End of 2017, Hello 2018

Finally managed to complete all my Nagoya-Osaka-Kanazawa-Takayama posts on the last day of the year.

This year has been such a tiring, fulfilling, year for me...

1) getting through P6 journey with sadness, tears, anxiety, happiness and relief at the end

2) dilemma in giving up lecturer job at RP

3) embarked back a full time job in HR

4) going through tantrum phases with Ethan, most of the times disappointed with tears..

Thankfully, the year ended with more happiness than disappointment for me. I am definitely looking forward to see more improvements in the boys' behaviors in 2018! And I ought to relax and enjoy like a kid too! 

Day 9: Nagoya - 12 Dec 2017

It had snowed heavily the night before.. and when we were about to check out in the morning to head back to Nagoya, it started snowing heavily as well... The boys were equally excited but I was frozen .. (-ve 6 degrees on this day)

dragging our luggages to the bus station

Never seen so much snow in my entire life.. hahaa..

heavy downpour

sadly.. approaching nagoya, there's no sight of snow..

I love Hirayu but to get there, it takes about an hour ride from Takayama station, and an hour back to Takayama station (and the bus tickets cost about S$50 per adult one-way). It will be more worthwhile to make a trip back here, if we were able to time the opening of the ski resorts perfectly.

Our ride from Takayama to Nagoya was very torturing as the express train stopped its service halfway and we had to transfer to a local train (which was long, and no seats). It took us near 6 hours to reach Nagoya, which was supposed to be about 3 hours !

Given the short timing we left in Nagoya - we did very minimal last minute shopping around the station area.

And we found this ramen and dumplings shop near takashimaya at level 13 of Nagoya station which was so good!

Summarizing my favourite shops in this trip:

1) All time no. 1 favourite: Niko and... http://www.nikoand.jp/

2) Rope Picnic http://www.ropepicnic.com/

3) Loft https://www.loft.co.jp/

4) Kitchen Kitchen http://www.kitchen-kitchen.jp/

5) Lush https://jn.lush.com/

6) Muji

7) Studio Clip http://www.studio-clip.jp/

8) Plaza in Kanazawa https://www.plazastyle.com/store/detail/?id=147

Hopefully, I can be back in Japan next year!

Day 8: Hirayu - 11 Dec 2017

We were woken up by the host mum's TV program which was switched on as early as 6am.. breakfast was served by 7am and this was the setting. Generally the food provided was nice but in super big portions that the kids had a lot of problems finishing them.

love these fermented beans which went very well with rice

we checked out early in the morning because it will be a long ride to our next destination. Morning scenes in Shirakawa-go is so beautiful..

We took a 50mins bus ride to Takayama, and then transferred another bus ride to Hirayu which took about an hour plus.

Ethan started to play with snow again at Hirayu.. the snow texture here is so fine and powdery which was very different with what we had come into contact with earlier.

After checking into our onsen (about 5 mins walk from the bus station), we went to a nearby cafe which was very cosy

We spotted a dog near the cafe and the boys were curious but held back in getting near it.

 while checking out the ski resort, we borrowed this mascot from the tourist centre..

We were directed to a nearby ski resort which was only a 15 min walk from the bus station. As it was windy and cold (-ve 2 to 3 degrees), this walk was very torturing for me.. but the boys seemed to be doing better than me!

Sadly the ski resort is only scheduled to open the next weekend, we couldn't ski but decided to hang around this area for them to play with snow..

Papa dug himself into the snow

so light and fluffy

sheet joy

started snowing slightly in the afternoon

returned back to our ryokan. This place is also very nice and comfortable. I love their onsen!

room has a view to the mountains

 At about 6pm, we braved the weather of negative 4 degrees out to have this hot udon..

 After dinner, we went back to Cafe Mustache again for their desserts..

 And then.. we went for onsen..

we can't do much here at Hirayu but I like the tranquility and the untouched nature. At night, the adults played MJ, while the kids were occupied with their own games..