Hokkaido Summer Trip 2017 Day 2 (2/6/17)

I woke up around 6.30pm when the first stream of sunlight came in through the curtains. I headed down to the onsen for another soak and was surprised that there were other ladies there this early. We washed our clothes in the washing machine the previous night to get rid of the BBQ smell, but had no chance to dry them, so I left them in the dryer before I went to wash and soak.

Breakfast is not included for our stay in this hotel and Mum does not really mind since she likes to snack on titbits more than having proper meal. After her short nap the previous night, we went to a 7-11 to get more snacks and some breakfast stuff. It was still raining then but I was glad that the sun was out shining strong and bright this morning. She made some noodles, even cooked some curry udon while I updated the blog of the previous day's adventure. 

Subway heading to Makomanai Station

Before setting off to Hokkaido, I came across people sharing pictures of tulips blooming at Takino Suzuran Hillside National Park and the pictures look so pretty. This is the Hokkaido I always wanted to visit in summer! We are in luck as the tulips are only blooming for merely 20 days before they wither away. I researched online to find out how we can get there and it seems easy enough. We set off quite early around 8.50am as the local bus ride from subway station makes its trip hourly and the next bus will be at 9.45am. We managed to get to Makomanai Subway station around 9.30am, Mum even went to pick up more snacks since we still have time. After exiting the station, we found bus stop 2 on the left and there were already a long queue waiting in line. I was surprised that the bus came slightly late as bus and trains are known to be punctual in Japan. Most of those taking the bus are actually locals and not tourists going to the park. It actually took us about 30min before the bus finally arrived at the right bus stop (Takino Suzuran Hillside Park East Entrance), the park is so big that the bus actually stopped at a few stops within the park before it came to the bus stop we were supposed to alight. All the remaining people on the bus also alighted there.

A map at the entrance of the park

There were many Japanese elderly going into the park with us and we realised there is a special rate for those above 65. Mum is eligible for this special rate (210Y) and a very friendly staff came to help us purchase the tickets at the machine. He also offered maps in English and Chinese. I paid twice the amount (420Y) but it was still considered cheap.

Tulips in the field

Tulips, tulips and more tulips in different colours

After a short walk from the entrance, we saw a colourful patch of tulips some distance away and I knew this was what we were looking forward to.  There was a friendly Japanese volunteer who wanted to tell us more about the flowers, but unfortunately we did not understand her. To see flowers blooming in this typical Hokkaido fashion is really a spectacular treat and I'm glad we were able to make it. I could see the tulips were starting to wither, so I guess they will not stay this way for too long, probably another week.

Tulips-mania 

This is my favourite pic as there's a mixture of colours

It was a nice feeling to finally view the grandeur of nature in Hokkaido (after all the snow the previous time), everything is pretty much seasonal and I guess tulips are good enough for a treat although I'll never get to see sakura or lavender blooming as long as I'm still in the teaching service. The flowers turned out so nice and pretty as the staff of the garden were giving them a lot of tender loving care. As I toured around, I could see staff busy planting the next plants and flowers that will be in their season to bloom soon. Its hard to believe, but this very same park will turn into snow sledding hills once winter is here, although I could not imagine how it would look like from where I was standing.

Guess how many little waterfalls in this picture

That's my mama

I almost could not catch up with Mum as the tulips were so instagrammable, and she was also busy with her own selfies. Finally we reached this rest area where there were a lot of little waterfalls for people to sit down and admire the scenery. Another thing I loved about the park was the plentiful rest and sitting area and the nice weather we had today. We were blessed with dry weather for the whole day and the outing to the park was also cooling and breezy.

Elderly artists

As elderly could come into the park with a concession pass/price, there were many Japanese elders at the park resting, chatting and catching up with friends. I also came across this group who were leisurely painting in the park. The whole scene looked so completed with them focussed and busy working their paint brushes.

Mini camping ground lookalike 

We took our time resting at the park and it was almost noon when we had enough of the park and decided to make our way back. As our main aim of going all the way there was just to see tulips, 1-2 hour at the park was enough for us. The friendly staff at the entrance had also given me a slip of paper with the bus timetable so we could catch the next bus from the same bus stop around 12.30pm. We had an early day and breakfast so we felt a little hungry by noon, luckily mum had a lot of snacks in her bag so we just feasted on those.

