Day 5 26/02/16
We were supposed to visit the Nara National Museum but we gave that a miss because we were told there was a deer show at 10AM.
Wait, what. WHAT?
DEER SHOW? I HAD TO GO.
It was pretty tough finding the area and if not for the vague sign boards, we would have never find our way because it was so out of the way. We had to enter a forest that was probably isolated from civilisation and walk for a bit. Worse thing was, we rushed so we could reach on time but when we did, we realised we had to enter a house to see it. I do not understand how that works, really. And it was quite dubious, we decided not to.
No deer show (︶︹︺)
But that's ok! Because we bought more deer crackers and hosted our mini deer show where we became the most popular person in their eyes.
Just look at this one particular deer in so much disgust when Verlin touched him HAHA
We walked around to explore for a little bit, and then grabbed our baggage to head down for our ryokan in Gero, Gifu. It was quite a long trip, we had to take a bus to Nara Station, take a train to Kyoto, take a Shinkansen to Nagoya, take another train to Gero station, and take a shuttle bus to the Ryokan. It was exhausting, having spent so much time sitting down on a vehicle.
The last shuttle bus for the ryokan was 5.35PM and we were so worried we would miss it because the Ryokan was a long way from the station, and at 5.30PM we were still in the train because of a delay. Thankfully, the shuttle bus driver waited till 5.45PM because of the train delay, and we were so relieved.
We stayed at Yunoshimakan, a traditional japanese inn with an onsen. We booked the room with a private bath though, but the water used was 100% from the mountains.
The service was excellent and it was almost like royalty. It was already dark at 6PM, and we had a really cold shower before dinner at 7PM where they would serve us in our rooms.
There were three rounds of food, where two girls in Kimono would come in every 20 minutes to clear our dishes and prepare the proceeding course. I had such a satisfying meal because everything was seafood. Poor Verlin, you could say she's almost as good as allergic to seafood (because I can only foresee her puking the moment she puts any seafood in her mouth), had only 2 slices of beef and a strawberry sorbet for dinner. I, on the other hand, was very well-fed and went to bed with a bloated belly.
Then again, since we were in a country leaning towards the traditional side of Japan, the food here is really different from what you thought was actually japanese food. I was once again, putting things into my mouth which I have absolutely no idea what it was, for example, I didn't even know what fish it was in my sashimi (other than Maguro), or the weird-tasting slimy-looking tofu, or the really bland fishcake-looking object. I never dared try their fanciful pickles, although I knew it was pickles, I also knew it wasn't exactly pickles.
The dessert was really good though. I love the black sugar pudding that went so well with the milk. Mmm.
We slept in these futons and to prevent an impending dreadful sleep, I separated the quilt from the quilt cover, and used only the cover as my blanket. It's not that it gets hot, it literally gets burning hot for me, I have no idea why.
This was the view from our private bath in the toilet, I didn't try out the onsen though, because I didn't like the fact that the water is steaming hot while the winds from outside were freezing cold. It's like two extreme ends altogether, geez that sounds like a terrible combination.
Goodbye Yunoshimakan, it was a large part of the trip we were looking forward to. (๑◕︵◕๑)
Day 6 27/02/16
We woke up and traveled up to Takayama, a city that was also in Gifu.
We checked in early at the Rickshaw Inn Hida Takayama, also a japanese-style room with futons and tatami mats. It was nice and cosy, and surprisingly had a caucasian as a front desk assistant.
We roamed about the streets and were looking for lunch. We passed by a yakiniku store which looked really good, you could tell by how Verlin's heart and soul were desperately yearning to eat all those red meat:
Sadly, the restaurant requires 2 pax in order to eat yakiniku, and since I don't eat meat, Verlin had to forgo this and eat ramen with me. This is the highest order of friendship.
A really old couple runs this shop and the granny was all warm and nice to us. It wasn't an excellent bowl of ramen, and in fact, I'd rate this the lowest amongst all the ramen I had in Japan, but her hospitality made up for it.
