Tag: Takayama

Shirakawago

On By rrainefioreIn TravelLeave a comment

Shirakawago is a farm village where they decided to preserve the heritage of the area and allow tourists to visit and learn.  Our guide told us that about 500 people still live there.  Some businesses had turned to tourism, but some were still farming. 

I had so much trouble booking this tour.  Most tours of this area left from cities other than Takayama.  Most of the ones from Takayama were a full day including a tour of Takayama.  There were two half days that I found.  One didn’t seem bookable and then this one.  I had to book for two people.  So after I booked it through Get-your-guide I informed the tour company that I was just one person.  They said it was ok to only pay for one so I contacted Get-your-guide to get refunded for one person.  After several calls and on-line chats, Get-your-guide cancelled both my reservations and said “Sorry, computer glitch, there’s nothing we can do.  You can book a different tour”.   I tried to book this one again, but it was still for 2 people.  I went directly to the tour company and booked (for 2 people).  They said if more people joined the trip, they would refund one.  That seemed fair.  The day before, I wondered with all that back and forth, where am I supposed to go to start the tour?  My paperwork said the tour started in Shirakawago which was an hour away. I thought I had a conversation about being picked up at my hotel.  I watched my nervous system ramp up with the uncertainty.  I sent them a Whatsapp message and an email.  I tried to calm down.  Trust, just trust.  Stop making drama where it doesn’t need to be.  Of course, I got a response later in the day that they would pick me up at my hotel and there were other people so I would be refunded for one person.  I know better than to worry about stuff like this.

The tour group was me, our guide and a family of 5 from Australia. We left Takayama at 7:30 and got to Shirakawago at about 8:30.  We toured the village and went into a home that had been turned into a museum so you could see what the homes were like.  It was a big home warmed by a central fire that was also used for cooking.  Smaller ceramic containers could be filled with coals to warm other rooms.  The family would live on the bottom floor, the staff would sleep on the second floor in low roofed rooms only big enough to sit upright, but not stand.  The top three floors would be for work.  The top three floors were now used to display farming tools, tools used to make the things they needed, clothing, snow shoes, kitchen wares, and tools used in the silk worm business.  Even standing there looking at it, it was so difficult to imagine that life. 

They have modern amenities now such as electricity, running water, and modern farm tools, but much of the village buildings are the same on the outside as they always were.  I also assume it is no longer the situation where forty people live and work in one house.

The thatched roofs are a special feature of the village.  The guide showed us pictures of the whole village working on thatching a roof.  The roof takes a full day to thatch and needs to be re-done every 30 years.  They also have a village fire suppression system where a siren will go off before the ‘sprinklers’ start.  The fire suppression system will shoot large jets of water into the sky, covering the whole village in water.  There were pictures to see this as a demonstration would not be a good idea.

We ended by walking up to a village overlook.  By the time we walked down, the village was completely covered in tourists.  We were so grateful to have arrived early when there were hardly any people.

After going back to Takayama, I wandered around town some more and went back to the same restaurant for dinner again. This time there was no line, but the staff was the same and the celebration of dinner was the same.  This time I got the beef you grill yourself over a hibachi grill.  It was worth it just for the staff’s description of how to cook.  “Ssshhhh 2 minute, flip, ssshhhh 2 minute, dip, eat, mmmmmm, ssshhhh, ssshhhh, dip, mmmmm.”

Takayama Day 2

On By rrainefioreIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I wanted to do a nighttime food tour, but found none online.  I did find a daytime food tour that went to the morning market and the old town.  I arrived at the train station meeting point early.  Hanging out in the hotel room sounded less fun than wasting a half hour exploring the train station. 

I saw a guy sitting on a bench with an official looking badge on so I asked if he was the guide for the food tour.  He asked if I was Rraine.  “How did you know?”. I was the only one on the tour.  I like tours because you get to meet new people.  I guess I get to meet one new person today.  Later I learned I was the first person to ever take this food tour.  The tour company has done history and walking tours for years, but just decided to add a food tour for the first time.

The first stop was a vendor at the morning market.  He sold espresso in tiny cookie cups.  The inside of the cup was lightly frosted so the frosting would melt into your espresso.  When done, you ate the cup.  Brilliant.

We went to a samurai museum where you could see what the castle in this town would have looked like.  Also displayed were clothing, tools, swords and other artifacts from the samurai times. 

I ate grilled beef on a stick, raw beef sashimi, ramen and finished up the food portion with pudding. 

There was also sake testing.  In one of the sake sellers, you can put money in a gumball machine and out pops a sake cup and a token.  At another machine, you can get additional tokens.  Then you take the tokens to a bank of pour machines.  Each token pours a sample of sake.  This way you can sample sake to help decide which one you want to buy.  Again, brilliant!

We also went to a memorabilia museum with items from the Showa period (1926 – 1989).  It was like entering an Americana museum from the 1950s and 1960’s, but with a slight Japanese flavor.  It was fun and something I never would have chosen on my own.

