CK has a 3-week break before he starts work as medical officer in another hospital in North Melbourne. Took this opportunity to plan for a short family holiday with him.
We changed our holiday destination from 九寨沟 to 张家界, then finally settled for Japan.
After much deliberation, we decided to visit Gifu/Takayama (particularly Shirokawa-go 白川乡, a UNESCO heritage site which is renowned for its praying house). While exploring the vicinity, we decided to venture into Fukui, Amanohashidate and Ine Bay Fishing Village (areas not commonly visited by tourists). CK wanted to visit Hiroshima; and of course Miyajima nearby (another UNESCO heritage site). We stopped over at Himeji before returning our rental car the next day - and visited the Himeji Castle (another UNESCO heritage site) at the same time.
Day 1 (16 Jan)
Took early morning flight at 8.30 am.
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| Checking in |
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| Waiting for boarding |
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| Boarding |
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| Travelling in Business Class, took Laksa |
There was some delay in landing at Kansai airport (awaiting for clearance from control tower), and also heavy traffic when we drove from Osaka to Gifu (after office hours). As a result, we reached our first hotel at 10.30pm.
View from our plane as we approached Kansai Airport
Stopped over a small town's meat restaurant for dinner. The BBQ beef was delicious!
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| The Meat Restaurant at 2nd Floor |
Day 2 (17 Jan)
Took breakfast in the hotel. It overlooked Nagara River.
Went for a brief walk along the street just outside our hotel - it has old houses on both sides of the street, and a jetty nearby for Cormorant fishing in summer.
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| Glimpse of our hotel 十八楼 |
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| How the hotel looks like from front entrance. I thought we were stopping in front of some private residence when we were guided by Google map to our hotel at night. |
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| Old houses lining both sides of the street |
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| The boats for Cormorant fishing staying idle at the jetty |
Wanted to visit an ancient Buddhist temple, but keyed-in wrong temple in Google Map - has to give it a miss. Drove to Monet's Pond (on the way to Takayama).
Monet's Pond is an incidental tourist spot made famous by Instagram ... the colourful display of red/green/orange in the pond during autumn has captivated the imagination of many. But, don't harbour too high an expectation. It is only a small pond afterall!!!
The view of the pond from both ends... and That's IT
I think Monet's Pond is only for diehard fans! But since it is along the way to Takayama anyway, no harm to stop over for a visit (particularly in Autumn).
After Monet's Pond, we drove on to Takayama, visiting old town at Sanmachi Suji. The road was covered with snow, but still the place attracted a fair number of tourists.
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| Walking our from car park |
And our lunch consists of BBQ Hida beef, of course.
We drove for another 1 hour or so to our hotel (Kazeya), which is located just 10 minutes from Shinhotaka Ropeway.
Driving from Takayama old town to Kazeya Hotel.
Day 3 (18 Jan)
Had our breakfast in the hotel. It snowed overnight and in the morning.
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| Strands of ice dripping down - resembled that of multiple swords |
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| Kazeya Hotel |
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| Driving to Shinhotaka Ropeway |
Surprisingly despite being early morning (~9.30am) in cold winter, there were quite a number of tourists there.
Video clip of what it looked like in the mountain peak...
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| from the observatory deck on 4th floor |
After completing our tour of Shinhotaka Ropeway, we drove another 2 hours or so to Shirakawago (白川乡).
It was raining heavily when we arrived at Shirakawago. Stopped at a restaurant which was located right in front of the touristy Shirakwago villages (was enticed by the free parking, but the food was quite pricey).
Anyway, we managed to borrow 2 umbrellas from the restaurant, and made a brief visit to the village (possible redemption for the expensive food).
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| slippery bridge |
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| The walk across the bridge to visit the village was rather slippery (ice forming on the bridge). Some visitors had slipped and fallen! |
We moved on the Fukui after this (driving distance of 4 hours +). Stayed at Dormy Inn Premium Fukui Natural Hot Spring - it offers free Ramen for supper at night, and free ice-cream/Yakult drink after onsen. The room was small for 2 adults (which I realised was quite typical of hotels in Japan major cities), but the onset was good.
We ate sushi/sashimi and sea food for dinner in nearby restaurant.
Day 4 (19 Jan)
We didn't take any breakfast, but bought some bread/local delicacies from "drug store" on our way to visit Tojinbo Cliffs, followed by Ohima bridge nearby (that connected to 雄岛）.
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| Tojinbo Cliffs |
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| Oshima Bridge leading to Oshima (an uninhabited island) |
The waves and wind were rather strong...
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| 看海的日子... saw this as we were driving off from Oshima Island |
I only realised that Oshima Island apparently carries with it some spooky supernatural tales as I was writing this blog...
We drove another 3 hours to our next destination, INE bay fishing village, stopping over near Amanohashidate 天桥立 (@ Heaven Bridge) for lunch along the way.
