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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!

We were spoiled again as we had the privilege of having our dinner at their special tea room where general public is normally not allowed. It was a beautiful tatami room with the best view of the lake and their traditional Japanese garden.

Back to the food, here’s the entrée.

Sorry, my memory of what it involved is very vague.

Inside the glass you see on the left hand side is pre-dinner aperitif of plum wine.

When you stay in a ryokan, you will always get something like what is in the black box this for entrée. Inside, there is pressed salmon sushi, egg and sea urchin soup, ginkan nut jelly, prawns, pan-fried abalone, roast duck, and teriyaki fish. On the left hand side, if my memory is correct, its stewed blowfish. Finally, on top, there is Hida beef (wagyu beef that is unique to this region) and some local vegetables waiting to be grilled!

Sashimi platter of (clockwise from the left); tuna, snapper, squid and prawn.

Somen noodles

Crab!!!

Shredded vegetable and eggplant tempura A lot of people ask me why ryokans cost so much money.

I think you can see from the picture above that the food alone is worth the $. Plus, you have fabulous hot spring baths, personalised butler service and most of all, authentic Japanese experience! I don’t think its expensive at all when you think about it.

Goodness, I’m up to blog 4 and I’m still talking about the same day! As you can see, lot goes on in those familiarisation trips!

For those of you familiar with typical escorted tour of Japan with Takayama andKanazawa, you may have heard of Kutaniyaki.
It is a type of pottery unique to this area and there is a museum dedicated to it. A must see for antique pottery lovers. I’m not sure if I was supposed to but I took some pictures of the modern day Kutaniyaki Pottery work. I am not sure who’s work this is but look at the details! This is all done freehand.

And this magnificent piece is done by national human treasure, graduation of colours is just incredible.

We stayed in a traditional Japanese Inn at Kaga Onsen called Sekiya.

This Inn has been around since late 1880’s and has a great lake view from the room as you can see.

We were each spoiled with a room big enough for almost 6 people! After a quick but a relaxing dip at their famous hot spring baths, I got changed into a Yukata (summer kimono), all ready for dinner! For those who haven’t been to a ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn) before, they serve you a massive banquet twice a day (dinner and breakfast). You want to eat it all as all of them look so delicious and beautiful. However, my recommendation is to go for the ones that you think you would like (they will provide you with a menu of the day so you can anticipate the next dish) otherwise you’ll be too full to enjoy the wagyu or the sashimi you were waiting for! All my dinner pics on the next blog. Stay tuned!

With our stomachs full, we were ready for some creativity. We went in one of the huts for some fabric painting class. Traditionally, it is not done with a stencil but as with these things, us mere mortals must have an unfair advantage. Look at everyone’s concentration! We were all getting into it.

We were given some free time after this. Some went shopping, some went to do more handicraft work but what did I do? Find some dessert of course! I managed to drag a couple of aussies with me to a traditional tea house in the compound, though they only had tea. I had warabimochi (to my amazement, I found it on Wikipedia for those of you who are not familiar with this dish:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warabimochi) with tea. I passionately love kinako (soy bean powder) so it made a perfect almost guilt free desert, soothing, great for this time of the year.

After our flight to Kanazawa, we visited Yunokuni no Mori. On their website, they describe themselves as “The Traditional Handicraft Theme Park”. I guess it is sort of close. It’s hard to describe places like these as you don’t see them in Western countries.

There are lots of traditional huts in the compound and each of them has its own handicraft experiential classes. When you first enter the theme park, there are some examples of handicrafts you can make.

There are rows of souvenir shops as well of course!

Some of you may already know this but Kanazawa is famous for gold and in this area, you can do some craftwork using gold leaves.

Look at this magnificent tea room covered in gold! I saw few of this in my trip. I wonder if you get gold all over your feet when you go in…

All the walking made me all ready for lunch and what a lunch it is! Tempura, Udon, Japanese style hot pot on the right, kamameshi rice (rice, meat, and vegetables cooked together in a small pot) on the left. Kamameshi was cooked in the pot you see on the picture. This keeps the rice fresh and everyone gets a bit of okoge (crispy bits in the bottom of the pot). Yes, that was one person’s serve and yes, I did wipe the plates clean with immense satisfaction.

Last May, I was lucky enough to go on another travel agent’s familiarisation trip.
This time, it was to Kanazawa and Takayama.
I know Takayama is fast becoming popular as another staple of Golden Route.
I would like to bring this blog to you for those who would like to reminisce of the times you were in Japan and for those thinking of going this year.
The time of year I went was during late spring, when the greenery is at its most vibrant as you will see in lots of my photos.

Pics of food is also never absent in my blogs so I hope you’ll stick by me for another long instalment of my travel blog!