Hakusan Shirakawago Ultramarathon 50km (Shirakawa-go and Takayama Old Town) 9/9/2016

It was already 2am++ when I finished updating the blog about the first day of my trip. I lied on the comfortable bed and fell asleep until my room was lit with sunlight around 7.30am this morning. I loved soaking in onsen so much that I decided to make another trip to the onsen early before the private baths get taken up again. Obviously the kiasu spirit in the Singaporean me was working well as all three private onsen baths were empty when I went up to the 13th floor. I chose the bigger and nicer room among the three and marveled at the good weather and nice view from the outdoor onsen.

Happy to see the word 'vacant' outside the doors

The outdoor onsen

The view when lying down on the slab and watch the world pass by

Enjoyed the private bathing and dressing area

The onsen I soaked in was Azuma-nishiki

Took a photo of Shirayuki next door too

The smaller Shidare

Free yakult drinks outside the onsen

After the good soak at onsen, it was 8.30am and half an hour to the end of breakfast time, so I headed down for breakfast. The breakfast spread was not too bad, with selection of breads and Japanese food. The breads tasted surprisingly good and even better than those I've tried at western cafes, and I loved the bread spread which had a mixture of red bean and margarine. After breakfast, I went back to my room and snoozed for another 2 hours before setting out for the day.

My yummy breakfast

I finally got out of the room past noon as I had plans to take a local bus to the Shirakawa-go village. Although I will be going there to report for the race tomorrow and tire myself running through the village on Sunday, I was thinking I might not have the time to tour it at a more leisurely pace, therefore its still worth an additional trip from Takayama. The better way to do it is to do a homestay at one of the gassho farmhouses for tonight but I figured it will be too tedious to plan and book, therefore I just make it a day trip out from Takayama.

Round trip tickets and free wifi on the bus, yeah! 

I went to the tourist info counter I saw the previous day, right in front of the JR train station. The English speaking staff gave me an info sheet with all the bus timings and directed me to the bus ticketing counter nearby to get a round trip ticket for the bus. Certain timings for the bus required a reserved seat and the seat number was indicated on the ticket when I received it. The bus was not filled up, so individuals like me traveling alone get to sit comfortably on our own, and the bus captain also checked our tickets and ensured that we were buckled up before we got on our way. The bus journey took about an hour and we were dropped off at Shirakawa-go bus terminal soon enough. As the bus was climbing up, I tried not to think of how much I will suffer on the slopes during the coming race.

The Shoryudo bus haeading to Kanazawa next

It took me awhile to get my orientation around the place as I only knew that I wanted to go up to the observatory viewpoint, which I guess should be the highest part of the village to get a good photo of all the gassho-zukuri farmhouses and historical looking buildings. It is also at the viewpoint where pictures were taken in winter, showing a magnificent view of the fallen snow on the roofs of the farmhouse around this UNESCO world heritage site, therefore attracting a lot of tourists in recent years.

Map of the place near the bus terminal

Luckily there was a counter with English speaking staff at the tourist centre and the lady directed me towards the right path to look for the shuttle bus pickup point. There was some walking that I need to do and a long swaying bridge that I had to cross to get to the shuttle bus depot, but this gave me a chance to look at the buildings closely, and all the little knick knacks people were selling at the shops. The weather was quite hot with the sun shining down strong so I was also a little worried that it will be that hot two days later during the race, making it even more of a torture on top of the steep slopes.

The visitor centre

A poster of the race at the visitor centre and quite a few other shops had it too

When I got closer to take a look, I could see that the gassho-zukuri farmhouses had really thick roof and it looked really flammable, therefore there were warning signs to remind people not to smoke around the area. Some of these buildings are more 250 years old! Many of them were preserved as homestay farmhouses with the villagers still staying in it and some of them sell foodstuff to the tourists who ware passing through the area. I also stopped for a soft serve as the weather was really hot, there were many shops selling these but not all of them had people behind the counters as business could be quite random.

