On the road to Shirahone Onsen

It was all up hill from Takayama. We're well and truly in the snow now. It looks like it there hasn't been a big snow fall in a couple of weeks but there are huge mounds of leftover drifts everywhere. We made it to the turn of for the last 20 or so kilometres to Shirahone and Awanoyu Ryokan (a Ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel) when we came to a road block. A bunch of what appeared to be warning signs. So we did the typical tourist thing and drove around them only to be confronted by more signs blocking half the road. We came to a third roadblock, a gate and small gatehouse, and a older guy came running out, cigarette clenched between his teeth, waving at us to stop. Apparently the road is closed until April from what we could gather. I pulled out my Japan road atlas and pointed at the spot on the map where we were and then at Shirahone. The old guy figured out what I meant and motioned for us to keep on the main road and turn off on another road to some other town that loops back around to Shirahone. This road is the only road to Shirahone, of 3, that was still open. Hopefully. Well after missing the next turn off and having to double back we made it to a ski village, Nikagawa (check that Shane), that is about 8 km from our destination. By this time it had started to rain, sleet really. Then the road angled up even more sharply and it started snowing. I was really glad we had snow tires then because some parts of the road were covered in the stuff, snow not tires, especially on the downhill run into Shirahone. So yeah, we made it.

Leaving the Best Western Takayama

The parking garage was interesting. It worked like an old time jukebox. You drive the car onto a platform and then the platform is raised and your car is slotted into a multilevel parking slot. The operator pushes a couple of buttons, a track is selected, the record is retrieved and loaded on to the turntable. Awesome.

Matsuki Sushi - Takayama

Matsuki Sushi is a good reasonably priced sushi restaurant that we found by perusing brochures at the hotel. No tourists here. It looked a solidly local crowd. And crowded it was. Lots of smoke too. Ah well, you can't win 'em all.

Hida-no Sato - Tradiitional folk village Takayama

After lunch we drove a short distance, we made it longer by missing the turnoff, to the Hida Folk Village (Hida No Sato). Essentially an open air museum of buildings collected from various places that show off traditional building methods like thatched or shingled roofs and the lifestyle of the olden days. We got here quite late, around 4pm, and the temp was dropping. It was bloody cold. They close at 5pm so we had to whip around the village quick smart.

Hidasumibi Shok "Shou" - Takayama

We were struggling to find something substantial for lunch and we almost back to our hotel when we found this place. Turns out it is the hotel's restaurant. They have two entrances, one in the hotel and the one next door which we entered.
Anyway it was another good feed of Hida steak. Again we had to cook it ourselves over a charcoal brazier. A very hot charcoal brazier.

A day time wander around Takayama

We had a big breakfast from the huge spread laid out by the Best Western. It was free. They had a piano music cd playing over breaky. It was one of those music with nature sounds cds. It was kind of strange to here I Still Call Australia Home over breakfast though. After breakfast and still humming I Still Call... we headed for one of the the two morning markets held down near the river. This is a local market, Miyagawa Market, for local producers selling local produce locally... and assorted other junk and trinkets.
After the markets it was back to the old streets to see if there was more action than last night. This time we found all the tourists. A bit more of a wander lead us to one of the temples in town where we saw a priest (Shinto or Buddhist) bless a woman's car. Then it was back to the streets for more local colour and to try the various snacks - an egg and honey thing (yum), savoury rice dumplings on a stick (not so yum) and some sort of pancakey thing shaped like fish filled with chocolate and sesame and what not (yum again)
The last picture is a postie bike.