Fighting against Japanese weather: Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go and Takayama

Hello Ozzies!

Been like, I'd say almost one moth since the last post, hun?Maybe less, I think. My apologies: the last three weekends have been chotto packed up (dunno why they called them weekends, I should get extra days off to recover from them). Plus, during Semana Santa (Spanish Holy Week), mum and dad came to pay me a visit. Which was kind of a relief for me, taking into account that I won't see them again until September...But that's another story, and a future entry in the blog.

Today's post comes to fill the void left by the weekend prior to the arrival of my parents. It happened that the weather was pretty much horrible around the area: wind, snow, rain. Pretty much of everything, I'd say. So why not go for a trip? This time, next to the sea of Japan: Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go and Takayama.


It didn't start well, though. One would have thought that in a country where earthquakes are pretty much like a cloudy day (meaning common), strong winds and rain wouldn't be such a big deal...well, the things is, it is a big deal. We managed to get to Kanazawa 3 hours later than expected, so oh!, surprise!, again running up and down to be able to get a decent view of the city, since we only had half a day for the whole lot.

In the menu: Kanazawa's garden and its Museum of XXI Art. The garden is one of the top-3 gardens in Japan, together with the one in Okayama (been there), and the one in Mito (will be there). Better to show in pictures:

The museum features a very impressive permanent exhibition. Obviously (and unfortunately), photos were not allowed inside, so I couldn't take shots from the one that I like the most, The Origin of the Universe, by an Indian artist whose name I don't remember know (and yes, I'm lazy and I don't want to check it up). A massive hole in a room completely made of concrete. the hole is in one of the walls, and the room has been conceived so that you cannot see the bottom of the hole. Really good....However, I could take pictures from Leandro's pool, the work of an Argentinian artist who plays with the eye. From the outside, the pool looks deep and full of water...but in fact it's not deep at all, there's a bottom glass which allows to get inside:

Of course, for the lucky ones who have more time to spend in Kanazawa, there are more things to do: Kanazawa is said to be the Kyoto of the North, and it has an interesting samurai district, and another one of temples.

The following day we woke up early and went straight to our next destination: Shirakawa-go. A UNESCO village containing typical rural Japanese houses. What makes this houses unique is the fact that not a single nail has been used to build them. Only ropes and wood has been used in their construction. We were very lucky to see it all snowy: a heavy snow took place the previous night. A typical Christmas postcard...in the middle of March.

Shirakawa-go is a remote place, true, but it's worth the detour. And if you have time, you should not hesitate to stay at least for one night in one of this houses. We didn't have time, but I'm sure it's an interesting experience. While we were wandering around the village, one could feel the peacefulness of the place. If you want to get away from it all, this is the place to be!

Our last stop was Takayama. This three places look close in the map (and in fact they are), but I think that because they belong to different prefectures (and not popular ones, neither), the connections are not as good as one would expect them to be. A pity...

Anyway, Takayama is famous for its matsuris: twice every year, the village gets packed up with huge three-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, people dancing, and the lot. We couldn't get holidays for none of the matsuris, but you can see them in the museum (which is not the same, but at least it's something). There is also a couple of old streets very nice to walk around, with some museums and lots of souvenir shops...and of course, lots of people.

In the food section, I'm glad to say that Takayama shines brighter like no other: not only has a special and unique school of cuisine (similar to kaiseki ryori), but is also next to Hida, a region famous for its meat (not as famous as Kobe, but also not as expensive...and yes, really good meat). Unfortunately, the only place where you can still find taste the original food from the area was closed to the public due to a wedding, so...but we still could put our fingers on some wonderful food!

Enough! It's not as long as normal, but this time I'm not inspired...I should also add videos, but I think I will do the post with them later on. Too lazy, with this cold weather...and we're supposed to be in spring! en fin...


See you Ozzies!

"Shinkansensing" to Kyoto for the weekend

Hello Ozzies!

"Short" post for my last weekend: after the Intermediate Reporting Session for the Vulcanus Program last Friday, I went to Kyoto for a fast weekend there. Yes, very tirying...you should try partying until 5am, taking the train at 6am, sleeping for 2 hours and then kicking the road for a whole weekend of aggressive tourism. But that's the life of a Vulcanus, I guess...

So, as I said, it all started with a shinkansen...

...and 3 hours later, bing! Kyoto station. Drop the luggage at the lockers of the station, take a train and head for Arashiyama, a famous area in Kyoto with a bamboo forest and, surprise, surprise...temples. So here's the entrance to the bamboo forest:

And here a random shot in one of the temples, assaulted by a Japanese high school.

After some mochis (a special one, very tasty I have to say, but I forgot its name...)...

...one of the big stars of the area: the Daikaku-ji temple. So here's the entrance

...and the main entrance (nowadays, mere mortals like me and you go for another entrance, of course), plus a small video:

A detail of the garden (I just liked the contrast between the green of the ground and the red balustrade).

Another shot from the garden (inside, pics where a bit forbidden). Anyway, the platform there reminds me of Dragon Ball...but in a smaller version (guys in the manga really had to run a lot to get to the other side of the ring!)

Next to the temple, there is a big lake with the omnipresent carps and ducks that are so popular in Japan (well, crows are more popular, I'd say...I think there's a war going on between carps and crows, and we human beings are just in the middle of a battle for the control of the Earth. Penguins should keep their eyes opened!)

It happened that, starting from last weekend, a huge event started in Kyoto: The Kyoto Higashiyama Hanatouro. Basically, the northeast side of Kyoto gets special illumination at night, and there are some cultural events going on in the streets. No words are needed, you'll see in the pictures. The following one was right during dawn, and you could see lights starting to appear here and there.