After the tour, I decided to go see the samurai castle ruins.  This was not the best decision of the day.  Of course, the castle was at the top of a huge hill.  There were several ruins locations at the top of the hill.  None of the Google maps names matched the park arrow signs.  So I had no idea which trail I wanted to pick to see ruins.  I picked one and hiked up to the false summit at which point I had seen no ruins.  My feet hurt, my back hurt and seeing ruins no longer seemed worth it.  Was I going to continue up just to say I did?  No. I admitted defeat and headed back down.  At least it was a pretty forest hike except for the very loud heavily perfumed French group of 6 that followed me down.

Finally down from the mountain, it was time to do the dinner hunt game.   First I went to the restaurant my hotel had recommended that was closed last night.  There was a sign on the door that said all seats were reserved for the night.  I went to a couple other steak places that were more ‘food on the go’ type places.  The next place I went to had a line out the door of about 20 people. 

I didn’t want to wait, but I also was tired of being told restaurants were closed or needed a reservation.  And a line often means good food.  So I got in line.  Every now and then one of the three wait staff would come out and excitedly call the next person in line like they had won the lottery.  It was a celebration each time a new table became available.  This made me want to eat here even more.  When I got closer to the front one of them came out and put some of our names, party number and where we were from on the list.  Whoo!  Rraine One USA!  A short time later, it was my turn to eat. I was welcomed with cheers.  I had a very delicious steak and a lemon sour.  It was so fun watching the wait staff interact with the guests.  They were so energetic and their joy spread out throughout the room.  It was contagious.  Thank you, other restaurant, for being fully booked.

On the way back to my hotel, I found a foot bath.  Game changer.  We need more foot baths in the world.  It was warm, relaxing, and clean.  I found a coin operated massage chair at my hotel.  It wasn’t as great as the foot bath.

Takayama Day 1

On By rrainefioreIn TravelLeave a comment

I had to take a bus to get from Hirayu Onsen to Takayama.  I couldn’t get the ticket ahead of time so I checked out of my hotel after breakfast.  I was a little worried that there wouldn’t be room on the bus, but that worry was completely unfounded.  Most people at the bus station were passing through going to Kamikochi.  As usual, I worried for no reason.  I wondered what was so great about Kamikochi and should I be going there.  Nah, not with all those people.  Anyway, Takayama was a city with a population of about 85,000 people instead of a town of 50 so getting there early would just mean more time to explore.  I have no idea what the population of Hirayu Onsen is, but the whole region is less than 3,000.

I got to my hotel hours before I could check in, but I could store my luggage there.  I asked if there was a place I could get a massage.  The lady at the front desk printed a map for me, apologizing that it was kind of far.  It was a 15 minute walk in a non-tourist area, not really that far.  I always enjoy seeing non-tourist areas too so this was a nice walk.  On my way, I found a coffee shop as there was no coffee with breakfast.  The first coffee shop I went to was full and they had no room for me.  What wonderful thing were they serving that made them so packed?  Less than a block away I found another coffee shop with room for me. 

I was able to make an appointment for a massage at 1:00.  This meant I had over two hours to kill.  I looked at maps and found a couple shrines and a park nearby.  It looked like Takayama Sky Park had good views and it was about a half hour walk.  It was named sky walk so I expected I was in for a climb.  The last ten minutes of the walk, my expectations were fully met and I started to doubt my choice to walk to a park in the sky.  At the top was a nice little park and the views were great.  The breeze and sitting in the shade helped cool off from the climb up.

I watched an older man and his much older father arrive at the park and go stand at the overlook.  The father was all hunched over, but you could tell he was so happy to be at the park.  They walked slowly around the entire park.  I felt I was watching something sacred. 

The rest of the day was dedicated to looking at shrines, massage, a cat cafe, and wandering through shops in the old town.  There were a lot of tourists here, but I didn’t hear much English spoken. 

Since Takayama is in an area known for it’s beef (Hida Beef), I set out on a mission (again) to find a steak.  The first place my hotel recommended was closed.  The second  one required a reservation.  I found a yakiniku place where you could try a variety of different cuts of beef, grilling them yourself.  It was delicious and actually cheaper than the two places I couldn’t go to.

I got hotel pajamas again, although much nicer than the last place.  My hotel also had a public bath which was not sulphur smelling water, so it was much more relaxing for me.

I learned a couple things today.  I learned about sake balls and charred wood. 

I kept seeing this ball that looked like it was made of dead plant material.  It would be hanging over the door of some business.  So, I asked Google about the Japanese dead plant material ball and I actually got an answer.  A sake brewery or merchant will hang a green ball made from cedar leaves over their door to announce the arrival of fresh sake.  As the ball changes from all green in the spring to all brown in the fall, it is like a clock telling you the age of the sake.

On the bus to Takayama, I saw a clip of people burning wood so I clicked on it.  In Japan, they char the surface of the wood before building with it.  The process treats the wood making it water repellent and resistant to insects, rot and fire.