幸せを運ぶ 甘く切ない君の歌
Even from a faraway place, it'll reach me Now, somewhere
Your painful but sweet song, it carries happiness with it
Day 7, April 14th: Takayama, A Tour in The Rain
Website: http://www.hida.jp/english/
To
be honest, I didn't really have the time to find out much about Takayama before the trip, so I googled it up only after that (>.<;)= Takayama (高山) is a city in the mountainous Hida region of Gifu Prefecture. Takayama
retains a traditional touch like few other Japanese cities, especially in its
beautifully preserved old town. It now ranks as one of the prime
candidates among travelers wishing to add a rural element into their
itineraries. The Takayama Festival, held in spring and autumn,
is considered one of Japan's best festivals.
(source: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5900.html)
(source: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5900.html)
Ahh...
we were going during Spring anyway, and coincidentally, it was one of the
2-days of the Spring Festival... Unfortunately, the
weather forecast said it was going to rain, but some part
of us were praying that it would stop raining when
we reach there. It did not however :(
With
Mel’s help the night before, we figured out the train schedule from Shin-Osaka to Nagoya (and reserved seats for
Shinkansen). From Nagoya, we then changed to JR Hida Limited Express to Hida-Takayama.
The journey from Nagoya to Hida-Takayama took roughly around 2.5 hours. The
scenery along the way was unexpectedly stunning, we felt like stopping and walking around the beautiful sakura trees along the rivers. Please be informed that there will be many locals and tourists heading to Takayama around the festival time, so I did feel regretful not reading about the festival prior to our journey after all.
We reached Takayama at around 1 p.m. However, due to the rain, the Festival was
cancelled. We were informed that the Night Festival would also be cancelled if the rain continues. So we
decided to walk around and just hoped that the rain would stop.
Unfortunately
for us, it kept raining but that didn’t stop us from finding the Floats (Yatai), the old
Private House / Preserved Old Town and the Nakabashi bridge. We even stopped
for very yummy warm pudding~!
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| The Float : Kirintai, as explained below: |
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| Another float at their storehouse |
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| The Old Well, in front of the Museum (pictures aren't allowed inside) |
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| One of the streets with beautiful traditional houses |
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| The SUPER SOFT, SUPER YUMMY warm pudding, it melts in your mouth and warmth your heart! (It won the Gold Award by the way!) |
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| And the friendly uncle who sells the pudding :D |
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| The Red Nakabashi Bridge and the gorgeous scenery surrounding it: |
Anyway,
since the Evening Festival, Yomatsuri was cancelled, we went back to Osaka
earlier and found dinner at Muqam, a halal Uyghur restaurant in Namba, just walking distance from Dotonbori.
How to get there? From Osaka station, take the Yotsubashi line to Namba, then find the exit number 24 (near the Midosuji
Subway line) and head straight, with a light coloured building (picture below) as a reference
to your right. Turn into the second left corner, you will find the shop on your
right.
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| Namba HIP5 building, it changed colours and you can't miss this building |
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| In front of the restaurant |
Next: The Handsome Kyoto
