The busy hustling bustling main train station in Osaka. I call this the organized chaos, bcoz everyone seemed to be walking in orderly manner at such speed. Nobody is in the middle of the road blocking anyone....such behavior of standing in the middle of the road/corridor chatting is hardly seen here in Japan. That reminded me of Venice, u can hardly do that bcoz of its narrow alley which fits only one person. Even if u gonna stop for a second, you will be frowned upon for blocking the narrow streets and alleys of Venice.
This orderly behavior and to certain extend I called it manners, should be apply here in Malaysia. Don't block the road, esp cars!!! think of others and don't stand in the middle of a busy pathway chit chatting....move aside.
On that weekend, we decided to head out of Osaka to visit the one and only surviving castle in the entire of Japan.....so again it's Monkey playing tourist guide *despite that's her first time too!!!* Look at that cheeky face, she has got something on her sleeves.
"JS.....can we have some of these yummy kiddy drinks...or that packet of snacks over there?? pllleaaaaassseeeee?????" asked Monkey who was standing next to a kiosk selling all sort of yummy food. JS -_-" "I knew it!!! I knew why u chose this spot to stand!!!!! grrrRRRrrrrrrrrrr." Monkey :D tee hee hee
Fast approaching shinkansen on the background. I'm like a kid watching all these trains with glee....It's really easy to catch a train here in Japan, everything is so systematic from the ticketing to exactly which spot u stand to wait for ur coach. Each train is really precise, stopping for about 30 seconds before moving onto the next city.
As we waited 10 mins for our train, we saw so many trains already came, unloaded some passengers and picked up many more. It's so systematic....the soon to be onboard passengers queue-ed up on the stated box while those needed to disembark came out diligently and most of all in the most un-barbaric way. See difference of first world vs 3rd world country? What's with the mask!? It is also here that if you are down with flu or runny nose, u are responsible for putting on a mask to stop the virus fr spreading to other people.
Soon we were on board and our packed lunch unveiled itself. JS's favorite green tea with his pork katsu sandwich. The pork fillet has got crunchy outer bits, and moist meat in the centre. The bread was soft fluffy like sponge with a wasabi mayonnaise spread. Really yummy....the only reason he loves train ride in Japan I suppose. Someone out there ought to do a posting on different type of food served in the train at different country like tiffin in India or those rice with vege wrapped with banana leaf in a compact manner for easy consumption onboard a moving train.
Ms Monkey and her mini size sandwich of mashed pork floss, pork katsu and pork belly with lots of japanese greens aka Mizuna over wasabi mayo spread. Of coz not forgetting my mini size bottle of orange jus. I know, I'm like a kid!!! Both of us were like kid, coz the journey was less than 35 minutes and the kind of stuffs we brought on board were enuff for a 3 hour ride. LOL!!!!!
When we arrived Himeji town, we were greeted with the huge white castle at the end of the kilometre long road...the reason why we travelled to Himeji.
It's a huge complex covering 83 buildings...oh well being the LARGEST castle in Japan u gotta be prepared to walk and spend some time here. :)))
"JS, this place is huge so please follow me closely and don't get lost!!!"
He's too bz snapping pic and ignored Monkey.
including bz snapping other people's wedding. -_-" It is a famous spot for family portrait.
We were still quite far away from the castle, hence it looked small. Also fondly known as Hakuro-jo, translated to White Egret Castle....it is said that the castle resemble a white bird taking flight.
I thought we were getting nearer, but it seems further? hehehehehe...... This pic was taken near the princess tower, it was believed that Princess Sen the daughter of Shogun Tokugawa Hiteada
no shoes allowed, and clean plastic bags are provided for u to pack ur shoes for "to go". Hahahaha as all visitors will exit at different exit, u are required to carry it along.
The corridor is indeed long. This is the same building where Princess bow to the mountain before applying her makeup each morning.
"JS follow me closely and don't get lost....this place is huge ass." Yes and I think my ass is huge :P bahahahahaha.
From Princess Sen's window, the castle looked even more magnifique!!! The best time to visit Himeji castle is during cherry blossom period, where the entire complex and compound is filled with the beautiful scent and pink blossoms.
Japanese architecture....notice the pavement has got a row of tiles embedded onto the ground? it's to prevent erosion and damages to the floor/ground/soil during rainy season, as rain water fall ferociously from the roof tile. How clever :)))) and it was aesthetically designed too.
Himeji Castle is the only original castle left in Japan. The rest of the castle are re-constructions due to fire, wars and natural disaster. Hence this is truly a UNESCO world heritage site and Japan National Cultural asset.
It has undergoned a massive 5 years restoration works and recently re-opened to the public. So Yay to us, just in time :))))
constructed in 1333 the castle has gone through various feuds, different hands and at one point in time used as barracks during war. It was also built in such a way with confusing layout to deter enemies attacks.
scars from samurai swords..those were really long scars.....
We climbed all the way to the top and there's this lil shrine....ring the bell and clap twice to awake the God!!!!
JS: "Monkey....wat are u doin???" Monkey: "hehehehe making friends with local japanese :P"
Bcoz the entire structure is built with wood...its base from cypress wood...only limited number of visitors are allowed to get into the castle.
JS: "U done talking to strangers? Can we go now?" okie lor....
