead (I think that is the standard reaction to revision lol).
When we reached Nagoya after nearly 2 hours, I picked up an ekiben myself as the next train ride would be another 2 hours or so. I saw this bento that seemed popular and wanted to get it.
I read the ingredients list and saw "cow" listed and was concerned, so I checked with the staff and they said that there was no beef.... I bought it as I thought maybe it was a misprint and later kinda regretted it as I figured that it must be a correct listing... so I tried to eat only the stuff that probably had no beef but I think I shouldn't have eaten that meatball >.<. Oh well, I did.
We took the Hida Limited Express up to Takayama. This train leaves approximately every two hours, I believe so if you are planning a trip to Takayama, do take the time table into consideration. We didn't reserve seats, so we hopped onto the non reserved cabin and it was quite empty such that each of us could take a double seat and there was tonnes on space to spare. This is a scenic train and I really enjoyed the scenery and the Koryo (Autumn colours) along the way although I thin one of my friends was too tired so she pretty much slept through the scenery. JR is nice in that they arrange for the trains with wide windows to serve this route so that you can have great views. Also, at one point near the start of the Shirakawa, they have an announcement introducing the river.
We reached Takayama at 1523, almost 5 hours since we started the Shinkansen ride in Tokyo and 7 hours after we left the hotel. We would be staying at K's House, so we walked over.. but I took a wrong turn so we got kinda lost. Luckily we managed to get directions from someone and got to K's House in no time. K's House Takayama is quite close to the train station so it's a pretty good place to stay at. I got a Single Ensuite room while my friends got a Twin Ensuite.
That was quite a good arrangment cos they like cooler rooms and I do not. I would never get out of bed if the room was too cold. Because I got a stamp card from K's House Kyoto in July, this was the third stamp I got and we were entitled to 500 yen off per person! Yay, always love a surprise discount :D
For dinner we went over to a place near the station called Chitose (ちとせ) and had some Chinese noodles (中華そば) which they said was Takayama Style. It was quite nice and the soup stock actually kinda reminded me of the wantan soup we have lol.
After dinner, we tried to look for the Autumn illumination that was supposed to be on, but we couldn't find it. I suppose we went on the wrong day. Supposed to be on only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Haiz. Had thought that this one we were heading to was on all week. oh well.
It's been raining, my sock is mildly wet at the toes and I hate that. Brrr.
Still walking around in the autumn weather in summer clothes. Shirakawago tomorrow! We got a half day tour package from !Site.
0 Adorations
It's actually quite fun riding trains in Japan. There are routes that are very scenic and you can totally breathe in all the sights as you go along.
We started the day with the hotel breakfast and then took the JR Yamanote line to Tokyo station for the Shinkansen. At 0830, the Yamanote line from Ikebukuro to Tokyo Station was crowded but still there was space, so it was quite alright for us even though we had our luggage with us. We nhad planned to take the 0933 Hikari to Nagoya as that had the least stops in between, but they did not have 3 seats together, so we took the 1030 Hikari instead.
So now that we had an additional hour, we walked around the inside of the station abit and found that the Tokyo Banana 8 pc pack sold in the station had a Tokyo Banana Dust Cover!!! -.-. Quite sian as I had already bought the Tokyo Bananas the other day >.<;
My friend wanted to try the ekiben and so she bought one to eat on the Shinkansen, I think she really liked the experience :D The Shinkansen ride to Nagoya was pretty uneventful. Tried to pretend that I was revising my modules but felt more like sleeping instead (I think that is the standard reaction to revision lol).
When we reached Nagoya after nearly 2 hours, I picked up an ekiben myself as the next train ride would be another 2 hours or so. I saw this bento that seemed popular and wanted to get it.
We took the Hida Limited Express up to Takayama. This train leaves approximately every two hours, I believe so if you are planning a trip to Takayama, do take the time table into consideration. We didn't reserve seats, so we hopped onto the non reserved cabin and it was quite empty such that each of us could take a double seat and there was tonnes on space to spare. This is a scenic train and I really enjoyed the scenery and the Koryo (Autumn colours) along the way although I thin one of my friends was too tired so she pretty much slept through the scenery. JR is nice in that they arrange for the trains with wide windows to serve this route so that you can have great views. Also, at one point near the start of the Shirakawa, they have an announcement introducing the river.
We reached Takayama at 1523, almost 5 hours since we started the Shinkansen ride in Tokyo and 7 hours after we left the hotel. We would be staying at K's House, so we walked over.. but I took a wrong turn so we got kinda lost. Luckily we managed to get directions from someone and got to K's House in no time. K's House Takayama is quite close to the train station so it's a pretty good place to stay at. I got a Single Ensuite room while my friends got a Twin Ensuite.
For dinner we went over to a place near the station called Chitose (ちとせ) and had some Chinese noodles (中華そば) which they said was Takayama Style. It was quite nice and the soup stock actually kinda reminded me of the wantan soup we have lol.
After dinner, we tried to look for the Autumn illumination that was supposed to be on, but we couldn't find it. I suppose we went on the wrong day. Supposed to be on only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Haiz. Had thought that this one we were heading to was on all week. oh well.
It's been raining, my sock is mildly wet at the toes and I hate that. Brrr.
Still walking around in the autumn weather in summer clothes. Shirakawago tomorrow! We got a half day tour package from !Site.
Comments:
Post a Comment
