Binging and Thatched Houses

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Geo: 36.15, 137.24

We let ourselves enjoy sleep again. Or at least tried. Our room here at Country Hotel is fascinating. All I can think is how our tall friends would probably die. Everything is built for short people like me lol. The bed is also rock hard. Like I'm pretty sure the ground is softer when I go camping!! That being said, Chris and I were both so tired we slept like rocks. Probably the best sleep I've had yet. Most of our group barely rested, though. Another interesting room feature- the electricity only works when the key tag is inserted into the wall of our room. Took us a good 15min to figure that one out. We didn't tell Michelle how it worked for our own amusement- which lasted most of the day. She found a flashlight lol.

We met up in the lobby at 845am and walked across the street to the bus station (despite the room at our hotel, its an incredibly conveniently placed hotel- which is why we chose it). We decided to take a later trip to Shirakawa-go at noon so we could check out the morning market and shops beforehand.

After buying bus tickets we headed towards the market, and stopped for breakfast along the way. We stopped in the first open cafe we saw. And I'll be honest, this was all about me needing coffee. But we all ordered food, too. Probably a mistake considering how much street food we were about to consume. The shop owner was an adorable little Japanese woman, who referred to her squat toilet as a "Japanese Classic." I ordered the set breakfast which was very thick bread, a latte, a hardboiled egg and miso soup.

Then we walked over to one of the morning markets. It was way smaller than we expected. So we headed back towards the Edo period street (Old Town) and it was packed with tourists. We ate and ate and ate all the street food we could get our hands on lol. Seriously. Every time I turned around for the next hour, Billy had some new delicious treat in his hands to share. Where the hell his stomach squirrels away all that food, I have no idea. I was stuffed, too, but I couldn't stop trying everything lol. We had zenzai which was a hot , very sweet red bean soup with a giant chunk of mochi in it. Plus another coffee for me. We had various types of filled pastries, some with red bean, custard, pork, etc. MORE STRAWBERRY MOCHI. And probably the most interesting was the beef nigiri. It looks like sushi but it has very lightly broiled hida beef on it. Like nearly raw. It was surprisingly good despite my skepticism!

After that it was time to head back to the bus station for our hour long ride to Shirakawa-go. It was only a 50min ride there. We stayed for a couple hours, checked out one of the open air museums inside the houses and a temple and walked up to a pretty neat viewpoint. Shirakawa-go is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The thatched houses and rice fields are just amazing against the forested snow-capped mountains. Inside the house we went into, we climbed up into the rafters. Very creepy walking along the boards. They'd creak with every step, and all you can hope is you don't trip and fall. I highly doubt their safety standards are as stringent as back home lol.

When we got back to Takayama, I was dying to get out in the forest and do at least part of the Higashiyama Walking Course. We explored Shiroyama park, which apparently has bears, and explored the castle ruins. There really weren't any ruins to see. Shrug. We headed back down from the park along the walking course and came across a couple shrines. One was very beautiful with a white bridge and cherry blossoms. The other had many orange Torii gates. We spent time taking lots of pictures. We also walked by the Treasure House. It was closed but the outside was still really neat to look at. 😊

Then it was time toyo head to dinner. Two of the places we'd tried to eat at the night before had been closed but were accepting reservations for today. So out first dinner was at Center4 Burgers. We wanted to eat here because they serve Hida beef burgers- they had run out of the Hida meat the day before. Honestly, it was not the best burger I've ever had. But I had a decent Japanese Hefeweizen and probably the best onion rings with it. :D

After dinner, we wandered towards the Takayama Nightlife District. We heard there was a short bow range we could shoot at but when we tried to go inside an elderly couple very clearly indicated "NO". We have no idea why- they should have been open but maybe we needed reservations?? Half our group went back to the hotel to try and sleep. The rest of us continued to wander the fairly empty streets. We tried to walk into a few other places to try food but true to Takayama form, they were either closed or sold out. Lol go figure. We did find a ninja star throwing range! Chris and I each threw five stars. I got 2 of 5 and Chris 3 of 5. Basically, we should just quit nursing and be ninjas. Just saying.

Since most places were closing we decided to just chill in our hotel rooms until our 10pm Izakaya reservations (yes- more goddamn food). I didn't realize how exhausted I was. My head hit the pillow and I dozed in and out of sleep for an hour and a half. I'm glad I did- I needed the energy for the gastro-feat we were about to encounter.

So Izakaya is basically the Japanese version of Spanish Tapas. You get small plates of food that everyone shares. And usually with alcohol. Literally, Billy was ordering and all you hear for the next five minutes is, "one... One... One... One... And one... One..." (We found that with ordering here in Japan its easiest to point at what you want, often it has a picture, and then indicate how many you want in English and with holding up fingers. Its only failed a couple times so far). I have never eaten so much food in one day. The dishes kept coming and coming. My favorite was a dessert- black sesame pudding that tasted like peanut butter and chocolate!

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