Kanazawa is bland. I don't even know why we agreed to make an overnight stop in Kanazawa. I did some brisk research on Kanazawa before departing for Japan and found only a few places I was interested in seeing. It was too late to ask my travel consultant to cancel our hotel booking there and let us have another day in Kyoto instead.
We arrived in Kanazawa by train on December 14, some time past 1.30pm. We took a taxi from the train station to Kanazawa New Grand hotel, which set us back by slightly over a thousand yen or almost S$17. We did not expect the hotel to be more than two turns away.
Kanazawa New Grand was the worst hotel we stayed in on this trip. The guestroom was musky and small - one side of the bed was set against a wall to provide more walking space - and the air-conditioner was not working. While it was cold outside, the room was as hot as a summer day. The staff apologised for the faulty air-conditioning and suggested that we keep the window open.
Not being able to tolerate the room, we decided to head out and spend as long as we could bear outdoors.
First, we needed to look for lunch. After wandering the streets for an hour we were still not able to find a place to fill our tummies. We found mostly fashion boutiques. There were some small cafes, but they were not open for business.
The people in Kanazawa don't eat! All they want is to buy clothes!
Finally, we spotted this family restaurant on a quieter side of town, next to a private carpark. It was dark inside but a waiter beckoned us.
The menu was all in Japanese and the waiter could not speak a single word of English. Joshua's limited Japanese also got us nowhere. We had to take the waiter to the front of the restaurant, and pointed at the display of faux food to place our order.
With our tummies filled, we went in search of the Kanazawa Castle and the Kenroku-en, the only attractions in the city I was keen on.
It was quite a long walk, and a painful one too, as my back and ankles were already strained by the past few days of non-stop walking. Fortunately, the walk took us down rather scenic paths and the sight of bald trees calmed my soul.
Kanazawa Castle is surrounded by much greenery and there were many quiet garden paths one could enjoy.
The castle has an interesting history. It was built in 1583 and underwent several reconstruction after being destroyed by war and natural disasters. Several parts of the castle still stand today, including the Hashizume-mon Tsuzuki Yagura watchtower and the Tsurumaru Storehouse.
We were there too late and the castle was already closed. We could only roam the expansive gardens and admire the castle from outside.
Then, we crossed a busy street to get to Kenroku-en, the city's famous garden which used to be the castle's private outer gardens. Kenroku-en is recognised as one of Japan's three greatest gardens.
Pity too that the garden was already closed to visitors.
So we trekked back to the hotel and had dinner at a sushi place in the basement.
Again, we hit a language barrier with the chef at the sushi place. This time, we did not have any photos or faux food displays to point at. Using a mix of garbled Japanese and English, Joshua managed to find out that the restaurant offers only set menus. So we placed our order for two Set 1s.
And this, my friends, is Set 1:
It cost us 2,800yen. Of course, we didn't know that until at the end of the meal. It was the priciest platter of sushi I've ever paid for. However, it was really fresh and the sea urchin was nice and creamy.
With dinner done, we returned to our room and spent the night massaging each other's feet and watching hilarious Japanese variety shows.
The next morning, we exited Kanazawa and headed to Kyoto, the final lap of our holiday.
We arrived in Kyoto at 1.33pm and my spirits were immediately lifted. I couldn't wait to show the husband Kiyomizu-dera. The first time I visited the temple was last autumn and it was at night. It was beautiful then, and I wanted to see it in daylight.
However, I knew I had to brace myself for lesser autumn foliage, as most trees would have already shed their leaves.
Still, it was beautiful and we took a million photos. :)
We also explored the shops that lined the pathways leading up to the temple. So many things to buy and eat!
And the husband bought me this:
"Your Christmas present!" he chirped and rubbed the top of my head as if I was a little girl.
Done with Kiyozumi-dera, we proceeded to Gion, bearing hopes of seeing a couple of geishas.
Wandering around Sijodori, where much of Gion's life is, we wondered where we should go to find geishas reporting to work. Just then, a geisha swept past us very quickly and rounded a bend in a blink of an eye.
We quickly followed her and found ourselves going down a dimly-lit way, lined on both sides with neat, old-fashioned houses. She hurried on and passed through a wooden doorway that led to an even more dimly-lit house.
Such secretive places!
A few other geishas came by, and just like the first one we encountered, they walked really fast. So fast were they that they appeared as a blur on our photos.
They reminded me of F1 cars, which our amateur cameras cannot catch. They are F1 geishas!
I suspect brisk walking is one of the many skills geishas have to master.
As the evening wore on, temperatures fell and we had to get out of the cold and into a nice, warn cafe. It was not hard to find a decent cafe in Kyoto.
Later that night, we braved the cold (it was probably 4 degrees Celcius that night) and hit the streets in search of an izakaya. We found one a couple of streets away from our hotel.
Ichiban, it is called, and it stays open till 2am. Wonderful.
We went in, overcame the language barrier by pointing at whatever other diners had on their table and shooting off words that came to my mind, such as buta (pork) and biru (beer), and remained there till past midnight.
It wasn't a massive spread - just five yakitori dishes and four mugs of beer, but the bill came up to over 5,000yen. Wow wee wow wee. Japan isn't cheap and the strong yen doesn't help.
The next day we took a train to Saga-Arashiyama, where the beautiful Tenryu-ji Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, calls home. But before we went to the temple, we went on the sight-seeing Torokko Romance Train, which travels along the Hozu River.
You know why it is called a Romance Train? Because the wind that blows through the open-air carriages are so cold that couples have to cling to each other for warmth. I was so cold I could hardly pay attention to the scenery.
I was frozen stiff by the time the train terminated at Torokko Kameoka Station, and we had to stay indoors, where the heater was on at full-blast, until I was warm again.
Then, we walked about 10 minutes to get to the nearby JR Kameoka station to take another train back to JR Saga-Arashiyama station, and from there walk to Tenryu-ji Temple. It was an enjoyable walk, although the cold really bit into my bones.
Then, to our immense delight, light snow started to fall! Very, very light snow. And it fell only for a minute or so.
We were hungry when we arrived at JR Saga-Arashiyama, and went looking for food. We found a small tofu speciality shop near the bamboo groves, and ordered hot, soupy noodles.
Happiness!
From there on, we took a leisurely stroll through the bamboo groves to get to Tenryu-ji, where we spent more than an hour exploring its gardens, taking photos and sitting in a corner to
Arashiyama's Togetsukyo Bridge is also a must-see. It is renowned for being flanked by cherry blossoms and spectacular autumn foliage. Alas, it was the end of autumn when we were there, so the trees along the bridge and the banks of the Oi River were brown and bare.
The good thing, though, was that the bridge was very near shops that sold HOT food! :)
In fact, the whole stretch of road linking Tenryu-ji to Togetsukyo Bridge was packed with restaurants, cafes and shops selling lovely snacks. There, I found a shop selling steamed buns with beef fillings.
Happiness! It is so easy to make me happy - just feed me, especially when I'm cold and tired. :)
We hung around a bit more, then returned to Kyoto city, where we spent our night again at the izakaya. It snowed again that night, while we were walking back to our hotel. The husband and I stood silently on the streets, with our heads craned towards the midnight skies, marvelling at the white specks that floated down.
I love you, Kyoto. Next time I will dedicate an entire trip to you.
All in all, this holiday was a wonderful one. I got to spend all day with the husband, chatting, joking and getting lost together. What else can I ask for? :)
0 blistering yaks:
Post a Comment