Friday, October 25, 2013
Japan October 2013 - Takayama , Shirakawago (Day 5)
Halfway point!
Today, we spend the morning in Takayama. We went to the Miyagawa morning market, where one can pick up all sorts of local produce and other souvenirs. It's not too big though, it's baasically a market lined up on a street along the river, with one end being buildings and the side by the river being stalls that pop up. There aren't that many pop up stalls either, but I am not sure whether it was because it was not weekend.
We had breakfast at one of the shops and it was a really cosy little place. We got in there just before the little one in the house had to go to school, so we got to see his preparations (breakfast, dressing in his little school jacket and hat) before his mum sent him off to school. Gotta love such places, as they let us see a little bit into the lives of the locals even if it is just a little glimpse. The food was pretty good too. We had rice, mushrooms, egg (nicely done omelette!), pickles, yam, seaweed and miso soup with free flow tea for 550 JPY.
After breakfast, my friend didn't want to go to the temple in the Hida Folk Village nearby so we continued to shop as we had time before meeting up with the tour for Shirakawago. All this while it was raining, so it was quite dampening, literally.
We were supposed to meet up with the tour in front of JR Takayama Station at about 1325, and we popped over there about 10 mins earlier. We were getting kind of grumpy cos of our wet socks, but nothing to be done about that. The tour leader for our group is called Yamamoto, and he is kinda bubble as all tour leaders would need to be to keep the group enjoyable, even for a half day tour like ours. We booked the tour from !Site for 3800 JPY. It's a pretty good way to see Shirakawago if you do not intend to spend too much time there, although staying at a minsyuku is highly recommended is you have the budget.
The route to Shirakawa goes through quite a few tunnels, so we couldn't really see much of the scenery, but along the way we got to see the koryo whenever we got out of a tunnel. The view is really nice, it was really worth the trip and I can almost say worth the soggy rain to view this. You get wonderful hues of orange, red and yellow all over the mountainsides. It's almost as if someone took a pallete and spilled it artistically.
When we reached Shirakawago, we were brought to an observation area to view the 'classic view' of Shirakawago that is usually seen internationally. The area overlooks the village and of course there is a souvenir shop conveniently located there.
After that, we went into the village proper. We crossed over a suspension bridge to get into the village as the bus had to park some ways away from the village.
Apparently, over 1 million tourists come to Shirakawago a year. I can imagine 1 million people crossing that bridge in a year. That is one popular bridge!
Shirakawago is famous for it's Gasshou style houses where the roof is extremely high and steep. Winter views of Shirakawago is ridiculously pretty. I should like to be able to view it myself someday but I am not sure about the cold. Incidentally, my friends and I were the only 3 idiots walking around in 'summer wear'. Everyone else was in some kind of jacket, windbreaker or even winter wear. I was in polo shirt and jeans, as is one of my friends. The third one was in shorts. I was told I looked cold. Honestly, even though I am generally afraid of the cold, I really wasn't that cold in Shirakawago. Yes, you do feel a chill, but this motley crew is well trained in Singapore. 15 degrees is nothing to us (just as long as there is no wind!).
What bothered us more was the rain... Like seriously, wet shoes and socks drives most people nuts. Plus the rain went on forever.
Anyway, we went on to visit the dokorobu festival museum (entrance fee 300 JPY), which is dedicated to exhibiting items related to the dokurobu festival. And, one of the things they do for dokurobu is sake. It's a cloudy sake that they only have for festival purposes and is not for sale. You can have as much as you want in the dokurobu musuem. Really, I am not kidding. They will refill your saucer as many times as you go back, although I don't know what they would say after your 50th time. I had a taste of it and gave the rest to my friend. I am really not an alcohol person.
After the sake, we went over to the Kanda house (entrance fee 300 JPY), where they had free flow tea that was boiled in an iron pot in an old style Japanese fireplace.
On a wet and soggy day such as this, it was really nice to see a real fireplace! We spent some time in the Kanda house, drinking tea, warming up (I missed out on the sake so now I must catch up on the tea!) and then visiting the rest of the house. On the upper floors, they had exhibits on equipment that they used in the old days. It was a rather interesting place as it seemed liked there were way too many nooks and crannies for a house that size, plus the views were awesome (even in the rain)!
As our time was limited, we only visited these places in Shirakawago. It was sad that the rain dampened our shoes, socks and spirits, but Shirakawago is really pretty and I think it would be amazing in better weather. I guess the weather can't be helped, especially since there is a typhoon going on. We should count ourselves lucky that we were only getting our toes wet and complaining about it. People on Izu island are getting it much worse.
