Tuesday, April 19, 2016

11D10N Japan 15~25 Apr'16 Day 5: Kanazawa; Shirakawago

The night before, we found out there may be bicycle rental docking stations in Kanazawa. Hence, Yongkeng, Andy and me decided we would like to wake up early in the morning to check it out.
At 7am, while the rest are still in bed, the 3 of us met as planned at the hotel lobby. The plan was to visit Higashi Chaya district (the traditional teahouse street), Kenrokuen and Omi-cho market.
It was really good to be early birds .. the places are quiet, with little cars and people on the street and great for taking pics.
Ohayo gozaimasu
We arrived at nearby bike docking station

Beautiful Tulips along the way


Cross the bridge and ride about few minutes, we will reach Kenrokuen

Kenrokuen & Kanazawa Castle (both from the outside as bikes are not allowed in)
From Kenrokuen, we head down about 5 mins and we arrived at Omicho market
At 8 plus, the stalls are just opening
Slurp!
Must try!! Yummy glutinous rice with edible shiso leaf

We packed snacks from there..
And bought souvenir from here
The market visit ended quickly in less than half an hour, as we need to be back by 930am to meet up with the rest to check-out of our hotel. In just 10 mins, we cycled back to the bicycle docking station. Another reason why we rushed back is because it was starting to rain..lol. Anyway we made it back in time and we found Noi and Gladys still having breakfast at a nearby café.
By 10am, we check-out and left our luggage with the hotel, bringing along only a day bag for our next destination. Everything will be provided for a one-night stay, so just bring enough clothes to keep ourselves warm.
Must-try: Have some soft ice-cream with gold foil before we go
We need to board the 10.50am bus at the East station. The bus will take us directly to Shirakawa-go. Estimated arrival time at Shirakawa-go: 12.05pm.
Wait here for the bus to Shirakawa-go
Here's our bus
Along the way.. Beautiful lake
Are we almost there?
Shirakawa-go, 白川郷
Shirakawa-go is a Unesco world heritage site and the village is home to several dozen gassho-zukuri farmhouses, some of which are more than 250 years old. Ogimachi is the village that we are visiting in Shirakawa-go.

Arrival at the bus stop
Looking for place to have lunch first

Lunch @ Sobadojyo
Up the stairs to get to the bridge
Cross the bridge to get to the village
On the bridge series
First sight of sakura..more coming up.. and tulips
We arrived at Kanja!

Just outside Kanja
View from the house, we are in a quiet corner
Time to explore before dinner at 6pm.. the village is still very crowded with tourists
Which direction should we go?

A farmhouse under maintenance. Nowadays they don't do the traditional way.
Scarecrows?
One of most beautiful sakura we've seen so far

Let's get to the observatory before it gets dark.
We took the difficult way up to the observatory not knowing that there is another easy way up
What is up there?

There are more houses up the hill
 
Let's get down the observatory hill soon. Otherwise we may be late for dinner..
Its quiet by the time we get back..the tourist has all gone..its very peaceful
Taiwanese couple having their wedding photo shoot

Dinner was served at 6pm in the next room. It was one of the most wonderful dinner we've had in the trip so far.

Let's clean up and then have dinner
Super yummy kaiseiki ryori, Hida beef.. it was one of the best we've had so far
 
Look at the beautiful pictures taken by Andy's Olympus camera, capturing the little lights of the night.

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