From Kanazawa to Kyoto

Hi everyone!!
I’m writing this blog on the train from Takayama to Kyoto. We arrived in Takayama yesterday evening after leaving Kanazawa on a never-ending journey of weird train and bus-rides.
Kanazawa is a nice town famous for the Kenroku-en Garden which is one of the three most famous gardens in Japan. We arrived in Kanazawa on Thursday evening and walked around the place trying to find some non-Japanese food. Although I love Japanese food I’m feeling like I need a break from it every now and again. I don’t mind the sushi but I’m getting a bit fed up of the tofu and strange veggies. The next morning we went straight to Kenroku-en Garden as our guide book says it’s best to go early. The garden is really beautiful and luckily the weather was also great so we spent about 2 hours walking around admiring the beautiful plants and flowers. The Garden is also full of tiny streams and bridges – just how I always imagined Japanese gardens to be. Afterwards we visited a Japanese villa nearby which was really nice, it was the first time we entered a typical Japanese house – the type that are all wooden and with really thin walls. On the way back to the hotel I found this really cool shop and bought some nice clothes, the fashion is really different to Europe and I’m kind of getting hooked on it! J By the time we got to the station we discovered that we had missed the train by 10 mins and had to wait another 2 hours to leave for Takayama!!! Obviously I got the blame cos I had stopped to do some shopping!! Grrrr!!!
The journey to Takayama involved three train rides and one long winding bus ride between Japanese hills. We were quite worried at first when the train station official printed out the itinerary because we only had a few minutes to connect between each journey. But we hadn’t realised to what extent the transport system here works like clockwork!!! It was really amazing. Also when we got off the train in a tiny village to take the bus to the next train station the bus driver was waiting just for us – it seems he knew about us! Then we realised that they all communicate by mobile phone! We are totally amazed at the service! Also, throughout the journey yesterday afternoon we were impressed at the kindness of people and their willingness to help us. First when we were taking the first train, the train changed at the least minute and we asked an officer at the station and he literally ran through the crowds to get to the ticket booth and changed our tickets to get us onto another train instead, we only had one minute to spare so then he ran all the way with us to the platform with our bags and kept the train from leaving until we got on! Amazing!! We also managed to get ourselves into trouble when getting off because we tried getting out of the wrong exit on the carriage and found that we had got into a no-entry cabin at the end of the train where there was an officer who told us to go out from the other end. By then a crowd of Japanese swarmed onto the train and we couldn’t get out!!! Ivan started panicking cos we expected the train to leave any second with us on it!!!! Finally we managed to push our way out and when we got off we realised that the officer was keeping the train waiting till we got off!!! They are so incredibly helpful! Getting off the bus I got stuck in the door with my huge 20+kg suitcase and 2 bags and both the driver and a passenger rushed to the rescue. They also amazed us how they are constantly smiling and waving at us, and they chat with us in Japanese even though they realise we can’t understand a word!!
After a 5 hour journey we got to Takayama at around 7pm where Ivan had booked a ryokan – this is a real ryokan - all wooden, with sliding doors and Japanese garden where you eat on the floor and sleep on tatami mats. I was a bit wary of these tatami mats but I must admit they are quite comfortable and I hadn’t slept so well in about 3 days! The ryokan also had communal onsen (hot spring baths) for men and women. I was a bit worried about being in my birth-day suit in front of strangers but luckily when I got to the bath there was nobody – phew!! So I had a huge hot spring bath all to myself – hurray!!
This ryokan was really lovely, of all the places we have stayed in I think it is my favourite because it is really authentic. We also had a Japanese dinner and breakfast served in our room. The dinner was delicious but I really cannot stomach this food for breakfast… the worst is the miso soup which I was tempted to throw down the sink when she left the room but luckily Ivan ate some of mine… they look a bit concerned when you leave food in your plate!
We then spent the morning walking around Takayama, a very pretty village famous for crafts and for Sake (rice wine). In fact the town is full of tiny shops selling all kinds of Japanese craft items mainly for tourists, and sake houses where you can taste and buy sake. We were also lucky to see our first cherry-blossom tree. In Tokyo the season was over as it is already very warm but Takayama is higher up and therefore the temperature was a bit cooler.
That’s all for now! We will now spend 3 days in Kyoto but we plan to take a day-trip to Nara tomorrow. Apparently there are 8 world heritage sights so it should be nice!