Date:
Sunday 10th August 2014
Weather:
The day started with rain but then, at around 10am, it stopped …
for almost 3 hours! After that dry period, heavy rain – probably
caused by Typhoon Halong passing just below me – followed for the
rest of the day
MP3
track: Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain – Jason Donovan
(you came so close to be rid of the 'Donovan').
As
today was suppose to be a relaxing day, I didn't set an alarm. Even
so, I naturally awoke at around 7am. With my blog updated I, for the
first time, was aware that a bright light was beaming through my
traditional Japanese paper blinds. Curious to discover what it was, I
slid back the blind to find actual sun light. Confused at first, I
soon reminded myself what sunlight was. I therefore got ready
quickly; so quickly in fact that I found myself ready to head out of
my Ryokan just in time for the rain to start pouring again. As I was
just about to leave my Ryokan, the lady in charge ran towards to tell
me that a typhoon warning had been posted for later. I, of course,
was thrilled with this gem of information and decided to try and make
the most of the time I had when the rain wasn't set at 'typhoon
strength'. I, of course, am not complaining; just making an
observation.
As
I walked towards the centre of town the rain changed strength every
few seconds making it hard to decide whether my umbrella should be up
or not (it however, was never typhoon strength). Soon it
didn't matter as I was approaching the cities only McDonald’s where
I consumed another 'pancake breakfast'. Once eaten I read my
guidebooks entry on Takayama and devised a route which would allow me
to see everything as quickly as possible and, hopefully avoid any
potential typhoon weather. My route would start on the west-side of
the river for a short stop at Takayama-jin' ya – a small style
palace which is the only one of it's kind left in Japan - and a
morning market. After this I would cross the river and wander around
the old merchant quarter of the city – called the 'San-machi Suji.
Next I would head north and towards the towns main temple –
Sakurayama Hachiman-gu – with an over-priced museum next door which
housed a collection of this cities famous festival floats (which I
wanted to see however, at this time, I was umming and arring over the
£6 entry fee). Once completed, this led me to the start of the
'Higashiyama walking route' (West mountain walking route) which
took in most of the cities temples and shrines and finished within
the cities park (Shiroyama-Koen). This would be an almost
circular route leaving out nothing of interest. Content, I put my
rubbish within the bin and put my tray in the allotted space before
heading back out into the rain … without complaining.
Due
to the 'famous festival float' museum costing the earth, I declined
to pay the entrance fee to the Takayama-jin' ya palace and instead, I
took cheeky photos of it (and the surrounding area) from the
outside. In front of the temple was one of the cities morning
markets. Well, when I say it was a morning market, it depends whether
you would call a handful of tents selling local vegetables a market.
My guidebook had promised that the markets here would contain handy
crafts however, this one must have not received the memo. Without
complaining I headed across the Miya-gawa river and towards the
San-Machi Suji area, where the other morning market was supposed to
be held.
The
San-Machi Suji area is Takayama's pride and joy. This is the cities
old merchant quarter and because of this, the houses were very grand
(for the nineteenth century). The roads were narrow and formed
a grid patter. The buildings themselves were almost entirely made of
wood and resembled Samurai houses I had seen in other parts of Japan
though, the wood used here was a lot darker … almost black in some
cases. As the time was about 10am, the roads were still quite quiet.
All
of a sudden, I noticed that a few other people's umbrella's weren't
up. As I walked further I failed to see any erect umbrellas and, with
the sky brighter than usual, I realised that the impossible had
happened. It had stopped raining. With every minute of dry weather, I
could see that the crowds were becoming larger. I therefore decided
to try to finished this area as quickly as possible by walking in a
zig-zag pattern. Luckily for me, there seemed to be only one street
with souvenir shops on and, as we all know, tourists flock to the
shopping area leaving any street without a retail outlet virtually
undisturbed. This meant that once the 'shopping street' had been
done, I was able to walk around the rest of the area without anything
annoying me; sure the other streets weren't quite as pretty as the
main shopping street however, without any complaints, these other
streets gave a few photo opportunities.
Soon
I had finished the old merchant area and was heading off in the
direction of the cities main temple; Sakurayama Hachiman-gu. The road
leading up to the temple was lined with the same design of building
which I had found within the old merchants quarter however, this road
was a lot more spacious and had the occasional tree.
Once
at the temple I found it to be … like any-other temple I have seen
in Japan. The museum, where the cities festival floats were housed,
was just to the right and, even though it was £6 to enter (and
the rain had stopped) I gruellingly handed over the asking price
and went in to meet a woman – with an uncomfortable looking smile –
holding a camera. She said that today was a special day and that she
was taking everyone's picture, which of course you could buy when you
left the museum (or not). After I lost fifteen seconds of my
life, I proceeded into the main part of the museum which housed five
of these floats within a two-storey glass case. I was informed that,
photos without a flash were fine to take and so I did take a few, but
not that many due to the reflection in the glass. I then proceeded
into a small TV room where a ten minute video – with one translated
English word for every 200 Japanese ones – was on loop. This video
showed the cities main festival which is considered one of the best
in Japan. As I watched the video I did do a small calculation within
my head on how much it would cost to come and see this cities
festival. A lot, was my final estimate and, though the festival
looked fantastic, Kyoto has a similar festival which has similar
floats and is supposed to be better.