Cool fact: Any bowl of ramen found randomly or not, in Japan cost at least 800 yen (about $10)
Streets of Takayama were a bit different, roads were much narrower and it looked like a really cosy street for a small neighbourhood. Here we have a little kid on his way for a baseball practice, I love the sport baseball and the attire especially (makes me wanna go up and hug the kid so tight) but unfortunately never got the chance to play it or watch a real match. I watched a baseball match just later at night on TV, it was the Yomiuri Giants vs. Yakult.
We were on our way to take the Higashiyama walking course and that's when my eyesight failed me and I mistook it for the Kitayama Walking course on the map and headed westward instead of eastward. It was funny because it was written in english, not japanese, how could I even make such a mistake hahaha.
And we unexpectedly explored a somewhat deserted part of Takayama, it was always quiet and looked abandoned. We found our way and continued walking towards the walking course.
Verlin insisted on making a snowman and I was like ok, go ahead. And here is the outcome. For goodness sake would you just look at the almost non-existent snowman that was sleazily made by her? Can't blame it though, it was really cold for us to be idling on the same spot for minutes.
We entered the forest which was part of the course, and surprisingly, they had warnings on black fuzzy bears. I was super shocked, seriously, GRIZZLY BEARS IN THE FOREST? This was not a hike anymore, it was a survival challenge.
It was beautiful, all the trees were. I love how they stood so tall and firm, and were shrouded with bits of green. We were looking for the Takayama Castle Ruins but somehow it didn't show on the guide map. We reached the end of the trail and were quite disappointed we couldn't see the ruins, but I was curious as to what was up the trail near the exit and we ended scaling up a tedious hill. To our surprise, it was the Takayama Castle Ruins at the peak.
But it was fairly disappointing because honestly, there were only but a few rocks and flight of stairs, nope, no ruins at all. We were quite high up though and had to get our pictures. It was turning 5PM then and we hurriedly made our way down else it'll get all dark and the scary black bears would come out and eat us both alive.
There was a nice park at the bottom with a grand statue. We walked back towards the central of Takayama. Man, we are such WALKERS.
I saw this really cute dog! I do get quite worried for them though, as much as they look all excited and happy while taking a walk with their owners, isn't it really cold? Anyhoo, I passed by a tea shop and got two packets of tea leaves, genmaicha and houjicha, and the tea leaves are all hand processed by the old store owner who warmly introduced me to his collection of tea. Thank God I can understand a decent level of Japanese.
We decided to eat Sukiyaki, or was Yakiniku, whichever, they look the same, and we chose a random store and popped in.
It was quite a turn of event because the working style here was unique! The chef personally comes out to introduce you the dishes and teaches you how to cook your pot while he does it. He was such a bubbly guy and surprisingly had a really good command of english.
P.S Just look at how excited Verlin looked with her prized possession.
Great service, we had to take a photo. The shop is called Suzuya. We wrapped it up before heading back to snuggle up in bed beside a warm heater.
Day 7 28/02/16
This was going to be the busiest day of all days because we were heading back to Tokyo but before that, we were going to conquer the Magome-Tsumago trail which was part of the Nakasendo Walk, a path which people of the past used to use in order to cross prefectures. And yes, the thought of crossing borders sounded fun!
We took a Shinkansen from Takayama down to Nagoya where we would be depositing our baggage for the day.
Cool fact: There are coin lockers everywhere in major train stations that costs about 600-800 yen (for the largest size) and allow you to deposit your bags for up to 3 days depending on the station.
You'd notice it's really cold in Takayama and Gero, and then it starts getting really sunny as it goes downwards. We arrived at Nagoya and headed for Nakatsugawa Station via a rapid local train.
Nakatsugawa was really quiet with a few stores opened. The buses here operate once every hour as well. We had time to spare so we decided to grab lunch at a ramen store, again.
The ramen was mediocre and so was the takoyaki, I don't think I actually like the Japanese kind of Takoyaki because they have this particular vegetable they put inside which I really hate. But I ate all 5 anyway.
