Tell you something i'm ashamed of : I almost forgot what's my email & password for this blog...
Haiz, indicated how long I haven't been signing in...
Yea, its another travel blog, i'll make it a PART 1 & 2 because you know my diary style, always lengthy...
This Japan trip wasn't easy at all... A lot of obstacles happened, I was super grateful that I wasn't alone to insist on going... A big thanks to Ceci Yong aka another me, haha... She made me not to doubt myself & my feeling on this trip... We named this trip as 任性2人组的日本之旅, haha...
Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka is the most common & also most recommended route for first time visit in Japan...
But since we were going in January, the coldest month of all, why not to some places where winter adds to the attraction... Hence, I gave up Osaka Kyoto & chose Gifu instead, for the very famous Shirakawago plus KimiNoNawa's real life locations...
The 1st Day, 14/01/18, Sunday
Nagoya > Hida > Takayama
We touched down at Nagoya in between 6-7am... We made no stop in Nagoya & headed straight to Hida by using JR pass...
Hida is just a small town, we went there for Kimi No Nawa, if you do not know what Kimi No Nawa is about, google it, haha... This Japanese animated film has made quite a fame last year, it shouldn't sound strange...
I saw my first snow in the train on the way to Hida, you have no idea how eager I was to jump out of the train to touch them haha...
I couldn't believe my eyes & were like : Oh god, I saw snow, like real snow... I'm going to have my first winter in Japan, this is happening!!!
Fluffy wasn't that impressed with the snow because he was too busy sleeping... I couldn't recall any moment that he wasn't sleeping in the train, on the plane, or in the bus, he's always asleep -_-
First KimiNoNawa real life location : Hida train station
How it looks like in the animated movie...
How it looks like in real... I personally like the snow version more haha...
Second Stop : Keta Wakamiya Shrine
Third stop (KimiNoNawa unrelated) : Seto river canal
Seto river canal is inhabited by many carps and koi but unfortunately we spotted none haha...
I got this pictures from Google... It was supposed to look like this or with even more fish swimming along the river canal...
Hida Furukawa is a small town which you can get to most of the attractions by foot... We walked all the way & i'll share with you some pictures that we took along the way...
All taken by Fluffy... Snow everywhere... It gave us a sense of serenity in the atmosphere, it felt so relax...
As you can see, the sky was clear blue & the sun was bright, sometimes you could feel a strand of warmth delivered to you despite the surrounding frozen air, it was when you should perplex yourself & treasure the warmth because it wouldn't last long...Oh my god, I miss that...
Snow is actually just like abundance of ices you have in your freezer... I tried to step inside, it was really really soft... But when you clenched it, it turned hard & that's when you should start a snowball fights haha...
It was me in the photo... I had to cover my head & ears like this because the cold wasn't killing, the breeze was... It was 1 Degree Celsius that day, I managed to keep myself warm withBody : 2 layers of extra warm heat tech, a thick sweater, Wintertime winter jacket
Hands : my hands were always cold even with winter gloves, I have cold hands even in Msia
Bottom : winter pantyhose underneath a normal skirt
Feet : thick socks with my waterproof Timberland boots
p/s: not when the wind blows though, haha...
Then, we left Hida Furukawa & made our way to Takayama, it was just a 5 mins train ride between these 2 towns...
We hopped onto the hotel shuttle & it took 1 hour plus to reach our stay for the night, Hodakaso Sangetsu... It was an Onsen hotel located in the mountain range that is referred to as Japanese Alps in the Okuhida area...
We received a huge wave of hospitality once we got down from the bus, the staffs surrounded us & guided us inside the lobby, prepared us desserts & tea, at the same time our luggage were already delivered to our room, I've never experienced that kind of service in Msia...
We booked a Japanese style tatami room, the futons were super comfortable & the comforters were warm and soft that it felt more comfortable than sleeping in our own beds haha...
I didn't take much pictures of our room & the hotel itself this is the only picture I got...
Fluffy & I put on our Japanese robes provided in the closet & went out for onsen exploration, haha...
I wasn't sure about public bath until I went inside the women onsen shower & saw a naked woman then I was so scared I ran out from the shower hahaha...
Couldn't get passed myself I gave up this Japan's unique experience, instead Fluffy was very keen on trying but I refused so he didn't wanna go as well *guilty, haha*
The 2nd Day, 15/01/18, Monday
Shinhotaka Ropeway > Shirakawago > Takayama
We booked a private open air onsen at 7am the next morning... The staff kept reminding us how cold it would be we were like Ok bring it on, haha...
7am with -9 Degree Celsius, it really was one kind of an experience... I would definitely do it again!!!
The open air onsen has a wonderful view of the surrounding snow mountains like could it get even better than this?
We had a Japanese style breakfast & I didn't take any pictures of it so i'll get it from Google..
I love Japanese rice the most, soft & chewy...
& I learnt some funny facts about Japanese, they are overwhelming friendly they love to talk a lot to you even though they know very well that you can't catch a single word they say, cute right?
