Blogs from Gifu, Japan, Asia - page 5

Ready to leave the city, we hopped on a night bus which would take us to Nagoya, where we would then catch a train to Takayama, arriving right around lunch time. We had a 3hr layover in Nagoya and after a sleepless night on a bus that had seats that were too small for even my legs (don't even ask Mike about how he enjoyed that ride!), we were exhausted and so we found a quiet spot in the train station to sit and rest. Before long, the "sitting" turned into "laying" on the floor, and the next thing we knew 2 security guards were poking us saying "No beachee. No beachee. Up." Oh, wait, you mean the beach and the train station ARE NOT the same place? Oh wow, good to know! I guess that ... read more

Takayama was the mountains. We should probably have figured it out before we got there, but we didn't expect even colder temperatures than we'd experienced in Kyoto. We got them. It was frickin' cold. Baltic. Canadian almost. But really that just made it seem all the more... mountainous. We got the train out from Kyoto and trudged uphill to the Youth Hostel at the top of the town. It wasn't your normal hostel, being an old temple. But there was a big area in it that was dedicated as a shrine and a predominant area that lacked heating. We checked in, coughing up a sizable cashball for a youth hostel room. The lovely lady led us through the icy corridors to our refrigerated room. It was fine, but we hadn't been so cold since we left ... read more

Observatory - Vantage point of Ogimachi Hamlet, it is the best place to overlook the traditional Japanese village with paddy filed and thatched houses. You can also see the Shokawa river and mountains beyond. There are professional photographers who are willing to take the memory photos for you. There are various souvenirs e.g. buckwheat tea, T-shirt, calendar, cosmetic goods sold at the Tenshukaku shop. There are two ways to access to the Observatory; one can be followed by the driveway starting from the Wada House, the other route starts from the foot of the former Ogimachi castle. The latter one is accessible by the walkers only. Gassho Zukuri House Museum - An open air museum at east of Seseragi Car Park of Shirakawa-go, which has become the Unesco Heritage Site recently. There are authentic residential houses, ... read more

Konnichiwa! Jetzt haben wir schon eine Woche hinter uns. Es gibt so viel Erzaehlenswertes, dass wir vermutlich Schwierigkeiten haben werden, uns kurz zu fassen. Wir bitten um Nachsicht... Die ersten 2 Tage waren wir in Tokio. Die Stadt an sich ist fuer so eine grosse Stadt erstaunlich unspektakulaer; man kann aber ganz gut herumschlendern und findet einige schoene Stellen; es gibt sogar einen netten Strand (aber ohne Bademoeglichkeit). "Richtige" Sehenswuerdigkeiten gibt es dagegen nicht so viele, und es ist erstaunlich ruhig. In einigen Ecken sind tatsaechlich die Grillen lauter als der Verkehrslaerm; der Fluesterasphalt macht's moeglich. Am zweiten Abend haben wir ein paar Kollegen getroffen: Yoko ist tatsaechlich so, wie man es von ihren Mails her schon erwartet hatte - sehr nett, unkompliziert, lustig, selbstbewusst und erstaunlich locker und direkt. Uda-san und Nakagawa-san... read more

It's a pretty quick and beautiful trip from Inuyama to Takayama; which was where my historical Japan tour was going to end. The limited express train goes through some beautiful gorges and the weather was nice and sunny. It was the prefect day to go around and enjoy some more samurai district history and everything that goes with it. Or so I thought. Apparently, Golden Week started that day and it was packed. Hard to move, hard to see things, and more importantly, I was pretty disappointed in the city as a whole. The samurai district; which is what the city is famous for, was really touristy and most of the interesting things....really weren't that interesting, in my opinion. I would duck into shops and they were all selling the same thing. I would try and ... read more