Once
the video was over I viewed the floats for the last time. It is
difficult for me to describe these floats but I shall try; each one
has a large decorated wooden box as it's base with poles, for people
to hold, pushed through it and wheels underneath. On top of this box
are four giant poles which then connected to a higher 'platform' box
– with a roof - where decorations and puppets would be placed. Each
one is different and each one has a different meaning. If you are
still unsure, please check out my Flickr account. They also have
their own 'house' around the city where they are stored until the
next year's festival.
Once
I had finished looking at all this museum had to offer I by-passed
the 'photo stand', without even looking at my photo, and went outside
to photograph the temple grounds. Included in my ticket was entry to
another museum which house a model replica of Nikko's famous temples.
I didn't really understand this. Firstly I am not in Nikko and
secondly this is only a model meaning that a visit to Nikko would
still be required. Why have an attraction, within a city, which is
about something in another place is beyond me and so, for that
reason, and the reason that I have seen the Nikko temples in real
life, I zoomed through this museum without really looking at the
exhibits. The ticket lady, noticing that I had only spent
thirty-seven seconds inside the museum must have thought that I had
come out to complain; but I did not.
Upon
leaving the museum I soon embarked on the 'Higashiyama walking path'
which flowed south-east through a line of ten mountain shrines and
temples. Having lived in Japan for two and a half years, I didn't
really give these temples a lot of my time (as I have seen
hundreds of similar temples and shrines) and I was soon flying
through these temples stopping for the occasional photo when the rain
allowed. Yes people; it had started to rain again.
Once
the temples had been completed I had only the park left on my 'to do
list'; most notably, the ruins of a castle within the centre of the
park. The only problem was that the rain was coming down harder and
harder plus, a gentle breeze was starting to move my umbrella a
little bit more than I wanted it to. The park was still in the same
direction as the main part of town and so I walked towards it
weighing up my options. If this was the start of the typhoon then,
being in a park was a very bad idea because of the hundreds of
potential objects – i.e. trees – which could be uprooted and land
on top of me. On the other hand, this was the last thing on my list
to see; and I guessed that it would only take twenty minutes or so.
My 'travelling conscious' got the better of my 'safety conscious'
however, my 'safety conscious' did lay a few ground rules:
- go as quickly as possible
- once seen, leave
- get back into the main part of town after.
I
darted up the parks steps always following the signs to the ruined
castle. Most of my concentration was focused on the continuous set of
wooden steps in front of me however, I did notice that this park was
very steep and covered in a lot of trees. Once at the ruins (there
wasn't much to see) I took shelter and double-checked my
guidebook, to make sure that my 'travelling conscious' would be
happy, before I darted back down. The whole episode only took twelve
minutes or so however, it felt much longer. By now the rain was
extremely heavy however, the wind was still light. Due to running
through the park I was very sweaty however, I pushed into town
regardless and found myself on the main street of the old merchants
quarter.
From
every shop entrance, all down this street, a handful of heads could
be seen waiting for the rain to reduce its ferocity. I too went into
a shop however, it wasn't really to escape the rain (the rain was
falling vertically and so, I actually found the driest place to be
was under my umbrella within the middle of the road). The time
was around 1pm and I had decided – with the weather stopping any
further adventurous exploring – to do a bit of souvenir shopping.
On everyone of my holidays, I have always brought back a small token
of my trip. As I darted between the shops I made mental notes of
'token contenders' however, I didn't buy anything until I had
finished the whole street. This turned out to be a good plan as,
almost at the end of the shopping street I found something for a
special friend of mine which was a little more expensive than I would
have liked. I can't got into much detail; all I can say is that I
could have bought a cheaper one however, it would have made it's use
rather limited due to the size. I therefore bought something which I
felt as though my friend could use on a daily basis however, this
meant that my own souvenirs were reduced in price – and therefore
quality – however, I wasn't that bothered.
Once
I'd finished my shopping I found the time to be around 2pm. Though
still early my feet were wet through and the rain showed no sign to
reducing. Annoyingly, all of the local restaurants lunch menu stopped
at 2pm therefore, on my way back to my hostel, I stopped at a local
supermarket to re-fresh my 'snack bag' and to buy something for
lunch. Once back at my Ryokan an assistant warmed up my lunch to
'lava level'; I gingerly took it upstairs to my room where I consumed
it – after letting it cool a little – before uploading my photos
from today onto my Flickr account and writing as much of my blog as
possible. As I did, the wind, and the rain, picked up and I was
thankful that I was somewhere dry.
At
around 7pm I prepared to leave my Ryokan once more. Whilst putting on
my, still wet shoes (both my trainers and boots are wet …
luckily I have brought some spare pairs of socks), I spoke to one
of the people who work here regarding the typhoon. Apparently it
didn't hit Takayama and instead, it passed a little north of us. If
true, this is good news as I am heading south tomorrow. I thanked him
before heading out into the night. As I walked to my car only a
slight drizzle of rain remained.
As
yesterday's dinner was full of joy, I decided to return to the Joyful
restaurant (see what I did there). I ordered the same salad as
yesterday however, this time I opted for a pizza. To save money I
skipped dessert and once consumed I returned to my Ryokan to upload
this blog, get ready for bed and watch some TV. As I am in no real
rush tomorrow I went to sleep when sleep took me, and not before.
So
tomorrow is a day of peace, followed by period of manic action. Why,
you may ask. Well I have all day tomorrow to get to a small town
called Gujo Hachiman (71km away). It is here that a very
famous dance festival is held throughout the summer however, the
dancing occurs at night. This means that I can see myself being bored
until around 6/7pm when I will watch the festival – weather
permitting – before driving into Nagoya late at night. It is going
to be a strange day however, I am not complaining.
Toodle
Pip!
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