It's really a beautiful castle...one can never get enough of it....How did they construct it? and so we sat there admiring its beauty discussing world issues....as always :P
Shirawakawa-go, located between Kanazawa and Gokayama is a UNESCO world heritage near the west coast of Japan. U will agree with me instantly that this pic is so stunning. Right? :)))
A few months earlier, when we were planning for a winter esplanade of new gourmet experience, we found out about this village. No one has ever mentioned about this UNESCO site, situated a mere 45 minutes away from the main city Kanazawa.
What made us squeeze in this lil village into our already packed 9 days gourmet trail was the Winter Light-up organized by the village. It only happens 7 evenings a year out of 365 days!!!! wow now that got my attention :)))
There are a few villages in Shirakawa-go and the most beautiful one is Ogimachi. It is also the largest of all with triangle shaped farmed houses which are as old as 250 years. These houses are shaped in this way to withstand the heavy snow. Locals called it Gassho Zukuri - constructed like monks' hands in prayers.
Look at the thickness of those snow!!! It could snow up to 2 metres here and we can attest to it. Never before in my life I got so much of snow landed on my body that we needed umbrellas!!!!
Picture perfect beauty. No words needed to describe its landscape. Getting here requires months of planning and advance reservation. We only found out bout this amazing and beautiful place like a month before our trip. So the only way to get there was to hire a chauffeur. Oh well no complains for monkey tee hee hee. Definitely better than taking the bus. Hehehehehe. So the hotel concierge did all the planning and bookings. Japanese are efficient as alwiz. The attention to details are mind boggling. We have everything needed and more than needed provided by the hotel and chauffeur for this lil trip of say 6 hours?
When we arrived, both Monkey and JS dashed into the snow as though it's sparkly gold powder. It's really powdery soft to our amazement. Funnily though, how befitting, the main city of Kanazawa is very much associated with gold for it produce 98% of gold leaf for Japan.
White beauty almost with no contrast, it made photography a challenge. But Mr. JS had just got into videography instead of photography so it was movements, moments and landscape that he yearned for. While Monkey continued to run around like a mad loose animal outta its cage, amassing as much of snow as she could on her way. Digging in with her hands and collapsed into the soft fluffy powdery snow as though it's her Tempur feather soft bed....aaaAAAaaaaaahhhhh
But I gotta say it's really cold, definitely below zero So the three of us just kept on singing "Let it goooooo let it go!!!!" oh why Olaf what happen to ur nose? My umbrella was extremely useful, to shelter from the occasional snow fall which covered my nose and face, plus as my walking stick as we descend from slippery almost like glass area. A few visitors landed on their back with thuds and laughter ensued. This is definitely a HAPPY place, ppl even laugh in pain. HAHAHAHAHHAA and yes I laughed in this extreme chill~~~
Nope, I did not dig this up. Someone else did and I just kinda borrowed it for a picture. Hehehehe. At such a happy place, no one was at war here, except snowball war.
Villagers decorated the villages with props from their farm. It was snowing so heavily but we wanted to capture the Gassho at the back which is a temple.
really heavy snowfall. We were constantly dusting ourselves. There were just too much of snow accumulated on our bodies!!!
Icicles on the roof and the mountain landscape was so captivating. Pine trees all covered in snow.
If you are hungry here, don't fret. There are souvenirs shops and eateries. One of the experience that visitors seek here are to stay in one of these gassho house. I think both of us still prefer to stay in Kanazawa on the comfort of our proper beds :)))) hehehehehe. City slickers!!!!
We hung out for bout 2 hours walking around this village. It isn't big but we took our time plus all the numerous pitstops just to play with the soft powdery snow!!!
Then it's time to catch the sunset and winter light-up. The best point was to hike up the mountain at Shiroyama viewpoint. It's about 15 minutes hike but could be slower due to heavy snow condition. Hiking was up easy peasy but coming down was a challenge, as you fight gravity and the slipper pavement covered in snow!!!
Isn't it pretty? We could just savor and basked ourselves with such stunning view. And we have yet to reach the top.
and we were there, the lookout point towards the village was so so stunning!!!! Breath taking!!!! I kept asking myself, are we really still in Japan? This kinda landscape is so unusual!!
JS quickly setup his tripod at one of the best spot. Well with the winter crowd to watch this 7 nights only winter light-up, u better hurry up here to secure the best spot. JS: "My dear Monkey, are u still alive? U ok? Not too cold?" Monkey: "Heeeeee I'm having so much fun here. Don't worry bout me :)))"
and we stood there with the amazed japanese crowds all yelping in ehhhhh ohhhhhhh nohhhhhhhh and more ehhhhhh~~~~~ yes it's so stunning even the local Japanese was mesmerized too!!!
and time lapsed, very slowly each gassho house was lighted up unveiling such a beautiful pointy silhouette. While all these was happening, Monkey was bz analyzing how did the thin branch could hold so much of snow without breaking. Yeah me and my brain busy at work. Super randomness. and finally, the lights were switched on revealing the stunning and beautiful village. So so beautiful and definitely worth the trouble of coming all the way here in the heavy winter snow!!!!! and definitely worth the cold!!!! Brrrrrr~~~~~ we didn't remember it being this cold until after all the handwork of capturing these for you readers, we glided down the slipper slope to find our chauffeur to head back to civilization of Kanazawa. Aahhhhh dinner waits us and will post bout that tomorrow. Do take time to view JS's very first video project, and more to come in the near future.