Cute little onigiri with the park logo and mascot

There were a few eateries around the place and I thought they were closed as I did not see anyone entering the place. But I was wrong, there were just too few tourists around the place but these places were already opened and selling some foodstuff. We skipped the elaborated western food cafe and went to the simpler cafe next door selling typical Japanese snacks. I had not had any onigiri this time round so we decided that we could get this to fill our stomachs while waiting for the bus. To my surprise, the onigiri was quite big and they made it on the spot so the rice was still warm. It was quite yummy. However, we were also surprised that the fillings were quite pathetic (mine only had one sour plum) so we were practically just enjoying the rice.

My favourite Kinotoya cheese tart

We had an early start so both of us fell asleep on the comfortable bus on the way back. We decided that we would go back to our hotel room to charge our phones and get ourselves recharged before heading out to Otaru. On the way back, we picked up more food stuff as we were not going to have a proper lunch, we'll just eat these snacks in the hotel room instead.

Home sweet home

I was looking forward to get a good nap of just about an hour and we'll head out again at 3pm+ but I ended up sleeping for two hours instead and we only got out at 4pm+. It was a good rest for me but we went into a situation almost similar to my first trip to Otaru, the shops would be closed by the time we get there. The only thing was the sun setting later in summer so there was still daylight when we got there. 

Reserved seats for us

The feeling was certainly different without all the snow around, but the weather for the night at Otaru was also quite cold at 14-15 degrees and I felt like I could use my down jacket there. There were still some tourists around when we reached and I found the way to Sakaimachi street withtout crossing to the canal side this time round. 

This railway is no longer in use in Otaru

Took a picture in daylight this time round

I did not noticed that Otaru specialised in kelp (a kind of seaweed health food) but mum was interested in those and she bought a few packets at very reasonable price. We also wanted to try their soft serve specialty in matcha favour but most of the shops had closed at 5pm+. The streets were once again quite deserted but I saw many sushi shops and seafood store selling uni don and I remembered I did not have the chance to try it the previous time as P does not like raw Japanese stuff.

Interesting sign outside the kelp shop

One of the shops selling seafood in Sakaimachi

We spotted one seafood shops still in operation across the street where Mum bought her kelp, the smell of BBQ meat and seafood was really good and it was also crowded with patrons. We went further down the street and saw that the other shops had closed so we decided to go back to this shop for our seafood fix. 

Quality of food quite disappointing

The price of the salmon roe don and uni don was cheaper than other shops, just 1000Y to 1500Y while the prices we saw at other stalls were twice of that. I had tasted good salmon roe don at izakaya previously so I was confident that this will be really fresh since seafood is a specialty in Hokkaido. Mum had wanted to try the BBQ squid as she saw the staff BBQ-ing one at the entrance but we ordered the wrong dish and we got the squid sashimi instead. When the food was served, I was surprised as the salmon roe and uni did not look fresh at all. Instead of bright colours like they were supposed to be, it looked dull and unappetising. I had not eaten uni before so I still found it quite delicious, but the salmon roe was too salty and the texture was not as good as the one I've tasted in hokkaido previously. Seeing so many tourists around me, I realised that this is a tourist trap in a way, selling food at a cheaper price compromises the quality of food. When I was walking out, we saw them selling uni in small packets and these were priced according to freshness. The cheapest and most unfresh ones looked like the ones we had ate. The unfresh seafood literally left a bad taste in my mouth and I felt a little sick on our way back to Sapporo, there were only local train options after 7pm so it also took us longer to travel back. 

