As usual, we woke up very early in the morning. We got ready and then headed downstairs for breakfast. At K's House Takayama Oasis, we loved the kitchen and the lounge area which looked so neat and clean and aesthetically pleasing ....
Lounge/living area at the hostel ..
There was free freshly-brewed coffee at 7.00 a.m. ...
A typical day's breakfast for us ....
The breads were from the convenience store; we would normally buy them the evening before; the sandwiches were kept in the fridge and we would toast them for a while the next morning ...
The sandwiches were very yummy, this one had teriyaki chicken and egg mayo in it ....
The breads and buns from the convenience stores were actually very good - comparable to those we get from the bakery back home - the pastry was usually soft, while they do not skim on the ingredients.
In the kitchen that morning, we met an elderly couple from Singapore. They were very friendly, and we chatted for a while about our homes and families... This couple visited Japan annually for their holidays for the past 15 years, and suggested to us some other parts of Japan they felt were worth visiting - Hokkaido, for example, was a very enjoyable place to visit according to them.
It was a cold wet morning. According to the weather forecast on tv that we watched the night before, it would be snowing at 6.00 a.m. and raining the whole day. Darn.
Heat packs
I bought these from Daiso back in Kuching .... ironical huh? Since I could just buy them from any Daiso outlet in Japan at an even cheaper price. Lol. I stuck a heat pack on my back and put one in my pocket for extra warmth.
We took a walk that morning to the Miyagawa Morning Market. There was snow on rooftops and at the road sides. Indeed cold ... and damp too.
Miyagawa River
Miyagawa River
A bit of snow on the grass along the banks
A typical stall
Miyagawa Morning Market
So we decided to head straight to Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We'd bought the bus tickets the day before. So we queued up for the 9.50 a.m. bus at the Nohi Bus Terminal. There were 8 open-seating or free-seating buses a day to Shirakawago - 8.50 a.m., 9.50 a.m., 10.50 a.m., 11.50 a.m., 1.50 p.m., 2.50 p.m., 5.50 p.m., 7.00 p.m.; The return buses were timed at 6.43 a.m., 10.45 a.m., 11.15 a.m., 1.15 p.m., 3.15 p.m., 4.15 p.m., 5.30 p.m., 7.43 p.m.
And so the bus took us through snow-covered mountains, the whole journey took 50 minutes.
And so the bus took us through snow-covered mountains, the whole journey took 50 minutes.
Brrr .... cold but so pretty ....
The bus' final destination was the Shirakawa-go Bus Terminal, situated right at the edge of the Ogimachi Village, the place we would be exploring today. The bus terminal shared the same space as the Tourist Information Centre, where I grabbed a walking map and we set out in the rain ....
Ogimachi Village, Shirakawa-go
First view of the gassho-zukuri houses this place was so famous for ...
First view of the gassho-zukuri houses this place was so famous for ...
"Gassho" means putting the palms of the hands together in prayer; these gassho-style houses have steep thatched roofs at a 45 - 60 degrees angle; no nails were used in the construction of these houses; it is believed that snow falls from the roof much easier at such an angle since this is an area which experiences heavy snowfall in winter.
It was pleasant to explore the village on foot, at a leisurely pace
Lovely houses giving a rustic feel ...
Aiming to take artistic shots of the houses .... lol ....
Scarecrow? Horsecrow? Hmn ....
A bit of snow covering the roof and parts of the ground ...
Walking along the main road ... not sure where it led to ....
We were more in awe of the snowcapped mountain in the background ....
At the village, there was a suspension bridge across the Shokawa River ...
And when we were tired ... we sat down and snacked on ....
Not much water in the river ....
When you get to the other side, there's a Heritage Museum with an admission fee - you can learn more of the gassho-zukuri houses and visit the interiors of the houses. We chose not to go to the museum.
Gohei Mochi
Croquet, ¥250
We did go inside one of the houses in the village itself - Wada House; entry was ¥300. This was the family house of the first mayor in Shirakawa-go ....
The living area was spacious!
The hearth
This house was pretty large and was 4 storeys high .... and we could climb to the 3rd floor; the 4th floor was out of bounds.
The steep steps up to the 3rd floor ....
The roof structure from the inside, the 3rd floor
No nails were used, we could see how the beams were tied together.
View from the top floor of Wada House
View from the top of Wada House
Lacquer-ware used by the Wada family
Wada House, the largest gassho-zukuri house in the village
We then headed to the shuttle bus depot, and took a 3-minute bus ride to the observatory. Each trip cost ¥200.
Ogimachi Village, Shirakawa-go
The entire village which we explored on foot that day ....
At the bus terminal, we queued up for the 3.15 p.m. bus ..... and reached Takayama at about 4.05 p.m. ..... and we were cold and hungry ..... and we just popped into a small eatery near our hostel for some food ....
Chinese noodles
Katsudon, ¥880
A large bowl of rice .... pork cutlet and egg, topped with shredded roasted nori
After dinner, we went back to the hostel to thaw ..... we were all damp and cold and could not wait to get inside.
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