Golden Week - Takayama and Kamikochi (Days 3 and 4)

Day Three

We woke up to this:

There had been a lot more on the ground but we laid in the tent for a while since we didn't have to get up early to catch a bus. We did get up in time to try the hot spring though.

Our first hot spring experience was a good one. There were separate baths for males and females so we agreed to meet in the lobby after the non-guest hours were over. So we had a little over an hour to soak. After stripping off all of your clothing (there's even a sign that says not to bathe in your underwear or swimsuit) you must clean yourself in the outdoor showers. These pump water from the hot spring through regular plumbing so you can shower/bathe. You sit on a little stool and lather up and then rinse yourself off. Now clean you are free to enter the various pools.

At this point I forget all the temperatures of the pool, but the only indoor pool was probably the medium temperature pool. I sat in this one for about 10 minutes with no problems. I then ventured to the outdoor pools. There were two wooden tubs and two pools. The upper pool was, as expected, warmer than the lower pool into which it flowed. The first tub was warmer than both the indoor and outdoor pools and the second tub was the hottest of all. When I got out of the hottest tub after sitting in it for 2 or 3 minutes I felt light headed. I staggered back inside and got into the indoor pool again before I fell over. Passing out, cracking your skull and spilling your blood into the pools is a major faux pas.

After 10 more minutes soaking in the indoor pool I got out and showered myself again on my little stool. It felt very cleansing and relaxing the first time so I wanted to do it again. After meeting Aimee in the lobby we both agreed that this would be a fantastic way to start and end every day.

After our hot spring baths we broke camp and headed back to Takayama and began what Aimee called “eating our way through Takayama.”

Aimee had been told by the staff at one of her schools that we had to try Hida beef. What was our first meal? Hida beef stew:

The meal was expensive – 8000 yen for both of us – but nothing compared to what the high-roller at the sushi bar must have spent. While we were waiting he and his lady friend dined on champagne and 3 appetizer plates. While we were eating they had 2 plates of sashimi which was prepared right in front of them. Even though we couldn't afford to eat what he was eating, we were not disappointed. The beef was fantastic - well marbled, well aged, well cooked. The vegetables were excellent too.

We ended the night with Haagen Dazs ice cream sandwiches from the convenience store and then headed back to our accommodations for the evening. We stayed in one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan - the Zenkoji temple. The one in Takayama is a branch of the Zenkoji temple in Nagano. We slept in traditional Japanese beds – on tatami mats on futons with blankets. The blankets were electric since it was quite cold, so the experience wasn't entirely authentic.

Day Four

We got up early to head to the morning markets. Aimee and I are both huge fans of farmers' markets back home so we were excited to see the Japanese version. We were a little disappointed. Every vendor has pretty much the same vegetables and a few spices. All of them also sell silly knick-knacks. We did have a good breakfast though.

First course:

These were little rice balls coated in a soy-type sauce and then grilled. Basically an appetizer; not filling at all. They were pretty tasty, but not something you could eat 5 or 6 skewers of to feel full.

Second course:

Owara tamaten is basically a fried marshmallow. But sooooo much better than what you're thinking. The inside is marshmallowy, but not like the marshmallows in North America. They're not just high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. The guy who makes them does so himself using some kind of gum syrup. Once they're made into cubes he dips them into an egg mixture: beaten eggs, sake, mirin (sweet cooking sake) and honey. Then they're placed on a giant table-top-sized electric frying pan and fried golden brown. They're amazing. We had one and then went back for 4 more in the afternoon.

Third course:

Hida gyuman (Hida beef bun) are made from ground up Hida beef which is fried with onions, wrapped in dough and then steamed. They're also much tastier than they look. They weren't as good as the Hida beef stew though.

After the beef bun we went back to the temple to check out. We were allowed to leave our bags at the front of the temple so we could continue exploring (and eating our way through) the city.

From the temple we went to Hida Folk Village. It was created in the 1960s by moving houses from traditional Japanse villages to Takayama. A lot of traditional villages were flooded during the creation of hydroelectric dams in the late 1950s and early 60s. People had started to leave traditional villages for the city in the 1940s and 50s so they were becoming less and less populated. However, a group of people wanted to preserve that way of life so they created an open air museum – Hida no Sato. It was a really cool place to see. Some of the buildings were from the 1600s. We both particularly liked the thatched roofs. They're over 30 centimeters thick. An entire town (approximately 40 people) could put one together in two days. Some of them had moss, grass and even small trees growing on top of them. There are a lot of pictures of the Folk Village but this update is already huge so you'll have to check them out on Facebook.

After returning to town from Hida no Sato we promptly visited the Owara Tamaten vendor for the aforementioned 4 more Owara Tamaten. From there we decided to look for a birthday present for Aimee's friend Kirin (whom some of you know so I'll keep my mouth shut) which we found. We also found these:

They're frozen tangerines. We saw dozens of people with these and we were determined to find them. It didn't really take long... we worked our way through the crowd and then were shouted at to buy them by the vendors. It wasn't all that difficult. If they hadn't shouted at us though we probably would have missed them.

After finishing our tangerines we decided to get our bags, catch our train and end our Takayama adventure. On our way back to the temple though we were waylaid by another food vendor...