Hokkaido Summer Trip 2017 Day 1 (1/6/17)

This is my 7th trip to Japan (this place is like my second home?!), 2nd trip to Hokkaido, and our very 1st mother-daughter trip. It's June hols and I have been planning this for a long time to get myself motivated through the term. P only have a few days of annual leave left after we booked our Dec honeymoon trip to US, so we are only going to make a short trip to Bkk this June. I was doing some research online to book a runcation or another solo trip on top of the bkk trip, and had shortlisted NZ (the Christchurch marathon is first weekend of June). Then my mum suddenly mentioned that I've been going to places on my own, and I had not offered to bring her on my solo trips etc. I felt rather guilty as the idea of bringing them overseas had honestly not cross my mind after our trip to Hong Kong in 2015. I know my parents are really aging faster than I wanted them to and sooner or later, they will get too old and tired to go on trips with us. Mum was deliberating on the idea of going NZ after she knew that I was actually going for a race, she was not that keen and instead mentioned that she really wanted to go Japan as she's not been there before. I also got lazy about running after my Nagoya marathon this year, so I decided to drop the idea of runcation altogether and decided to bring her to the land I really love. Having said that, I still pondered really hard if I should proceed with this trip as P and I are quite financially tied after settling into our new home and with the wedding coming up in less than 2 months. But its also meaningful to make the trip at this point of time as I'll be marrying soon and no longer mama's girl as much as the past 36 years, thus I decided that I do not want to postpone the trip to another June or December break. 

My mama

Waited a little for the gate to open

It's the first time I'm taking JAL to Japan, although P and I should have taken JAL when we first came to Hokkaido in December 2015. Like what I wrote in my long blog post then, we had a whole series of adventures then and ended up taking United Airlines instead. The trip to Hokkaido is just two days after I'm back from my school trip to Taipei, and I'm practically just taking out my clothes for a wash before putting them back to the same luggage. We went to the airport quite early as the time of our red eye flight is 1.50am on a weekday night. My first impression of JAL was not too bad, the seats are comfortable with enough legroom, the IFE is a bit lacking but it did not affect me much as I knocked out for most of the journey. We had to transit at Tokyo and it was much better than my previous trip on United Airlines (taking Jetstar to Sapporo) as JAL has their own shuttle bus bringing passengers to the domestic terminal and we could check in our luggages before boarding the shuttle bus. 

Maroon Red is the theme for JAL

Waiting for the JAL shuttle to domestic terminal

This time round, I ordered the Hokkaido Rail Pass from Changi Recommend, it cost the same as the one we bought in 2015 and I intend to utilise the 7 days pass for the whole duration of my trip. We collected the printout vouchers at Changi airport together with the wifi router. Once we reached Hokkaido New Chitose Airport, I headed to the JR information counter for serving tourists at the airport. I got my Hokkaido Rail Pass there and immediately reserved my seat on the train heading to Sapporo.

My must-have in Hokkaido, although it look slightly different from the one I had in 2015

The journey on the train and our journey to the hotel is quite smooth, as I've decided to book the same hotel that P and I stayed in 2015 (Hotel Keihan Sapporo). The weather is really pleasant this time and we did not have to drag our luggage in the snow or icy ground though I do miss the cold weather a little. The weather was warmer than what we expected as the forecast shown really low temperature so I even brought a down jacket with me. We reached the hotel before 3pm and decided to head out to explore a little before dinner.

Lots of my favourite 御飯團 here

Saw some interesting designs for phone covers

Unfortunately, it started raining when we headed out, but it was not too cold. We walked around Daiso and bought some foodstuff like instant miso soup (tried it and it was really good) etc. I gave mum two choices for dinner, either Kani-Honke or the Sapporo famous Genghis Khan BBQ lamb. She chose Genghis Khan which I did not mind as I did not have the chance to try it when P and I were here, and I also remember there's another outlet of Kani-Honke at Asahikawa Aeon Mall, so we'll still have other chances to try that. It was still early and initially we wanted to take a bus to Sapporo Beer Garden, but the rain made it difficult for us to navigate our way to the bus stop. Reading somewhere that it'll cost only 700+Y to get there from Sapporo Station, we decided to hop on a cab. It cost more than 1000Y eventually but I guess the convenience was still worth it, walking around in the rain was really a hassle. There were a few dining halls for us to choose from, and we decided to just go with Trommel Hall. We stepped into the first building we saw where there was a reception area for making reservations for dining and touring. The person noted our choice on a piece of paper and we headed out to the next building where we were ushered to the second floor.

