Takayama is a small rural village, and it’s surrounded by snow-covered mountains at the moment. It can’t be more than about 3C or 4C as the sun starts to return light to the sky at around 5.00am. Light rain had been falling when the sun set yesterday, and we half expected a light dusting of snow on the ground when we woke. Apparently the rain amounted to nothing, but we had no idea; you can’t hear rain falling on a thatched roof.
The sky was mostly clear when we stepped outside at around 8.30am and bid our accommodation host farewell with lots of bowing and waving goodbye. The rice fields remained flooded from recent rains, and the network of channels that direct water through the village were full of water racing to join up with the main river on the opposite side of the valley.
We had (wisely) been advised to get out and explore the village before the day trippers start arriving and the streets filled with people. We had also read that early morning was a time to be cautious of bears wandering the streets looking for scraps of food. We took a punt and opted to have a possible face-off with a hungry bear in preference to bus loads of tourists.
As is almost always the case, the best views require a little effort to get to, and the lookout over the village was no exception. The walk to the lookout was worth it, as it provided a commanding view of the village and surrounding mountains with a turbulent river transporting snow melt and recent rain to the Sea of Japan.
We wandered the streets until it was time for a quick drink and a bite to eat before setting off in a bus to Kanazawa. We have stumbled across a number of boutique coffee shops that seem to specialise in single origin coffees (with cake). Their coffees come from all the renowned growing regions, as well as each shop having their own special blend. With coffees ordered we watched and listened to the other customers in the shop.
One voice that cut through the banter of other customers was that of an English-speaking woman who was attempting to have herself understood by saying the same word over and over again (in the futile hope that if one says a word often enough, the listener will eventually come to understand exactly what is being said). “No, I asked for a small jug of cold – no cooold – no cooooold milk – no, cold, cold, cooold” and on it went. It was difficult to know whether to laugh or cry.
Our bus journey to Kanazawa took about 1.5 hours, returning for part of the way along the same road we travelled on yesterday. To exit the valley we needed to pass through a series of tunnels that went through the snow-capped mountains; the longest taking over 7 minutes to traverse. We were dropped off on time at the bus station outside Kanazawa’s central railway station from where we walked the 2 kilometres to our hotel.
After dropping our backpacks off we went in search of something for lunch – and quickly found ourselves tucking into a bento box each of assorted treats. We browsed the high-end shops near our hotel to get our bearings before returning to check in and reacquaint ourselves with our main pieces of luggage that had been sent through from Osaka a few days prior. We had time to swap our dirty clothes for clean before getting our main bags forwarded to Haneda airport, from where we will pick them up just prior to check-in on our flight home. It sure beats trying to drag them through the rail system and underground stations up and down stairs – and for a relatively low fee.
A day of sightseeing is planned for tomorrow. It will be our last full day in Japan before returning to Melbourne on Thursday afternoon.