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Wednesday, 27 November 2019

Nagoya Day 3: Takayama & Shirakawa-go Day Tour

A trip to Nagoya is not complete without visiting the famous Shirakawa-go. We booked a day tour to Takayama and Shirakawa-go via Klook at S$77 per adult, $65 per child.

According to clear instructions on Klook, we were to meet at the fountain at Nagoya Station at 8.10am. We had to wake up really early to take the free shuttle bus from our hotel to Nagoya Station.

Nagoya Station is huge!
Make sure you head to the Taiko-Dori side. 
Our meeting point was the fountain in front of Bic Camera

Our tour guide was a really cheerful fellow who gave us full permission to take a picture of him so that we can recognise him when we needed to.

Our tour guide explaining the tour to us
Our tour bus at a pit stop for a short toilet break
Entertaining the baby while admiring the scenery outside

The journey took approximately 2 hours and we arrived at Takayama at 11am. The tour guide only gave us till 1pm to explore! It was simply too rushed to do everything we wanted!

Our bus parked at Takayama Betsuin Temple Treasure House, which is situation along Yasugawa Street (the main street in the heart of Takayama)
Left: the actual Takayama Betsuin Temple Treasure House is the building behind us;
Right: Lovely weather to explore Takayama! 
Our family loves the cool weather! 
Temple gate

We walked along Yasugawa Street towards the Miyagawa Morning Market before it closed at 11.30am. On the way, we stopped to try some of the famous Hida beef and beef buns!

Skewered Hida beef! It was so good that all of us ate one stick each!
Kihachiro Beef Bun

We made it to the morning market just in time before they closed!

Miyagawa morning market
Buying the kids' favourite taiyaki! 
Along the Miyagawa River
Love this shot of my girl at the Miyagawa River captured with my Huawei Mate 20 Pro! 

We passed by a miso shop at the end of the street and bought some miso home as the kids loved it!

Trying the miso at the miso shop before buying
Instructions on how to make your own miso

We walked back to Yasugawa Street and tried Hida beef sushi from one of the sushi stands.

Yummy beef sushi! 😋

We proceeded to the famous Takayama old town next to check out the beautiful old school houses.

Takayama old town
Not easy to take a selfie with my expanded family 😂
Kids enjoyed exploring the street while the baby girl looked like she wasn't sure what the fuss is about 😅
Exploring the shops full of pretty handmade items! 
Left: Some of the shops sell souvenirs for Shirakawa-go and they're a lot cheaper than buying them at Shirakawa-go! We bought all of our souvenirs at Takayama 😄;
Right: Handmade wooden spoons, great for eating honey (don't use metal spoons to eat honey)
The hubby couldn't get enough of the beef sushi and this one had a queue so he said we must try. It's really good!

Seriously, we only had 2 hours at Takayama and it's really too short! We'd have to plan another trip here again! 😅

Next stop: Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO World Heritage Site! After travelling for about 50 minutes, we arrived at the Shirakawa-go Viewing Platform, which was only opened during non-winter seasons (closed during winter as the roads are too slippery).



Me and my kids with the picturesque Shirakawa-go in the background
The autumn colours of the mountains were fading to welcome the winter in just a few days. 

According to the weather forecast, it was likely to snow the next day so we just missed it. At first I was disappointed but then the thought of carrying a baby and slipping on the wet snow made me feel better. I'm thankful that the weather was good and it didn't rain!

We were given 1 hour and 15 minutes to explore Shirakawa-go. It may seem short but as Shirakawa-go is a very small village, we finished walking through the whole village in about 1 hour.

Selfie with my eldest girl along the Sho River
I love to take photos and my girl loves to model for me! Next time, she'll be the one posting my photos on Instagram (#InstaMummy 😂)
On the Deai bridge that leads you to Shirakawa-go.
The roof of the houses in the Shirakawa-go is what makes it unique. It is said that the roof resembles hands clasp in prayer.
Signs asking you to watch for falling snow during the winter
Kids enjoying their ice cream, yet again! 
The kids love to model for this mummy! 😄
A nice painting that the kids wanted to take pictures with
The drain covers in Japan are usually designed to reflect the place that they are in. This one is no exception. Pretty! 
More photos of my girl as we headed back to the bus
One more with the Sho River

Although it would have probably looked more magical during the winter, we still enjoyed taking photos and wandering around Shirakawa-go. Definitely one of those places you need to visit at least once in your life!

That was the end of our day tour.

By the time we arrived back at Nagoya Station, it was dark and almost 8pm. We decided to get some takeaway from the basement of Takashimaya as they clearing their food at special prices.

Our dinner consisted of whatever we managed to grab from the special sale of food after 8pm 😄

Super tiring but fun day! 😄


Continue to >> Nagoya Day 4: Port of Nagoya Aquarium & Osu in the Day
<< Back to Nagoya Day 2: Nagoya Castle & Osu at Night

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