Trommel Hall was in this building

The Sapporo Beer Garden area had iconic buildings and it looked interesting from the outside, but we did not have the chance to take that many pictures or explore much in the rain. The dining hall was not that crowded as it was barely 6pm when we sat down, we chose All-You-Can-Eat option for two people, and it cost 2900Y per pax. The other option included beer and the price was also quite reasonable at 3900Y, as one can eat and drink as much as he/she wants, but we did not choose that since Mum does not drink.

The table with grill in the centre and paper apron for us

When we were sitting down, the server thoughtfully brought plastic bags for our jackets and bags. I was not surprised as I read from somewhere of their good service and that the strong smell of the BBQ mutton will stay on the clothes after our meals. Very promptly, they served us our very first set of fresh lamb meat, frozen lamb meat and vegetables (mainly cabbage and bean sprouts). There was also a set of instructions of how we can grill those meat.

My happy mama

I think I'm not really a big eater so it's always quite 'lugi' for me to go to buffets. We only managed to order one more portion of fresh lamb and vegetables before I felt too full to continue. It was really oily and some oil splatter onto my phone after awhile, the apron was useful as at least the oil did not get onto our clothes that much. I would still say its worth a try as the fresh lamb were cut really thin, and it tasted really tender and good. The lamb meat Genghis Khan is afterall a specialty of Hokkaido as I bet it'll be really shiok to taste it during cold winter, together with a dip in onsen. When we walked out, the bus just left and Mum thought that we should get a cab to send us back to the hotel instead of waiting another 20min. The trip back cost less than 1000Y, it was still early but Mum wanted to rest for the night since we did not have a proper sleep the previous night.

As my hair smell of BBQ mutton, I went down to onsen while she took a nap. My very first hotel onsen experience was at this very same place, and I got so addicted to onsen after that, every hotel with a onsen is a big plus for me. As it was still early, I had the changing, bathing and soaking area to myself for quite sometime before it got too crowded. I had blogged a lot of details about Hotel Keihan Sapporo during our previous trip so I shall skip those for now. 

First Post in 2017 showing off my back-to-school nails!

Nice nail art! (credits to Eileen for the picture)

After moving away from Sembawang, I've finally done with my old nail packages that lasted many many years (maybe past 10 years or so) at the same salon at Sun Plaza. To be honest at one point they were hard selling their packages so I got quite frustrated but I could never finish using up all my manicure, pedicure or facial packages all these years.

I decided to look for a nearby home based manicurist as it will be cheaper plus no hard selling, so pretty fuss free. A search on Carousell got me to Eileen, her pricing is quite reasonable as Classic Gel Manicure was only $30 (way cheaper than my previous salon!), I topped up for the soak off at $10 and then did my nail art @ $25. I regretted a little not going to her in December to do my pre-wedding shoot nails, I only did a very simple french manicure as my manicurist was not really good or creative with nail art.

I went to Eileen's home near Seng Kang Mrt one day before school reopen and did my nails. To my surprise, she's much younger than what I've imagined her to be (although I've no idea what age I've imagined her to be) and the way she did the nailart was something new to me. To me honest, I did not know how the tweet pattern was created till she shown me. While waiting for her to finish, she played  a Korean variety show on a laptop in the room so I kept myself entertained. It ended in 1.5hours as I did not do a pedicure.

I guess I would go back to her again, unless I'm able to find another home based manicurist nearer to Bishan after moving into my new place the next few months.

P/S: I'm actually looking forward for my gelish to wear off so that I can choose the next set of nailart for February. However, there's a surcharge for CNY nails so I hope I can avoid the period.

Seoul Trip 2017 Day 1 (18/12/2016)

In order to save money for my holidays this December, I took China Eastern Airlines for both my Japan and Seoul trip, earning 6miles when I booked through Expedia using my UOB privi card. When I checked Seoul ticket prices on SQ (direct flight), it was already $1.4k per pax, and China Eastern Airlines was only $750, so it was almost half price. We decided we could afford the time to transit,  just like our June trip to UK, saving bucks by spending more time traveling.  