Attraction n.1: The lucky (or patient) 100 firsts got the chance to get a photo with a maiko! Of course, huuuuuuge cue (even though only 100 got to have it at the end, lol).

On the way, special surprise: We got to see a strange procession, carryinf someone dressed like a Japanese bride with a fox mask. We later knew it was something like "The wedding of the fox". You cannot see much in the video, but you must agree, it was a cool surprise:

Attraction n.2: There was a traditional and contemporary ikebana exhibition in Maruyama Park, as well as some bamboo lanterns in the lake of the park that really made up for a special night...

This is the people praying in Yasaka Shrine...we will come back later to it, as the next day there was a maiko dancing exhibition taking place there. I like the picture because of it ghost-like appearance (I needed light because it was dark, which means more time of exposure...)

And this is one of the other big attractions: you could get to some of the important buddhist temples during the night (until 9h30pm), and get to see all of Kyoto illuminated. The #1 sport: Kiyumizu dera, where the views of Kyoto are just breath taking (and the place is really nice, I must say). So here's the queue at around 9. Not many, but you should see at 5h30, when we got the tickets...the line reached the end of the street!

So there you go, nice night pics from the temple!

...and of course, the city view. The orientation is not good for the sunset, but I guess it can be an interesting time to go, too.

No, it's not the Bat-signal. Just a beam of light coming out from the temple (I don't know why something like that would appeal to someone, but it gives the picture a special touch, and anyway, they are Japanese, you never know what to expect from their sense of aesthetics...)

It is said that if you drink from one of the water fountains of the temple, you get luck in (depending on which you drink from) money, love or health. I didn't know which one was which, so in order to prevent any problems, I drank from the three of them. I was a bit told off because off that...

Next day! After literally falling into a coma before even hitting the bed and sleeping for 8 hours without signs of rest from my body (which was demanding something like 14 hours of sleep), we went out for more of this sadistic tourism which I'm getting used to in Japan...

First stop: Nijojo (Nijo castle, the residence of the shogun in Kyoto). I was expecting a normal castle, pretty much like the one I saw in Matsue. Well, I was pretty mistaken...nothing of the sort, I must say. It was more like a biiiiig Japanese house, like the ones you see in ninja movies. Although it is a UNESCO site, I was impressed by the bad situation in which some of the paintings were. The place needs some serious restoration...

Another surprise was awaiting for us at the exit of the castle: just by the souvenir shop, there was a traditional Japanese wedding taking place. The guys must have been quite rich, I suppose not everybody can have his wedding in a UNESCO castle...

After the castle, more temples! Now it was time for the Nanzen-ji temple. The temple was beautiful. Really a good experience. Too bad that I prefer to put artistic pics, instead of boring but educational ones, lol

If you ever get to visit Nanzen-ji, I recommend visiting having a tea there. Why? Well, Nanzen-ji is not as famous as the Golden or the Silver Temples, so it gets less crowded, ALWAYS. And because it is less massified, the quality of the service is better. As simple as that. Plus, the views are beautiful: the tea room faces a waterfall and a big pond. So while you're there, enjoying your tea, you can relax yourself with the sound of the water...

In fact, Nanzen-ji is a compound, hosting more than one temple (apart from Nanzen-ji, of course). You can also visit other temples and gardens. This one, which I specially enjoyed, is Tenju-en. A balance between zen order and nature. You get inside, and you can forget that you're in a city (even if it is Kyoto). A perfect spot to go if you need deep thoughts! Here's some background relaxing music (sounds more like peeing,lol). Although Homer's sea sounds are far better than this, but this is what you get from a mono mic!

And, of course, a touristic video of the entrance to the garden:

Near the Nanzen-ji compound, there's an aqueduct where you can walk around. The day invited for a walk, so...They've told me this place is quite impressive during cherry blossom. I hope I can get here to see that!

Remember Yasaka Shrine? On Saturday we missed the maiko's show, but it was not going to happen twice...

But silence! the show is about to begin...

Thirty minutes of waiting for only ten minutes of show, but it was really worth it! Here it goes (part of it...)

...and the weird screeching sound (I'm joking, it really gave a mystical air to the whole thing, like travelling backwards in time) was this woman, playing I don't know what instrument:

And before saying goodbye, a last picture from Gion, the geiko/maiko district (geisha is sooooooooo outdated and old-fashioned, it is almost insulting).

After this weekend of magic, you get to see why the French put so much effort into sparing Kyoto from the Allied bombings. It only needs a bit of scratching to realize how close are Paris and Kyoto. A wonderful city...just a pity that, like Paris, is swarmed with tourists (like me!) and overrated like Paris (sorry Frenchies...).


To the next Ozzies!

Sea or Mountain? Both: Shirahama & Mt. Koya

Hello Ozzies!

More crappy posts! I'm getting used to this kind of posting, but since only my dear friend Cooper comments them, well...I don't know how better/worse this is. Lol, I guess no news means good news, as usual.

So, what are we waiting for? This time, we do hot beaches and cold mountains, all in one day. Plus, a really cool onsen with views to the Pacific oceans (very peaceful, I tell you!).

Shirahama Beach (which means, guess what, 'white sand')

 

  

The onsen (sorry, no nudes...)

 

Shirahama's cliffs

  

 

  

 

 

  

  

  

On our way to Mt. Koya

 

Special dedication to my penguin friends!

 

  

  

 

Mount Koya

Our monastery!

Mount Koya...

Entrance to the cemetery (creeeeeepy!)

Back to the monastery: dinner served by the limping monk, and walkthrough of the temple

Bye, bye Ozzies!