Day 7: Shirakawa-go - 10 Dec 2017

The long awaited trip to Shirakawa-Go! It took me a lot of efforts to book a night's accommodation for the 8 of us months back and I tried various websites before I managed to secure a booking at one of the traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses. It's done via this website:

http://www.shirakawa-go.gr.jp/top/

and fill up the google sheet on the choice of the farmhouses you like. I've made references to this site to pick our choices 

https://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/ryokan-search-results/?area=Shirakawa-go

A long bus ride from Kanazawa station to Shirakawa-Go (covered by the JR pass). These are reserved seats so we have booked our bus slots the day before. Before we departed Kanazawa, we had breakfast at the bakery near the station and shopped at Rinto (such a nice place with all the favourite brands there!) prior to catching a 11am bus.

It was so cold.. when we finally arrived Shirakawa-go. We finally get in touch with snow..hardened snow on the ground. Shirakawa-go has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site since 1995 and famous for many beautiful shots on their traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses, of which they are as old as 250 years.

It's hard to tell which parts of the snow ground was safe for standing.. as we realised that underneath these hardened snow were actually a water pond..

the tree that is alive in this winter place

water ponds underneath these snow..

our lunch place

catching a nap while waiting for lunch

snow fights again..

We took a slow walk up the trail and ended up near top of the mountain. This is the best spot to have a overview of the village.

 

love these little shops around the village..

This is our accommodation - Hisamatsu. 

The owner looked a bit hostile and spoke very little english when we first placed our luggages in the house earlier in the afternoon.. but subsequently, she took good care of our needs throughout our stay and I believe that she's just a lady with few words.. hahaa

She warmed us up with heater the moment we checked in after our lunch and walks. As there were 8 of us on that day, we took up 3 out of 4 of her guestrooms.

Our dinner setting:

the boys were so cold that they picked seats near the heater

A toast to their 25 years of friendship!

It was very cold showering in the farmhouse under the extreme cold weather conditions. We were given comforter, hot water bottle heaters, and heaters for the night. However, given the structure of these farmhouses, it was very cold to sleep at night. Nonetheless, it was a great experience!