Gonna be moving to Nagoya tomorrow. Takayama and the auurounding areas are a great place for onsen if you like that.
0 Adorations
Today, we spend the morning in Takayama. We went to the Miyagawa morning market, where one can pick up all sorts of local produce and other souvenirs. It's not too big though, it's baasically a market lined up on a street along the river, with one end being buildings and the side by the river being stalls that pop up. There aren't that many pop up stalls either, but I am not sure whether it was because it was not weekend.
We had breakfast at one of the shops and it was a really cosy little place. We got in there just before the little one in the house had to go to school, so we got to see his preparations (breakfast, dressing in his little school jacket and hat) before his mum sent him off to school. Gotta love such places, as they let us see a little bit into the lives of the locals even if it is just a little glimpse. The food was pretty good too. We had rice, mushrooms, egg (nicely done omelette!), pickles, yam, seaweed and miso soup with free flow tea for 550 JPY.
We were supposed to meet up with the tour in front of JR Takayama Station at about 1325, and we popped over there about 10 mins earlier. We were getting kind of grumpy cos of our wet socks, but nothing to be done about that. The tour leader for our group is called Yamamoto, and he is kinda bubble as all tour leaders would need to be to keep the group enjoyable, even for a half day tour like ours. We booked the tour from !Site for 3800 JPY. It's a pretty good way to see Shirakawago if you do not intend to spend too much time there, although staying at a minsyuku is highly recommended is you have the budget.
The route to Shirakawa goes through quite a few tunnels, so we couldn't really see much of the scenery, but along the way we got to see the koryo whenever we got out of a tunnel. The view is really nice, it was really worth the trip and I can almost say worth the soggy rain to view this. You get wonderful hues of orange, red and yellow all over the mountainsides. It's almost as if someone took a pallete and spilled it artistically.
When we reached Shirakawago, we were brought to an observation area to view the 'classic view' of Shirakawago that is usually seen internationally. The area overlooks the village and of course there is a souvenir shop conveniently located there.
After that, we went into the village proper. We crossed over a suspension bridge to get into the village as the bus had to park some ways away from the village.
Shirakawago is famous for it's Gasshou style houses where the roof is extremely high and steep. Winter views of Shirakawago is ridiculously pretty. I should like to be able to view it myself someday but I am not sure about the cold. Incidentally, my friends and I were the only 3 idiots walking around in 'summer wear'. Everyone else was in some kind of jacket, windbreaker or even winter wear. I was in polo shirt and jeans, as is one of my friends. The third one was in shorts. I was told I looked cold. Honestly, even though I am generally afraid of the cold, I really wasn't that cold in Shirakawago. Yes, you do feel a chill, but this motley crew is well trained in Singapore. 15 degrees is nothing to us (just as long as there is no wind!).
What bothered us more was the rain... Like seriously, wet shoes and socks drives most people nuts. Plus the rain went on forever.
Anyway, we went on to visit the dokorobu festival museum (entrance fee 300 JPY), which is dedicated to exhibiting items related to the dokurobu festival. And, one of the things they do for dokurobu is sake. It's a cloudy sake that they only have for festival purposes and is not for sale. You can have as much as you want in the dokurobu musuem. Really, I am not kidding. They will refill your saucer as many times as you go back, although I don't know what they would say after your 50th time. I had a taste of it and gave the rest to my friend. I am really not an alcohol person.
After the sake, we went over to the Kanda house (entrance fee 300 JPY), where they had free flow tea that was boiled in an iron pot in an old style Japanese fireplace.
On a wet and soggy day such as this, it was really nice to see a real fireplace! We spent some time in the Kanda house, drinking tea, warming up (I missed out on the sake so now I must catch up on the tea!) and then visiting the rest of the house. On the upper floors, they had exhibits on equipment that they used in the old days. It was a rather interesting place as it seemed liked there were way too many nooks and crannies for a house that size, plus the views were awesome (even in the rain)!
As our time was limited, we only visited these places in Shirakawago. It was sad that the rain dampened our shoes, socks and spirits, but Shirakawago is really pretty and I think it would be amazing in better weather. I guess the weather can't be helped, especially since there is a typhoon going on. We should count ourselves lucky that we were only getting our toes wet and complaining about it. People on Izu island are getting it much worse.
Gonna be moving to Nagoya tomorrow. Takayama and the auurounding areas are a great place for onsen if you like that.
Comments:
Post a Comment
