day 9 - takayama

Just relaxing in the sitting room at the Rickshaw Inn after returning from dinner.

Yet another nice selection of Kimono's for us to wear during our stay.  The boys are playing cards while waiting for the rest of the adults to don our kiminos for charades.

A fairly intense bout of charades. Two teams and a player from each,acts out the same charade. One team won fairly convincingly.  I think they forgot the rules of charades - no talking only actions!

Maybe this team was already in "relax mode" and that's why they didn't win! 

....It didn't have anything thing to do with the way Clive and I were charading.

To encourage good will with our fellow travellers in such a large group we have a daily award recipient. Everyday we all individually give Lee the name of who we vote for and why.  The person with the most votes is then presented with a Japanese bandana which they wear for the following day with priveleges and they also get to choose a lucky dip gift.  Alexandra was voted for first.  Lee and Claire had to put the bandana over her eyes to stop her from picking the prize she wanted as she was there when I purchased them.  It didn't work, as she managed to get the lantern ball she liked.   I think it went something like...Claire tapped her on the back when she was near the present.

One by one we exit for the early morning markets.

Some more excited than others.

We all got up early in Takayama to visit the 7.00am markets and have breakfast.  The produce and craftspeople come in from the surrounding villages to sell their wares.  Not many there this morning though.  Maybe due to the fact that it was bitterly cold.  Even Andrew got out his ski jacket for the first time.

Claire feeding the ducks.

Sibling rivalry.

More sibling rivalry.

Waiting for Steamed Hida Beef Buns.

We stopped for breakfast at a little cafe.  They were very excited to see a group of 12 and rushed out to buy more supplies.

The very photogenic Callum family. Breakfast was ham and eggs with toast.  The ham was a small triangle piece cooked in the white of the egg!

This was very interesting and we are not really sure what it really meant.  A Panasonic mini van and car pulled up in front of this business and the men in the coats got out proceeded with a little ceremony in front of the shop proprietor.  A lot of words, clapping and fan waving.  Maybe prayers for the projected new year sales.

The butcher preparing the regions famous Hida Beef.

After breakfast we split up.  The kids all headed off togther to explore Takayama with a map and find the castle ruins. The parents walked through the heritage precint and admired and shopped in the original merchant buildings.  Heaps of boutique Sake Breweries here.  It apparently is one of the best regions for Sake as they make it with the snow.

The shops were really lovely. The region is famous for its timber work and also pottery.  Lots of antique shops and galleries.

This is the inside of one of the breweries.  You could do some serious damage if you were to taste all the samples in every shop.

These dark stained timber buildings go for about two blocks either side and there are two main streets still preserved.  They all look similar at first glance, but as you approach them you realise, apart from the colour, they are all individual.  Most are shops, but there are quite a few private homes as well.  

The shopping was arduous and the children hadn't been sighted, so we stopped for a tea break in a gallery.

Justine and Clive trying to get comfortable.

Not sure what it was but very well presented.  Overall concensus is the desserts and sweets are an acquired taste.

We decided to look for the castle ruins, but Jeffrey's map reading skills were a bit off today.  All we find along the bitumen road was lots of snow and cold winds! Oh and this beautiful view of Takayama.

Jeffrey and Clive did the 1km and 13 temple walk later that afternoon.

Very pictursque!

Where are the those ruins???

The Rickshaw Inn was another internet find and we really enjoyed our stay here, apart from the noisy German guests.

Jeffrey won the award another night for being a very good tour guide and managing to get all 12 of us on and off connecting trains and also for his map reading skills. The bandana was presented to Sam the next night in a restaurant and we found out from the waiter that the words on the bandana say "you passed your exams"!