Japan Trip Day 6: Shirakawago, Kanazawa

Despite heater in the room, I woke up a few times at night because of the cold as it was snowing through the night. I should not be complaining because if it did not snow through the night, I would not be able to see snow-covered scenery this morning. I intended to wake up at 6am in the hope of going around the village before the tourists started arriving but it was still very dark. Eventually I got up close to 7am and then breakfast was served at 730am.

The website is not exaggerating that the highlight of the breakfast is the miso paste. It was *THAT* good that I was willing to have additional servings of rice. I still wanted to go around the village and take a shower before leaving Shirakawago. I was a bit pissed with my sister who still took her time to enjoy her breakfast instead of speeding up a bit. Haiz.. there is not a single day without her pissing me off.

The miso paste (the top most thingy on the leaf) looks little but I had 3 bowls of rice to finish

This morning made all the money spent to stay one night at Shirakawago worth spending. I am really blessed to at least see the snow (although not as thick as those amazing pictures online) and to enjoy it at Shirakawago for about an hour plus before the tourists started arriving. Some more the snow started to melt on our way back so the window of opportunity to enjoy the snowy atmosphere was really short. We walked all the way to the iconic 3 houses and it was really nice to enjoy the peace, the scenery, and the photo taking opportunity without photobombers along the way.

Shogawa (Sho River)

The Three Houses.. should have zoomed to make it look as nice as advertisement photos

We reached the ryokan back at about 930am and check out time was 10am. Thus I had to take a quick shower and I skipped soaking in the onsen. What a waste since in the morning, the onsen was empty so it was like having a private one. The ryokan's hospitality continued until we left and it was really mind blowing. The owner got us to take a photo in front of the ryokan and he prepared small snow sculptures for us to hold. Our bus to Kanazawa was at 1025am and to our surprise, the owner and 2 daughters were waving goodbye to us. No wonder they asked where we were going next and the time of our bus. That small gesture was really touching.

Anyway, the name of the ryokan is Shiroyamakan (official website: http://shiroyamakan.jp/). At the start when I was looking for potential accommodation, I was considering gassho-zukuri houses but I encountered reviews that some of the owners may be unfriendly and rude which may be worsened by the language barrier. Shiroyamakan stood out among the places that appear in the Shirakawago official website (http://ml.shirakawa-go.org/en/) with the most informative website, ease of booking (can be booked directly through the website), and the free tour. Do not get discouraged because of the age of the building because the ryokan is actually well maintained. It maintains the traditional design very nicely without the feel that it is old and poorly maintained. At the same time, it does not feel overly modern as if it is a hotel. The most modern part in the ryokan is the shared toilet which is a very good thing for me. Pictures and advertisements usually tell a thousand lies but after staying, the photos and the information in the website are truthful. Even the family who is running the ryokan is really as smiley and friendly as the photos. It has been really amazing stay and the next time I visit Shirakawago, I will definitely stay here again.

We arrived at Kanazawa at close to 12pm. Sitting in a normal temperature bus somehow reset my body cold tolerance. It does not make sense that I felt colder for the rest of the day at Kanazawa while I was not really bothered with the snow Gokayama and Shirakawago yesterday. I wore the same exact layerings as yesterday.

Kanazawa station is comparable to the big stations in Tokyo and I felt as if I was back to modern civilisation. I could not find empty coin lockers so I ended up carrying my hand carry luggage throughout. It was kind of irritating but not as irritating as the shoelace of my left shoe which kept coming off.

Honestly I did not really enjoy Kanazawa as the attractions were quite boring and not that interesting to take photos. We had a miscommunication with our guide so we ended up not eating lunch throughout. Haha.. Our "okay" for lunch was interpreted as okay to continue with the tour. Quick review of the places visited today:

1) Omicho Market: Something similar to Kuromon Market in Osaka (which I already visited) but is smaller so I was not that impressed.

2) Nagamachi Samurai District: Everything felt too modern here that I did not really feel the samurai atmosphere. I felt like walking through a housing estate whose houses' design are based on the samurai era.