Verlin was complaining that her fringe was getting in the way so she got it cut at a salon haha! For just 500 yen I thought it was not too bad.
We took a bus from the station and headed for Magomejuku.
It was another town designed for tourists with a lot of souvenir shops. Shops were however, located at the sides uphill. This was where Verlin bought a walking stick to assist her in trekking because her ankle was hurting (and ruthless me decided we still had to conquer that 8km trail).
We climbed up pretty high and there was this amazing view. It was also past noon so it was getting quite hot to be walking with our coats, we took it off and began our trail.
Technically, Magome is a town situated in the prefecture Gifu, whereas Tsumago, our destination, was situated in the prefecture Nagano.
The japanese guy in red was one of the few humans we saw on the way. I suppose he was out for a jog but he began to talk to us casually, with a standard english accent.
Also, I think there are more bears here than the forest we ventured into the day before, because they not only put up the caution sign, they placed bells at the entrance of every forest for us to ring it hard against the bears. Can't believe I was a potential bear food every minute I was walking this trail.
The trail led us into the steep rounds of road that was curving every 15 metres, it was also downhill and since there were not much cars, we were able to freely walk by the side. It also started to get cold at the bottom, we could see piles of snow. If anyone is interested in doing this walk, I strongly suggest you to go from Magome to Tsumago instead of otherwise.
There were a lot of forests, we kept entering and exiting, but it was truly a remarkable experience having to walk through such a tranquil forest. I think we were the only ones doing this trail on that day because we have never passed by anyone while trekking. We also came across a mini waterfall we heard from afar so selfie!
We kept giving the blur faces and thinking we were japanese, he was wondering why couldn't we understand. So I told him "Shingaporu-jin desu." and he was like "AHHHH, sou desu." and the look on his face screams "IT ALL MAKES SENSE."
We also told him we were returning to Tokyo the same night, and he was really shocked. I suppose he doesn't always get to hear people around his area going into the city. We bid goodbye and like every other polite and caring japanese, he told us to be careful on our way back.
We also passed by this nice stream of water and I thought the rocks were really pretty! I'm not sure what they're called though.
Finally, we reached Tsumago and it was good as a rural area. No sight of humans and as though we were the only beings left on planet Earth.
And there was this really fat and furry cat sleeping in such an adorable position!
This is the town of Tsumago but by the time we reached, it was considered late. We waited for the last bus and headed to Nagiso Station to catch a train back to Nagoya.
Cool fact: All shops in the traditional parts of Japan close at 5PM, some areas would even have a chime ringing to signal the closure of shops.
This was the scary part. We were at Nagiso station and were shocked to see how dead the station looked. Even the JR ticketing office was closed, we thought there was no more train back to Nagoya. But we saw a train headed for Nakatsugawa with its doors opened, and rushed in. We settled down on the seat and that was when, the Shinkansen headed for Nagoya on the other platform arrived.
We then dashed towards the train, running up the stairs and across, hoping it doesn't leave before we get in. When I reached the Shinkansen, the doors were locked shut but the train was not moving yet. It was really funny because I think the train captain could see us frantically trying to get the door to open out in the cold. So he opened that one door for us and we managed to board the train. Phew. Japanese are such nice people.
We arrived at Nagoya and quickly boarded the Shinkansen back to Tokyo, it was going to be a long 2 hours journey and so we bought bento at the convenience store and ate it on the train. It was actually quite good and wholesome!
We reached our hotel, Hotel Villa Fontaine TOKYO Hatchobori, really late, I think it was close to 10.30PM. And we quickly did our stuff before getting some shut-eye, because the next day was going to be the highlight of our trip!
I will continue Days 8-10 on Part 3!
Hey Claudia, thanks for writing a wonderful post on your Japan trip. It was very informative and engaging something I could look up to for suggestions since Im going to Japan on Nov 17. I hope we can meet up one day soon!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Faris(Chr)