We arrived near Amanohashidate at 1pm .. but alas the 2 seafood restaurants that we approached were not opened for business during lunch hour (we weren't quite sure why). Fortunately, there was a restaurant that was open for business, and it has a good view of Amanohashidate (sandbank).
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| Amanohashidate in the background |
After lunch, we drove the Ine Bay fishing village to take a 25-minute boat cruise visiting the Boat-houses (Funaya).
To most tourists (young and old), the highlight of boat cruise seemed to be feeding the seagulls, rather than the boat-houses!
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| The boat cruise |
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| Waiting for our boat cruise |
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| Traditional boathouses - lower floor for boat to dock, and upper floor for people to stay |
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| The seagulls are having a feeding frenzy! |
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| old houses near the jetty |
After the cruise, we drove another 2 hours to our hotel 民宿 around Taka (small village). We took our dinner there. The place was spacious, but it had limited hot water (the place that we brushed teeth did not have hot water).
Day 4 (Jan 20)
Surrounding scenery at our hotel ...
We drove four hours to Hiroshima. Check-into our hotel (Daiwa Roynet Hotel Hiroshima), and went for our lunch at Ichiran nearby. It was raining throughout the day.
The hotel was located near shopping street and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
After lunch, CK went to visit Hiroshima Peace Museum and the iconic Dome, while my wife and I went shopping in the shopping street. (both of us had visited these two places in year 2019).
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| queque for food @ Ichiran |
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| Macha Mango Pudding |
View from our hotel room...
Day 5 (21 Jan)
Took our breakfast at Ichiran (which was about 10 min walk from our hotel).
Snap shots as we walked to Ichiran...
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| The shopping street, with ICHIRAN signboard |
After that, we drove to visit Miyajima (30 min drive). Parked our car near the jetty terminal. Took the jetty across the strait to visit Miyajima (@ Shrine Island), another world heritage site.
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| Jetty |
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| Boarded the ferry |
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| View from ferry, as it left the jetty |
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| ? Oyster farm? |
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| The iconic Tori in the sea |
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| Walking to the shrine |
Visited the shrine。。。
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| low tide |
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| 求签 |
Then took the Miyajima ropeway to Shishiiwa Observatory (view of the bay).
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| Enroute to the ropeway... saw a school of deers resting in the garden. |
Then we hiked another 30 min or so to visit the Hall of Spiritual Flame (Reikado).
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| Hall of Spiritual Flame |
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| Hiking down to the ropeway station |
The flame supposed to have been burning non-stop for many years... but when we visited the temple, we only saw smoke emiting out (but no flame)???!!!
We left CK to hike up to Mt Misen Summit by himself, while we waited for him just outside of Hall of Spiritural Flame.
We took our lunch (oysters of course, since this seemed to be the local delicacy) at Miyajima. Strolled back to the jetty.
After that, we drove another 3 hours to Himeji, our next stop.
Reach Himeji around 9pm. Took our dinner there (BBQ Kobe Beef).
Day 6 (22 Jan)
Final day of our stay.
Took breakfast in our hotel. The city view from the restaurant was fantastic.
Visited Himeji Castle - which I realised was a UNESCO heritage site in Japan only on reaching the city (and it was apparently the very first UNESCO heritage site in Japan!).
View of castle from outside...
Initially, I thought it was probably a mere castle that may not warrant a thorough visit. But we end up spending over 1 hour there, climbing up the 6 levels within the castle.
It was quite a fascinating place to visit!
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| Within the compound of the castle |
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| Inside the castle |
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| Inside the castle |
After that, we went to buy some beef, fruits and vegetables from the supermarket nearby.
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| shopping centre near our hotel |
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| shopping street near our hotel |
Checked out from hotel at 12 noon, and drove all the way to Kansai Airport ... reached airport around 2.10pm.
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| Walking towards departure hall |
Checked in at 3.50pm..... The flight home was delayed by 1 hour. Finally landed at Changi Airport by 1.45am the next morning. And CJ dutifully drove us back from Changi Terminal!
IN SUMMARY,
1. Toll was exorbitant: -
we drove just slightly above 1800 km the entire trip. The car rental cost us ~S$ 740, but the toll cost us S$320 (almost half of the cost of car rental).
we almost had heart attacks when the toll gate flagged out charges of S$40-80 toll fees when we exit from various toll stations!
2. Hotel charges - reasonable for group of 3 adults.
The most expensive hotel stay cost us S$404 per night, the rest was around S$210-240 per night.
3. Beef was delicious, and cheap when compared to Singapore
4. Somehow, the items on sale in various shops seemed not affected by inflation - they cost almost the same (as when we visited Japan pre-COVID years), and when converted to Singapore currency were even cheaper than before (because of weaker Yen).
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