3) Shinise Memorial Hall: Museums are usually not my thing but the entry fee for this is only 100 yen so I think it was quite worth it. The building used to be a pharmacy so it got me a bit excited as a pharmacist. Other than the pharmacy shop front, the other rooms have interesting exhibits such as wedding dowry, temaris (handballs), and other things

On the way to Nomura-ke, I wanted to get a bubble tea at a souvenir shop but it was not available. Since I had not had lunch, I ordered their ice cream with gold leaf. There is nothing special flavour-wise but it coated my lips gold so at least that gave me a cheap thrill.

4) Nomura-ke: For the entry fee of 500 yen, this was a waste of money. The building is smaller than Shinise Memorial Hall and it has fewer things to see inside. The highlight is the garden inside the house but perhaps it is not something that I can appreciate. Comparing to the admission fee for Kenrokuen Garden which is only 320 yen, this 500 yen is really a rip off.

5) Kenrokuen Garden: The garden is huge and nice to walk around to relax and enjoy for people who are into this kind of thing. Although there were a lot of tourists, the park did not feel too crowded thanks to its big size and various features. Majority of the visitors were taking photos only at the lake with the Karasakinomatsu pines at the background which is the most iconic part of the park. The other features are comparable to any other small lakes, small waterfalls, lanterns, trees, etc that I myself was not too excited to take photos of.

My mood was somewhat spoilt because the tour guide dropped my camera and after that I did not really take photos in the park and of the park. Sigh.. Thanks to my useless sister again for not helping to take photos at all that I ended up asking the guide to help me take photos throughout the day. New and expensive camera which was barely bought 2 weeks ago already bruised. Sianz...

Karasakinomatsu Pines: the most famous landmark of the garden (should have taken it from the other side where the lake is). Btw the ropes are not to make them look like Christmas trees when it is snowing. The ropes are to reduce the snow resting on the pines directly as the trees may just collapse from the heavy snow resting on the branches.

6) Kanazawa Castle: Kanazawa Castle is just opposite of Kenroku-en Garden. Shockingly, there is no main keep or main castle building as it was burnt down ages ago. The remaining buildings now are actually the watch towers and external walls (which were the storehouses). Aiih.. disappointing.

Kanazawa Castle

7) Higashi Chaya and Kazuemachi Chaya: The sun was starting get low as we reached here. Somehow, most of the stores were closed so what supposed to be an entertainment district only got me bored and rolled my eyes.

Another good surprise came at the end when the tour guide offered to drive us back to Takaoka. He lives in Toyama and will pass Takaoka on his way back. Hurray!! He also asked if we would like to visit the Takaoka Great Buddha but I declined saying that I intended to do my laundry. Honestly, I was simply too tired. It took about 1 hour to reach Takaoka and I had dinner at the same pasta restaurant from 2 days ago. I could not be bothered with my sister who still wanted to explore because she felt that those shops which were not opened yet when we came 2 days ago would be open now. Puih.. In the end she bought food from 7-11 for dinner so those shops were indeed not open.

I have been wasting the past one hour trying to open my luggage. I thought the code was accidentally changed so I just tried 2 rounds of trying from 000 to 999 to no avail. It turned out something was stuck as initially it opened with the number that I set. It was funny because when I was trying, I always went back to the number I set after every 100 numbers but it did not work.

What an emo end of the day and I am really freaking angry at my sister. I still do not know the plan for tomorrow at Nagano. Just now she asked the tour guide to call the ryokan tomorrow for dinner but the ryokan said no dinner. I don't know how if the area turns out to be like the previous ryokan at Kawaguchiko where the nearest kombini is 30 minutes away on foot. Sigh... anyhow chose a place to stay and to go but not responsible to settle everything. Not to mention my dropped camera, bad photos, not helping to take photos, and not helping when my luggage was stuck. NEVER WILL I EVER GO OVERSEAS WITH HER ANYMORE!! Bloody hell.