Coincidentally, I transited at Shanghai for both my trips, so I was already quite familiar with the procedures and the airport. The transit time is not as bad as my Okinawa trip as P was with me this time and we only waited for 2-3 hours before waiting to board again. However, I felt a bit sick once I thought of the plane ride (quite a deja vu feeling as the two trips were just 2 weeks part) as I was down with diarrhoea once I landed in Okinawa. I tried to get rid of this thoughts on the 5 hour flight to Shanghai but the very bad turbulences did not help.

P was excited once we reached Shanghai as its exactly where he wanted to be. There's a Starbucks at our transit area and they've launched some limited edition stuff over there for X'mas. Our trip had not started proper and we had already spent hundreds of dollars on his Starbucks collection. Sigh... I did not feel happy and we had a little argument, but we did not want to spoil our holidays so we reconcile pretty fast.

We reached Seoul past noon and went looking for the recommended way to get to our hotel. I looked at the videos the hotel had created and sent to us prior to the trip (quite high tech and good customer service) and decided that taking the Airport Rail to Seoul Station and then a taxi right to the doorstep of the hotel should be the safest way, it cost the same as the Limousine bus but we do not need to find our way from the bus stop to the hotel with our luggages. 

Found the Travel Centre right after the arrival area

The trip cost us 15k won per pax (less than 20SGD)

Found our way to the Airport Express station and the train was waiting

The AREX tickets with clear instructions

Actually the piece of paper was not needed as the driver was waving at us right after we exited the AREX train area. He was able to ask us some simple questions in English, but we were quite shocked when we got to the carpark exit and the cabbie was shouting away to the lady communicating with him at the gantry, just like how people scream at each other in Korean dramas. It's not really his fault as the lady did not let us out of the carpark and he was trying to explain that he's the pickup service cabbie. Anyway, I must admit that I went to Seoul with some prejudice as Eric had told us that unlike the polite Japanese, the Koreans are rude like their PRC neighbours. At the end of the trip, Japan is still our preferred country of travel but Seoul and Koreans are not that bad and the cabbie was the only shouting Korean we've really met during the trip.

Our hotel was really near to Seoul Station as its quite centralized and located at Myeong Dong area, I think we only sat in the cab for about ten minutes and the driver made a few turns before we reached our hotel. The short trip really benefit the driver as we paid a flat rate for the cab bundled with AREX so I guess he's really lucky we're so near.

Like what I read from reviews, the reception staff at Shin Shin Hotel were really friendly and spoke good English. Many reviewers mentioned that the hotel room is small but we felt that it was quite okay and cosy, not sure whether its because we're having a premium twin room. Anyway, its our 'home' for the next 7 nights, the entire duration of the trip.

Our room was located at another building from the reception and only 3 rooms on each level

A very open bathing area and we enjoyed soaking in the tub (alone)

Our beds, we moved the beds together after the first two nights

This working area was soon littered with stuff during our trip

Large wardrobe at the entrance of the room and we left our luggages there

I loved the location of our hotel. The staff were helpful and friendly. Only complaint that I had was that soundproofing was not that good so I woke up from people checking into the next room one morning. For some of the mornings, the chambermaid moved some chairs during housekeeping upstairs and woke me too. I sleep easily most of the time so it's pretty unusual for me to wake up from the noise, feeling frustrated.

Seoul Trip 18th December 2016 to 25th December 2016 (All about our Pre-Wedding Shoot)

I'm not sure why I lost the passion to blog much in 2016, I have not finished my blog post for the Hakusan Ultramarathon as of now but I promised myself to complete the blog as it was really a memorable race for me.

Anyway, this is my first blog about my wedding. Ah, I'm finally getting married! It's a lot of preparation on top of my new home which is in the midst of renovation right now. I've done so much stuff that are really blog-worthy but did not have the patience or time to blog about those. Hope I'll get back on track someday!

