I got up at about 7am or so and washed up. Breakfast was the 'popular sushi in Kyoto' wrapped in a leaf. And I really liked it! The sushi rice was more sticky and vinegared compared to the usual. But I like.
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| You good! |
When I reached the shrine at 7.45am, the food stalls lining the street leading to the shrine were in the midst of being set up. I headed for the gates and went on up to where I stopped before, an area with a pond:
So I continued up the stairs and found an unexpected viewpoint!
Abit more further got me to closs to the crossroad but I realised I was not going to be able to make it all the way up and down again in time to meet RJ and to check out from our apartment.
So I made a left turn towards a pathway without the torii gates had to snap a photo of a very foxy and cozy looking cat. It must be because it's the Fushimi Inari shrine that even the cats look foxy!!
As I walked, I realised that the area appear to be residential.
Now I know why there were people who looked like they were on the way to work while walking though the torii gates.
After some walking, I doubled back to the entrance of the shrine to meet up with RJ. But not before I purchased a postcard, a towel and a figurine cos I liked this shrine alot. I will revisit this shrine the next time. And only from 7am to 9am because it can get crowded with visitors.
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| Walking back through the torii gates |
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| Foxes are the messengers of Inari, the Shinto God |
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| Bustling row of food stalls |
My empty tummy commanded me to hand over my money to the takoyaki seller in exchange for 6 big soft happy octopus balls and it was so good in the cold weather.
RJ got a giant crab leg which made her relatively happy
And I got a Sake Ice Cream which tasted very sake-ish. It was a bit icy but the sake taste was really good for me. I also bought the Sake flavoured Kit Kat and it tasted good too! I conclude that sake flavoured items can be purchased in Japan.
Before we knew it, it was time to run back to our apartment to check out and make our way to Takayama!!
The apartment owner was at the building taking care of some matters so he was able to meet us when we checked out. We were happy and thankful for that because he kindly helped us to carry our luggage down the stairs.
Sadly, it was still up to us to handle our luggage towards the train station and beyond lol. The shinkansen to Nagoya had quite alot of leg room and so we sat with our large luggage in front of us for the 40min ride. I was quite comfortable because of my short legs. However the seats on the non bullet train from Nagoya to Takayama were on a raised platform and did not have sufficient leg room for a large luggage. The large luggage storage space on the train was also small and limited to the front and back of the carriage. Luckily the demand for the space was not high, and we did not have to fight for the space for this 2hr 15min ride.
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| So pretty!! |
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| Random train shot |
About 3 hours after we left Kyoto Station, we reached Hida-Takayama. Takayama is a city within the mountainous Gifu Prefecture that has retained its traditional touch. Its historic district is lined with wooden houses dating to the Edo period.
According to the Hida-Takayama website, it's surrounded by rich nature with the northern alps as background. I found it a small, quaint and beautiful place with warm people.
The train station is quite small and you have queue up outside the train gates to wait for your train as you can only go through the gates if your train is the next one or two.
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| JR Takayama Stn |
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| The very important Takayama Tourist Map |
The elderly couple who ran the Ryokan were very sweet and hospitable! The first thing we were told was that our room is on the second floor. LOL. When we got to the room, a very yummy matcha drink and snack was waiting for us, as well as the resident stray cat
Dinner was served from 6pm to 7pm. So we decided to have dinner at 7pm, and went off out to explore Takayama.
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| Beautifullll *Heart* |
I didn't take many photos since my phone was happily resting in the ryokan. But it was fun and I think I could easily spend a day or two just exploring the entire area. Walking around, I noticed that most of the resturants advertised beef, beef and more beef. There were also several ramen places with beeeef. Gosh! Totally my type of food and not RJ's. Haha, we hurried back to the ryokan for dinner. I recall that usually people bathe and wear the yukata for dinner but I suppose it's not a must :D
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| Dinner!! |
I didn't manage to take pictures of the following courses cos I was too busy eating and feeling worried that RJ didn't eat many items. There was a yuzu flavoured cabbagey meat, tempura, some crabmeat item, o gosh.. I can't remember all the items! Anyway they were all simple, fresh, healthy and tasty.
One thing, their in house plum wine is SUPERB. So good, omg. Shortly after dinner, Mrs Ryokan and another lady appeared to make our beds. In just a super short moment, the table was cleared and the beds came out. The covers were sooo sooftt soo cozyyy *heart*
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| Ryokan corridor |
RJ went off to use the shared bathroom, which I recall was open only from 6.30 - 9.30am and from dinner time till before midnight. When the other bathroom became available, I ran into it and happily used it. I reaalllyy loved the hot bath, realllyyy LOVED it. I thought my skin was going to peel off when it came into contact with the hot water, but I persisted and stayed in it for 5min. Lol.
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| Shower first! |
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| Soak next!! |
Omg, I felt so happy fuzzy and nice after the hot soak. I kept wondering if I should go back and sit in the hot bath again and again and again cos 5min was so not enough. When RJ returned from her bath, I gave in and ran back into the bath for a second soak. Sooo happpyy.
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| Face with 2 soaks |
With the yukatas and feeling clean, a bout of wanton wefie-ing started. I had a deck of cards and insisted on playing cards because that's what people in Yukatas always do in the shows i watched Hahahaha. But there are only so many games 2 people can play so we gave up after a while. We might have made alot of noise because we thought the occupants of the room beside us rapped on the wall to silence us.
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| We miss the bridge kakis! |
Time to sleep! Tomorrow, hot bath and Shirakawago!