Hida beef sushi and Hida beef gyuman were both really good. The Hida beef sushi – not so much. The problem with eating raw meat isn't the “Eww, but it's raw meat” factor – I have no problem with raw meat in that sense. The problem I have is that with raw meat you can't really taste the fat, and fat is what makes all Japanese beef so good. With the Hida beef stew and Hida gyuman you could really taste the fat. With raw Hida beef you couldn't. It was still ok, but not great. I would have rather had another helping of stew.

And with that meal our Golden Week adventure ended. After a disappointing beginning we ended up having a great time. Looking back on it we even enjoyed our time in Kamikochi, even though we didn't get to hike.

I'll leave you with one last picture. The baby monkey was the best picture from Kamikochi; this is the best picture from Takayama:

Golden Week - Takayama and Kamikochi (Days 1 and 2)

Golden Week is a week long holiday in Japan which starts at the end of April and ends in the middle of the first week of May. Aimee and I decided to go to Takayama (a city in the Japan Alps) and Kamikochi (a resort area and the beginning of many Japan Alp hikes – we went for the hiking, not the resort).



Day One

We took a 2.5 hour train ride from Nagoya to Takayama. The scenery we saw from this ride was second only to the scenery I saw riding on trains in Switzerland. We followed the Hida river almost the entire way up to Takayama. The Hida river is often called the Japan Rhine because it looks so much like the Rhine River in Germany. The vegetation is incredibly lush and green and the river has been running for so long that it has carved its way 10 meters down – sometimes more – through solid rock.

When we arrived in Takayama we promptly got on a bus for Kamikochi. We planned to spend 4 days hiking in Kamikochi and then return to Takayama to spend two days there before heading home. The bus ride to Kamikochi was much like driving through the Rockies in Canada. The snow-covered peaks brought back many memories of my numerous drives across Canada. They were also an ominous sign of what was waiting for us in Kamikochi.

Kamikochi is in the Shirakawa World Heritage Site area, so there are no private vehicles allowed past a certain point on the highway. Most people do what we did and take a bus from Takayama. It takes about 20 minutes from the blockade on the highway to the resort area in Kamikochi because the road is one way and there are a ridiculous number of buses making the trip in and out daily. When we arrived at the resort parking lot there were probably 50 buses.

All those buses must have meant the area was pretty popular. This is why:

Our Hiking in Japan book said that 95% of the people you see milling about near the bus terminal don't make it past the kappabashi bridge. They come for photo opportunities like this and then stay in the resort or turn around and go home. Five percent of the people continue past here to hike. Unfortunately for us, this was the only accurate information we had concerning our trip.

After we got off the bus we went to the tourist information centre to get maps and information about hiking in the area. We had planned on camping in Kamikochi for the night and then starting up Yari-ga-take (at 3190 meters it's the second highest peak in Japan. Fuji-san is the highest) in the morning. The lady looked at our bags and asked if we had crampons and ice axes. We looked at each other and then back at her: “No, we don't.” The book we have said we wouldn't need crampons nor ice axes at this time of the year for the hike we wanted to do. “Oh, well you need them to hike up Yari-ga-take.” We looked at each other again and then I asked her, “Well, where can we hike without crampons or ice axes?” She said, “We recommend here and here.” She pointed at the map on the table in front of her. “And how long does it take to get to here?” I asked, indicating the longer trail. “Oh, it takes about 6 hours – 3 hours each way.” We looked at each other with great disappointment. It had taken more than 6 hours to get to Kamikochi. We didn't come here for a 6 hour round trip hike. We thanked her and left the building.

After venting our disappointment with the hiking book we decided to camp for the night in Kamikochi and reevaluate in the morning. We went and registered for a camp site and set up our tent. Since it was only 3 o'clock we decided to walk for a while on the longer trail the lady had told us about. We weren't entirely disappointed since there were animals along the way - monkeys and a Japanese sero. A sero looks like a cross between an antelope and a goat. I've got a picture of one on Facebook here that you can have a look at. I'd post it here but it would have to be small so you wouldn't see much detail.

The monkeys were significantly more interesting than the sero. There were about two dozen monkeys – half of them were on the ground foraging and the other half, mostly younger monkeys, were in the trees. Not surprisingly they didn't mind our presence. They continued foraging for roots as if we weren't there. When we got back to camp we saw a man chasing them with a wooden rake. They're seen as pests by the people who work at Kamikochi. Interestingly they don't seem to steal food from campers. We thought we might have to take precautions similar to those you take to keep bears from stealing your food in Canada. I guess the rake man has that problem solved.

Day Two

The walk the tourist information centre lady said takes 6 hours we did in 4. We passed pretty much every person in front of us so maybe the 6 hours only applies if you're Japanese. The walk wasn't too bad though. It's railroad grade the entire way so it wasn't difficult. And we were walking through the valley so the mountain scenery was very beautiful.

On the way back we ran into more monkeys. We took a few more photos and then continued heading back. Our timing was perfect because we saw this little guy:

Watching him play and eat was almost worth not being able to do any hiking. Almost. The coolest part was when something spooked his mother. She ran over and grabbed him at full stride, swung him under her chest and scampered over to a tree. The whole motion took maybe 3 seconds. We took a lot more pictures but this post is already huge... You can check out the rest on Facebook.

We wanted to experience our first onsen (hot spring) when we returned but we missed the time period it was open. The two hot springs in Kamikochi are at two (of about 8) hotels and they are only open to non-guests during certain hours. So we spent the rest of the day/evening writing and reading in the tent.

I'll make a post about days 3 and 4 later.