Osaka – Maibara (special rapid)
Maibara – Oogaki (local)
Oogaki – Gifu (special rapid)
Gifu – Takayama (local)
In total it took about 6 hours from JR Osaka to JR Takayama station.
By the time I checked into the ryokan, it was already past five in the afternoon, so I just took a stroll in the streets around the ryokan and ate dinner. I first had 牛玉焼, which is basically Kansai’s takoyaki but the octopus has been substituted for beef, as the Hida region is famous of its beef. Then I had a Japanese-Chinese ramen for dinner; apparently this is Takayama’s specialty. At both restaurants I was the only customer. It wasn’t surprising though, since it’s low-season right now. The town, too, seemed desolate and miserable under the drizzling rain. At the ramen restaurant, I talked a little with 
the owners. The lady was really nice and when I asked about what the あぶらえ餅was made of (a paste made from seeds of shiso leaves), she explained to me with a dictionary and a book. After I sat down she asked where did I come from etc., and then she asked me if I identify myself as Chinese or as British…and I was like “erm…why are you asking me such as difficult question?” (in my mind, of course).The ryokan (穂高荘 山の庵) I stayed at was not as luxurious as the ones we went to in Shirahama and Miyajima, but it’s still very cosy and nice. I think I was the only foreign guest for the two nights (judging from the names on the shoe cupboard). There was a large group of obasan and ojisan who came as a tour group, plus a few other guests. On the first night I thought “damn it, there are some cheaper business hotels around…should have gone there instead”, ‘cause I found that the toilet is quite far away from my room (it’s not en-suite), plus the ofuro is quite tiny too (and they didn't have conditioner!). But then in the morning, the breakfast was the best I’ve ever had at a ryokan. So it turned out that 4,200 yen per night wasn’t bad at all. The nearby Super Hotel (I stayed at one in Hiroshima last December – it’s probably the Japanese equivalent of Travelodge) cost about the same, only that the breakfast is not as amazing.
On Friday I joined a local bus tour (operated by Nohi Bus) to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Gokayama and Shirakawago. It cost 6,500 yen. At a glance it’s not cheap, but I think it’s worth the money. First it includes a pretty good lunch at Shirakawago. Secondly, these two places are almost impossible to get to without a car. There are highway buses operating from Takayama and Kanazawa but those are not very frequent, and it probably won’t enable tourists to see both places on the same day. Plus there’s a tour guide who explains things on the bus, while we still had the freedom to walk around by ourselves once we arrive at the destination.
Although yesterday I saw some snow in the mountains on my way to Takayama, I didn’t expect to see so much snow when we arrived at Gokayama. The higher up we ascend to the mountains, the more snow we saw covering the slopes and peaks. Don’t be fooled by the pretty white snow though, it was one of the warmest days we’ve had for ages. Apparently it was over 20C in the cities, and in the mountains it was about 15C. Plus it felt like a gazillion UV rays were reflected by the snow and onto my skin, it felt more like 30C (damn it I should have brought sunscreen). I don’t think I 
had seen so much snow before. I had great difficulty walking up the slopes though ‘cause my feet kept getting stuck in the snow, and I was always on the verge of slipping off the snow and fall to humiliation (thank God it didn’t happen). Going downhill was just as bad; even though I have never skied at all it probably could have been easier to ski off the slope than to walk down it.
The village houses (合掌造り集落) were quite interesting, and looked very cute among the snowy hills. There are some that are open to the public (some are minshuku and some are souvenir shops, cafes etc.), and we could go inside and see the structure.
Shirakawago seemed to be more popular than Gokayama, probably because of the presence of a magnificent river (庄川) running. The water ran very fast as it’s high up in the mountains, and the snow is melting into the river. For lunch we ate at a small restaurant at the viewing point of Shirakawago, so after lunch everyone went outside to take photos. For lunch the tour guide put all the single travellers on one table; it so happened that the four of us were all female (for some reason a certain Beyonce tune
popped into my mind – and an image of American footballers dancing to it). One of the ladies was quite talkative, I thought she could have made great conversations with my mother if she were here.
Just before I boarded the bus to go back to Takayama, I bought a piece of ビーフコロッケ (the region is famous for its Hida beef). It tasted alright, the only problem was – where the hell is the beef? It was just mash, couldn’t even find one bit of beef in it…I walked around Takayama after the bus took us back to the station (it’s about an hour drive from Takayama to Shirakawago/Gokayama). The weather was much better than the day before. The town of Takayama reminded me a little bit of Kyoto, the way the old houses are aligned with each other, the rickshaw, the river and the little bridges.
Tomorrow morning I’ll do a bit more walking around Takayama, or maybe on a bicycle if I rent one from the convenience store, before taking the train at midday to Niigata. It’ll take almost seven hours to go from Takayama to Niigata. I haven’t planned to see much in Niigata, since I’m going there only for a night before taking off to Sendai (I needed a stop as the distance between Takayama and Sendai is simply too far for a day’s travel).
P.S. This is also known as the Hida (飛騨) region, which was mentioned in Izumi Kyoka's The Holy Man from Koya. In the story the monk travels to the Hida region and almost succumbs to the seduction of an uncommonly beautiful woman. During his travel he was chased by snakes and was attacked by leeches falling from the trees... as I was thinking about this I couldn't help looking up to the ceiling of the train, wondering whether there would be any leeches falling from it...
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment