Hida-Takayama : 飛騨高山

checked out hida-takayama city and it's quaint narrow streets where yet again i couldn't help but feast on some of the local specialities; this stall selling dango; sticky rice balls (団子). yum!





also bought some sweet juicy peaches at the local produce market. if i was living back in japan i would have loved to have stocked up on some of the local goods from homemade jams to fresh vegetables to miso paste.



saw lots of these great big balls of...of branches hanging outside liquor stores and the odd up-market restaurant.



k-chan's dad told me that yes, they are branches, but not just any branch, they are made from fresh cedar branches. these balls (called sugidama (杉玉)) are hung outside when a new batch of sake is made.
as the branches die they naturally turn brown. when they are completely brown it means that the sake has fermented and is ready to be sold/drunk.
pretty cool huh!
well i think these balls are pretty cool.

checked into a different japanese-inn where yet again we were lavished with an amazing array of delicate japanese morsels; especially the famous hida-beef.
surprised that raw beef sashimi actually tastes pretty amazing!
i could so have gone for seconds if only there wasn't so much other amazing food to get through!



with my belt-hole loosened a few notched..., we decided to go for a stroll before another hot soak in the onsen.
happened to stumble across a small obon-festival taking place.
great to see both the young and old out dancing in their yukata's and enjoying the warm summers night.








info:
hida-hanaougi inn
411-1 honobu-machi
takayama city, gifu
506-0003 japan

〒506-0003
岐阜県高山市本母町411-1
飛騨亭花扇

Gifu : 岐阜県

can't go all the way to gifu prefecture without going to the city of hida-takayama (飛騨高山)
and you can't go to hida-takayama without stopping by at hida folk village (飛騨の里) and shirakawa-gou (白川郷), the later being a UNESCO world heritage site.

basically both these places have extremely well preserved examples of traditional steep thatched-roof buildings. sounds geeky i know, but hey, traditionally such roofs were made to protect the building from the heavy snow fall this region gets.
so there you have it.
oooh, and guess what people used to keep in their attics??!
silk worms...

hida folk village (entrance fee 700-yen) is somewhat like an open air museum where you can walk around checking out how people used to live back in the day.
the homes are no empty so you can walk through them all you like.







shirakawa-gou on the other hand is a village where local residents are still living in some 112 preserved homes. there is no entrance fee here however if you want to go inside some of the homes you need to fork-up. fair enough, i know i wouldn't want "tourists" traipsing through my home!

check out all the people crossing the bridge! eeek








tried a soy-sauce flavored ice cream here... mmm, not something i would buy again.
the regional-famous goheimochi (五平餅) was however pretty good!
what the heck is goheimochi... i guess it's best described as sticky rice on a stick which is then grilled with a special sauce made from soy-sauce and walnuts.

Yunoshimakan : 湯之島館

next up, the city of gero (下呂市) in gifu prefecture (岐阜県).
even though the city's name has the same pronunciation as "vomit" in japanese..., it doesn't seem to bother the hoards of people who flock here to soak in the many onsen or hot springs.

apart from the many foot-spas (little hot springs dotted around the city where you can dip your weary feet in to relax) there didn't seem to be that much to see or do here.
our purpose however was to stay at the beautiful japanese inn; yunoshimakan, to celebrate k-chan's fathers 60th birthday; a special celebration called kanreki (還暦).

built way back in 1931, yunoshimakan (湯之島館) is a zen hideout tucked high away amongst the towering cedar trees. it has both indoor and outdoor hot springs so from the moment we put our bags down everyone (all eight of us!) were hyped up ready for a soak.

i remember when i first went to japan as a student i was freaked out about having to go to a hot spring.
you see here in the land of the rising sun, bathing suits are a no-no!
it's full monty or nothing!
but doom day arrived when my japanese high-school friends all decided to go to a hot spring.
i know back home no high school guy would even think of sitting in a tub, stark naked with his friends!
the fact that the very small towel used to only just cover the family jewels can't go in the tub also scared the sh*t out of me!
but it wasn't too bad. i mean when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it we do after all have the same "goods" so to speak!

so after a relaxing soak in the outdoor hot spring overlooking the city of gero with k-chan's father and brothers (gulp), we then sat down on tatami mats for a delicious japanese banquet followed by bottle after bottle of alcohol and karaoke.

i hate to think what might have happened if i had decided to go back for another dip after all that booze...









outdoor spring from yunoshimakan website...
i wasn't gonna risk taking my camera here and snap some japanese guy's "goods"!




info:
645 yunoshima
gero city, gifu
509-2207 japan

〒509-2207
岐阜県下呂市湯之島645番地