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!

Day 6: Kanazawa - 9 Dec 2017

We made a stop at Kanazawa for a day. This was covered by our 5-day JR pass starting from Osaka. After breakfast in the morning, we quickly made our way to the train station.

On our way, we saw snow!

This is the best hotel in our trip. Triple room, with toilet separated from the bathroom and a wash basin right outside the bathroom which can be used when another person is showering at the same time. Such a well-thought design.

After checking in, we headed back to Kanazawa station for lunch at Forus Shopping mall. On level 6, there were a lot of choices for food. The boys wanted pasta for lunch and we had to stick with them.. while Winnie and Brian went for their own choices of food!

love the company of these boys!

The pasta were surprisingly nice..

We took a Kanazawa Loop Bus from the station, planning to visit Kenrokuen (garden). Brian's family decided to rent bicycles instead to cycle around the town. As the bicycles were too large for Ethan, we went separate ways. By the time we reached Kenrokuen, it started to rain (we were wondering how Brian's family ended). We decided to take shelter at a nearby art museum - the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. https://www.kanazawa21.jp/en/

The stuff they sell there were so interesting! And Ethan bagged home a set of unique poker cards into his collection.

Finally, Kenrokuen Garden opened at 5pm (which was already pitch dark). It was very cold after the rain, I think probably 2-3 degrees. We followed the crowd and walked around the garden.

Apart from these beautiful structures, we witnessed one epic episode... a lady fell into the pond for whatever reason.. and the guards manning the garden had to get into the pond and helped her out. She then searched for her phone frantically.. and the surprise which we found out later in the night was that Brian's family was just behind her! (and we were in the garden at the same time despite using different transport modes)

After the park, we waited in the cold for the shuttle bus back to the station. We spotted some humor in the bus we took: 

"LOL"

Back at Kanazawa station, we went back to Forus shopping mall level 6 and ate this for our dinner. This bowl of Chirashi don is superb!

I love the shopping at this Forus mall which carries many local japanese labels. If I had another day in Kanazawa, I would love to explore the other parts of the city.