What inspired me to get back to blogging is this Seoul trip, it is my first trip to Korea and we decided quite sometime back to do our pre-wedding shoot during the trip. We had wanted to visit Korea in 2015 but decided to shelf the idea as we both loved Japan so much that we did another winter trip to Hokkaido. We would have loved to do our pre-wedding shoot in Japan but after viewing the photos and considering the current trend, Korea pre-wedding shoot appeal to us more in terms of the backdrop, props, makeup, hairstyling and basically the whole package. After we finally confirmed our wedding reception venue around September, I started researching about our pre-wedding shoot by reading blogs, forums and sending enquiries.

Short-listing the coordinating company and studio...

(Ido Wedding and OneThreeOneFour)
I thought Ido wedding had quite a lot of good reviews and thus that was the first 'studio' (strictly speaking, they are more like a middle man between us and the Korean studios) we contacted but the Korean lady we met up to discuss appeared quite aloof (not sure if its lost in translation?) and the price was simply too steep. Initially I thought that it will be safer to contact a company based in Singapore to help us look for a studio as we did not know how to communicate with the Korean studios but I realised they are really charging a premium price. Both Ido Wedding and OneThreeOneFour quoted us almost 4k as the main requirement for our shoot is to capture snow scenes (we really love snow!) and they had offered to bring out us out of Seoul area to Gang-won province or a ski resort to capture heavy snowfall. We felt that 4K just for pre-wedding photo shoot was really too steep so we decided to consider other ways to do it.

(Hello Muse and Mr K Korea Wedding)
The next few options were explored and I believe they were companies with interpreters who can help us coordinate between the Korea studios, that's a really good options as we can contact the Korean studios without speaking the language, plus the price is cheaper too. I contacted the lady from Mr K Korea Wedding through wechat and honestly she was really nice, she suggested taking photos at Nami Island while the person who replied me from Hello Muse suggested Dosan Park. However, they kept emphasizing that snowfall cannot be predicted so there was a risk of traveling all the way there with no snow or only a very thin layer of snow on the ground. December is still early winter and we decided that we couldnt afford to risk it, the effects will be quite different if its just a thin layer of snow on the ground, so going to a ski resort is preferred. (I should be very glad we did not risk it as Seoul is seriously not as cold as Hokkaido since we arrived, more like early spring weather, therefore no snow at Nami Island at all even though the lady thought that mid-December should be good enough)

Another coordinator that I randomly found on facebook replied me:
您好。。。
一半左右的studio都可以在冬天拍街道景,只要有遇到下雪天,就可以拍到,但~何時下雪並非人為可以控制喔。這部份您必須碰運氣...再來就是~零下的天氣穿婚紗在戶外拍攝,新娘會非常辛苦,臉凍傷的機會高,最算沒凍傷,可能會因太冷臉僵硬到笑不出來。 您再評估看看喔。
Kohit Wedding!!
I forgot where I chanced upon good reviews of Kohit Wedding (I contacted almost every sources I can find to ask about taking photo in the snow) but I felt really lucky I found them. They are not as well known as some other established companies as I found out later that they are mainly ran by a couple plus two other part timers so its considered a small budding company. I kept googling winter pre-wedding photos and only two Korean studios had the images of what we had in mind (Roi Studio and Sum Studio), I was really happy when these two studios were in their list of studios available and was pleasantly surprised when they quoted a much cheaper price (about 3.6K SGD) than others. On top of that, they were able to include both outdoor and indoor shoots for us at that price, so it was indeed much cheaper than what others had quoted. The package is very good as we can choose 30 pictures for the album instead of the normal 20 pages, plus the blown up framed photo that will be sent to us through EMS courier. They also thrown in freebies like a behind-the-scene video, I realised that it was taken by David from Kohit during the shoot but the quality is not too bad from the YouTube videos uploaded. Most importantly.. since its free, why not?  I was glad that the my search for the studio was finally over when I made the booking with Kohit somewhere in Oct and paid 20% to them through PayPal. The only disadvantage was that the PayPal fees of 4% was eventually included but now that the shoot was over, I still feel that its all worth the price and effort.

Its 5am now in Seoul, so time to sleep and I will update more about our trip later on...

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.