Crossing the steady bridge which only swayed a little

One of the old farmhouses selling drinks

I was told to turn left after hitting this junction at the main road

This is so picturesque! Nice weather too, albeit a little hot

Finally chill with a soft serve of mixed flavours

I was lucky enough to catch the shuttle bus when people were queuing up to board. I hurried my steps and got onto the little shuttle bus, there were insufficient seats but I did not mind as the trip was only 10min (costing 200 yen one way). As the bus climbed up slowly, I thought of how I had to climb all the way up to the observatory during the last 10km of the race. Hopefully it will be all worth the effort once I get to the top on Sunday.

Sarubobo is really common in Takayama area, believed to bring luck

Rows of Sarubobo in the souvenir shops, different colour for different luck

The shuttle bus service is 20min apart

The whole purpose of going all the way up to the observatory was to see the gorgeous view from the top, it was nice enough now in early autumn and I cant imagine how pretty it will be during winter, I vow to be back someday during winter.

Very surreal feeling at the top

The commercial version of this pic was quite nice, I would buy it if I wasnt alone

I only spend a mere 10min at the top, it was still quite easy to take pictures as it was not that crowded and the shuttle bus service is rather frequent, I spend the next 10min going to the washroom and it was time for me to catch the next shuttle bus back to the village.

One of the big souvenir shop at the area

It was around 3.30pm when I got down from the observatory, and I had to walk back to the bus terminal to catch the next bus back. I had plans to tour the Takayama Old Town later that afternoon and it will be 5+ when I get back to Takayama area. I was hoping the shops will not be closed that early. As the next bus was scheduled at 4.15pm, I felt a little hungry and decided to spend the time finding some local specialities to fill my stomach since I didnt have lunch.

The very cute bench and street sign in the shape of the gassho farmhouses

Hida beef potato croquette, cant taste much of the beef here

These rice cakes with soy sauce were quite filling

After my stomach was filled with these yummy stuff, I did not wait for long at the terminal and the bus had arrived. The 4.15pm bus from Shirakawa-go did not require prior reservation. There were tourists with luggages but there were still plenty of empty seats around. The difference between this bus trip and the earlier one with reservation was that the bus stopped at different stops on the way back instead of traveling directly to Takayama, I fell asleep on the way back and strangely the bus still arrived at Takayama after one hour despite it stopping so many times. I felt hungry again so I went into the convenience store next to the bus ticketing counters to get my favourite rice onigiri before I started walking to the Takayama Old Town area.

The bus service counters with convenience stores

It was about 20min walk from the JR station area to the Takayama Old Town, shops were already closing when I walked along, even though it was not even 6pm yet. When I reached the old town area, most of the shops were closed or closing up, so I did not get to see the little knick knacks and stuff I had read about from travel blogs of other people. I guess this area is the same as Otaru and many other parts of Japan so I really need to get used to shops closing by 5pm at small towns like this.

This is the only shop still selling stuff

I was not hungry but it looked so good that I had to try one

I bought one with red bean paste and regretted finishing it as I felt so full

People who are really into street photography would love coming to this place in the early evening as it is still bright enough to capture some pictures and the streets are already relatively empty so it was easy to get good shots. The old town was attractive even when shops are all closed as the buildings were preserved from the Edo period, so it looked very old style Japanese, giving people the feel of being in Kyoto (although I've not been to Kyoto, yet). I decided to come back again the next day after checking out so that I can see what the shops have to offer when its opened.

The old buildings of Takayama Old Street

It looked lovelier when the lights turned on and there's still a little bit of natural light

Even the 7-11 here has the old building feel to it

There were some tourists like me still roaming around taking pictures even though all the shops had closed, I took a slow stroll back to my hotel and it felt good walking around this small town when dusk is falling and the first bit of moonlight shone down. Everything felt so peaceful and zen. Loved this place and I hope to be back someday.

Shabu shabu dinner

I selected 8pm as the slot for dinner, so I took a short break before going down to the restaurant at dinner time. For the second night, shabu shabu with the hida beef was served instead of the grill. Judging from what the other patrons were having, there were only these two options and it will be repeated if I were to stay for more than two nights. The buffet selection was also same as the previous night but I still enjoyed it even though I was not hungry after all the snacking. The restaurant was filled with people tonight and the servers were not as attentive due to this. Nevertheless, I took about one hour for dinner and went back to my room. I only went up to onsen at midnight after seeing the crowd during dinner time, and I was surprised as two of the private onsens were available for use. I tried out Shidare this time round and went back to my room to blog and rest soon after that.