After our breakfast, we headed to Shinhotaka Ropeway...
Scenery we saw while taking the gondola to mountain top... Photos simply do no justice how truly beautiful the landscape was!
We had a ride on their double decker gondola car which is the first of their kind in Japan, to the mountain top with altitude of around 2150 meters height, also it was the coldest place we've been to in this trip...
In the midst of snow... There was a natural park where the paths were surrounded with wall made of 3 meters high of snow, they called it the snow corridor... The entire area was painted white for a second I thought it resembled Finland *I've never been to Finland I thought according to the pictures I saw online*
Fluffy threw snow to the air to make it looked like its snowing but the photo outcome was't that good & he looked too ugly I had to cover his face haha... No pretty picture & all the snow went inside our clothes we shivered haha...
Ok this one looks much better haha...
This is the observatory where you could enjoy mesmerizing view but it was too cold no matter how many layers you wore you'd only be feeling like you were naked... Spot Fluffy's red nose & ears...
Next stop : Shirakawago
We took the Nohi bus which was just located beside Takayama train station & it was about 45mins bus ride...
Pictures talk now...
It was very slippery to come up to this observatory we slipped about 340725 times on our way up here... The amount of snow here was absurd, I was thinking to go stood beside the house & took picture, who knew the snow was knee length deep I got stuck inside Fluffy had to pull me out, haha...
Still couldn't believe I've been there... It was all over FB for a period it felt so far away then now when I look back at these pictures, i was like "Am I dreaming?"
If you wanted to experience snowy winter in Japan, Gifu would be the place, it was best visited in winter, because Shinhotaka Ropeway wouldn't look as magnificent during other seasons as it is in winter, Shirakawago wouldn't look as dreamy during other seasons as it is in winter too...
Miyagawa Morning Market > Sanmachi Suji > Takayama Jinya > Nagoya
Nagoya > Oasis 21 > Nagoya TV Tower > Sakae District
I'll share with you some food I had at Miyagawa morning market...
Takoyaki... Their takoyaki is slightly different with what I ate in Msia, they put much more filling inside the ball with smaller octopus...
Hot pudding from NOIX De Coco, you know I dared not to ask him for picture together as he had business to do so I told Fluffy to capture me along with the stall then he came in himself, haha Japanese are just friendly like that... Made me so happy :D
The very famous Hida beef, whenever you saw Hida beef there's always a long queue... This picture I screenshot from my insta story one hehe...
Won't you look at the poster full of difference languages from around the world, the vendor spoke Malay to us she said :" Enak!" & it took me a moment to digest the word, haha... Forgot how long ago since I last used the word Enak, probably Form 5...
& I tell you, the beef tasted super nice!!! Pricey though...
Bought this vanilla ice cream at Sanmachi Suji... What's special about the ice cream was the cone, the crispy vanilla cone tasted exactly like the biscuit without filling from 白色恋人, superb!!! But it was too cold to eat ice cream for me, I asked Fluffy to finish the ice cream & leave the cone for me hahaha...
Fluffy you look tall in this photo, why so tall one... :o
Sanmachi Suji is a famous historic district in Takayama, its a few streets lined with wooden merchants' house...
Takayama Jinya was under renovation, we took picture nearby where snow could be seen...
Takayama was a small town with a touch of vintage & ancient Japanese feel, chill & relax...We met bunches of nice people, the one I remembered most was an old man who saw us getting lost with 3 luggage on the street, haha... He asked where were we trying to go, we spoke our hotel name, he tried to give us direction but we didn't really understand, we thanked him & then followed his instruction we thought as we were told...
When we were walking half way, he actually caught up with us & walked with us to lead the way, oh my god you have no idea how my gratitude surged to a new level haha because it was really hard to carry heavy luggage walking under cold and windy street...
We said goodbye to Hida Takayama & headed south to Nagoya, its south right? :$
After checking in & everything, it was already at night, the sun went down at 5pm in winter there...
Nagoya TV Tower, Fluffy thought it was Tokyo Tower I gave him 360 degree eye roll...
Sakae district with its signature ferris wheel...
We had Coco Ichibanya for dinner, haha... The menu was different from the one we have in Pavilion but the curry tasted about the same...
You know we didn't specifically google research for nice restaurant because we were told Japan's food taste great everywhere...
Sakae district is the main shopping district in Nagoya... We went looking for some Japan brand streetwear like Bape, Supreme and Comme Des Garcons... Super cheap I tell you, but the designs I want were all sold out, sobs sobs... Streetwear hunting to be continued in Tokyo...
The 4th Day, 17/01/18, Wednesday
Nagoya > Tokyo
It rained in the morning!!! According to our itinerary, we were supposed to visit Nagoya Castle but we went back to Sakae for Ichiran then left earlier to Tokyo...
This was a day wasted strolling on the street because the rain delayed us a lot...
So that's all for my Japan trip Part 1 in Gifu... Stories will be continued in Part 2 in Tokyo & Fuji...
Tata...
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