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By lunch time, we were at Bokka no Sato, a farm style outdoor theme park.

As you can see, there are lots of flower gardens, farm animals and even a church for outdoor weddings!

 Our lunch was BBQ, and yes, this is all for me.
  

 With our bib on, we were all ready to tuck in. 

 Lunch did come with complimentary soft serve, made from milk from this farm. I was told from our guide that if you come to Bokka no Sato, you must try the soft serve or the coffee flavoured milk. After much consideration, I decided to do some souvenir shopping instead. Prospect of having milky substance after a heavy lunch, and then going to a coach for 2 hours was not pretty.

After waving Nakata-san (Director of Bokka no Sato), we also said our goodbyes toKanazawa and Takayama, what a trip it was. Until my next big adventure, matane!

Ume

The next day started off with a relaxing stroll of the morning markets. 

If ONLY I did not try everything at the breakfast buffet, I would have tried this.

It is called Owara Tamaten, Japanese style marshmallow you can only purchase here. It is made by firstly making a meringue, then hardening it by agar agar. Then, it is coated by egg wash and fried until golden. My travel company tried one and told me that it was extremely rich. Well maybe next time. 

Locals chillin’ out.

There are two morning markets in Takayama. This one, mainly comprises of fresh fruits and handicrafts, much like our own flea markets, the way it used to be. Here, housewives of Takayama proudly sell their speciality.

For the night, we stayed at HidaHotelPlaza.

This hotel is located only 5 min walk from the Takayama Station and is the main hotel to be used on escorted tours.

We were treated to a deluxe room!

Not much time to enjoy the room unfortunately, as we were given only enough time to unpack and get ready for meeting and business dinner.

Afternoon stroll of Takayama followed.

The streets are narrow, traditional with lots of souvenir shops, skewered takayama wagyu (highly recommended!) and rice cracker stalls (another delicacy in the area). I can probably spend the whole day there just shopping and eating and shopping…

But! The day must go on. Exciting afternoon activity of rice cracker making must be executed. Here’s the expert showing us how its done.

Aaand here is me too busy posing for the picture, oblivious to the fact that my crackers are burning!

I was the only one that managed to completely incinerate them. Not a good timing to talk about my cooking skills…

Lunch time!

Below is what we ate.

Simply grilled with rice and miso soup.

To me that was one of the best things I’ve had in the trip. I was really craving for something simple and comforting. You can eat the whole fish, even the bones were soft enough. I don’t think it was popular with the fellow Aussies. I could hear some of them whispering, ‘is this all we’re going to have for lunch?’

Fishies certainly live in a nice pond though.

Head chef, standing proudly infront of his restaurant. Such an adorable character.

Today’s itinerary consisted of mostly Shirakawago and Takayama in the afternoon. Shirakawago is a UNESCO world heritage site located approx 1 hour from Takayama. What a view!!! After we saw the whole village from the top, we then walked down to see inside the actual houses. They are traditional houses and are called “Gasshozukuri”. Gassho means ‘joining the palms together, as in a prayer’ and zukuri means make. It is called that way as the roofs of the houses are thatched and that looks like putting the hands together in prayer.

As you can see in the photo taken from the top of the hill, all the houses are facing the same way. This is due to the heavy snow fall during the winter – sun melts the snow evenly if the houses are built in this angle. Also, during the summer, the breeze comes through from a certain direction to keep the houses cool. Pretty clever considering the houses were made during the Edo Era (1603-1867) and the Meiji Era (1868-1912)!

When you go inside the houses, you immediately see a small fireplace with an iron pot. Directly above that, is a roof that is not completely covered. It is so that when people cook or make fire to keep warm, the steam or smoke goes through to the level above to keep the whole house warm.

As you can see, nails aren’t used. The rooves are just tied up! They do change the ropes every so often though. People also change the roofing as you can see in this picture. The men in the community get together to do this.

Though architecture is clever, what impressed me the most is that people in this area still live this way to preserve the area. Their dedication carry on this tradition is remarkable.

The area is fairly small so if you have ½ day, its enough to walk around. You can also stay in one of those houses for a night though, it is a basic accommodation.

We stopped over at a gold leaf factory for afternoon tea. After a brief explanation on how gold leaves are made, we were treated with some tea and cake with gold.

The tour continued to Kenrokuen. I have sent many of my customers there but had not been there myself. This place is known as one of top three Japanese gardens so it’s a must for horticultural enthusiasts. I had just missed the cherry blossom season but still amazingly beautiful nonetheless.

There are lots of small tea houses and souvenir shops outside the garden to keep others not so interested in the garden occupied.

Right next to the Kenrokuen is the KanazawaCastle. The place is quite big so prepared to do lots of walking! This place has been rebuilt so you don’t get the feel that you’re in an old traditional building. However, its good to know the history. Its worthwhile visiting if you’re going to Kenrokuen as well.

After a hearty meal, whole day of sightseeing awaited us.We first went to Kanazawa Tourist Centre located at Kanazawa Railway Station.I recommend stopping by before doing your sightseeing in Kanazawa. There is English speaking staff and you can pick up lots of information.

This is what Kanazawa Station looks like, isn’t it just stunning? I couldn’t help taking pictures!

Next, we were off to Higashi-chaya Street. Building on this street is preserved to what it looks like in the olden days. Its pretty much tea houses and small souvenir shops.

We went in one of the tea house that was awarded one star in the Michelin Japan. By the way, Kanazawa was awarded two stars in the tourism category.

Everything inside is kept to what it was hundreds of years ago, just beautiful.

Upstairs is tatami-floor area that is used as a repeater only dining with Geishas.This place during the evening is strictly off limits and is only for VIPs however, during the day, non-VIPs can have a sneak peak.

Gold tea house, traditionally used for VIP customers. Today, it is only used as display purposes.

Secret back door for VIP customers.

These glasses are lit up during the evening to imitate snow during the hot summer months.

After getting through that much feast and going to bed straight away, another meal time of breakfast! Its strange that you feel hungry after eating a feast like that. Goes to show, how healthy Japanese cuisine is.

Clockwise from left again!

Boiled Tofu (I think that was handmade as it had intense sweet flavour of soy beans)

I forgot to take the lid off! It was stewed vegetables in there, healthy.

Cabbage, cucumber and tomato salad with slices of leg ham.

(in the black box, preserved seaweed (in green bowl), wasabi preserved in sake, onsen tamago (egg boiled in hot spring), squid sashimi (middle white bowl), pickled vegetables), Japanese buttebur sprout, left top is preserved fish, below that is grilled fishcake, picked vegetables and rice. Phew! Miso soup didn’t even make it in the frame!