Breakfast in our room
Hoba-miso laid on a magnolia leaf, is a local speciality - taste quite salty but great with rice
Left: Last shot of the mini-garden in our room, Centre: Japanese wooden clogs for guests at the entrance, Right: standing at the entrance of the ryokan, looking inside
waiting for our turn to check out
We then walked to the Takayama bus station which is next to the train station and waited for the bus to Shirakawa-go. Bookings are required and we had ours all taken care of, even before we arrived at Narita. I feel so proud of myself for being able to find and reserve seats for a bus to this quite remote area. Hard-work (hard-searching to be exact) and persistence paid off. There was a gaijin who had some problems boarding the bus. I think he didn't make any reservations and so had to wait for empty seats. 1 1/2 hours later we arrived at Shirakawa-go. The view along the bus trip was scenic and i think winter makes its greater.
waiting while giving way to oncoming traffic as it is pretty tight in the bridge
First, we searched for our accommodation - Shimizu Inn, to drop off our packs. It was further from the town. The lady inn-owner was out (we're a bit early) and her son showed us to our room. We then headed out to see Shirakawa-go.
quite a large number of visitors.
The gassho-zukuri of Shirakawa-go
Right: a concealed fire hydrant. The gassho-zukuri buildings are prompt to fire.
The bridge connecting the main bus terminal and visitor centre to the town.
Heading back towards our accommodation for the night, Shimizu. It is almost dinnertime.
Our humble room for the night. It was freezing and only the little heater was keeping us warm.
Left:The futon bedding stack. Centre:Our jackets. Right: The sliding door to the room.
There was another 2 middle-aged ladies (friends) staying at Shimizu that night and we had a quiet dinner together in the main room. Heard them say their 'itadakimasu'. As we couldn't speak Japanese and they didn't speak much English, it was just smiling to acknowledge and eating away quietly...
After dinner, we went out for a walk a night after dinner. It was still early before 10pm but already pretty quiet and there were hardly anyone on the streets.
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