Embers glowing red
Conviviality, warmth
Enfolds travellers
Conviviality, warmth
Enfolds travellers
Another day, another enormous breakfast with an array of freshly prepared dishes.
More Hida beef in miso on magnolia to cook over heat on our own little hotplates. It really is very good. We also had the delightful fiddlewood ferns, grated daikon with mushrooms, mountain vegetables, a chicken salad, beans, pickles, omelette, potato gratin and salmon.And of course, rice, miso and tea. It looked overwhelming, but each dish is a snack sized taste sensation and we did not finish them all. Not everyone made it down to breakfast this morning, the barrage of food yesterday had them opting out. Whimps!
We had some time to spare and went for a quick walk to a local temple, Hida Kokubun-ji. The temple was small and surrounded by lots of little Buddha statues. The most amazing feature of this space was the Great Ginkgo of Hida Kokubun-ji. It was a magnificent tree, with an enormous trunk and beautiful green foliage high up into the sky. And it was 1200 years old!
We returned to the inn and rejoined most of the group for a walk to the markets. We admired the bonsai trees outside the houses on the way, they are little works of art.
The markets are not really fresh food markets, but a lot of the pickles and packaged foods can be purchased there. There was a quite bit of street food for sale. We had to try a couple of little morsels - mini sized taiyakis (almost like a little Dutch pancake but fish shaped) with chocolate, bean paste and custard and a tamaten - a soft square of meringue caramelised. They were both good. Ken sketched for a while as I wandered through the little shops.
Back on the bus, ready for another day of exploring the Gifu prefecture. We drove through more beautiful countryside with magnificent forests and rushing rivers. We were not getting bored with the repetitive beauty - every sight was appreciated. We passed ski fields and the ski village of Hiyayu.
The bus driver, Junko and Mitzy chatted loudly all the way. No idea what they were talking about as they didn’t share, although it sounded very interesting. Eventually, we learned that he had a suggestion - to stop at a bear park and see some bear cubs. It sounded cute, why not? We stopped at the Bear Ranch and Junko purchased our tickets. When we asked if it was a rescue place, she said, “oh no, a zoo”. It was a very sad example of a zoo. Very old school which concrete enclosures and no stimulation for the bears. We were given a box of food to throw at them - this was the only activity they had. We were then directed to the bear nursery and sat on a seat as if for a photo. Then they needed a volunteer in the front row - that was me.
(Jill the brave one) I had a cloth put on my lap, another on my arm, a honey stick to hold and then a bear cub deposited on my lap. She was a very cute 3 month old, but it was a very sad existence for them all. I’m not sure the Walk Japan Tour company will be happy to hear we made a stop there. It is absolutely opposite to the nature focus and rehabilitation work they participate in.
We drove back to the ski village and went to a large food hall type restaurant. We were shown to a side room, with views over the snow peaks and the door was closed. The main hall was completely empty when we arrived. While we were eating, we could hear a cacophony of students arriving, their teacher with a megaphone directing them. They were on their grand tour - a cultural exploration. Like a very long school camp.
Our lunch was another set meal of all things delicious. We had a meat dish called toban yaki, Hoda beef with mushrooms, pumpkin, cabbage and capsicum cooked on a hot plate. The sauce was so good. The shop downstairs sold both the beef and the sauce - Snowy bought some to take back to Singapore.
We also had okra, veges, soba noodles, a slice of orange and a little stick of three tiny mochi balls. And of course - rice, miso and tea. The milk in this region is a speciality, so Junko bought us an ice cream to try. I must say, it was pretty good.
As we were leaving the students caught our eye and one very bold young man was up for a chat. His English teacher rushed over and encouraged him to ask us questions, taking photos as we chatted. He assured us he was a good boy. He was fun and his classmates were amused. They were a group of 14 year olds.
Time to walk off lunch, we went up to the local waterfall. Not as impressive as yesterday and we couldn’t get as close, but still something to see. We took off walking down the hill. Junko walks at a fast pace and we were all stopping to enjoy the views, especially when we found all the cherry blossom trees. It is a lot colder in the region, so the blossom season is later. They were really lovely to see. But - we had to march on and find the nature walk path. Once on it, Junko got out her bear bell to scare off any unwanted predators. Or maybe it was so that we could find her as we kept stopping. We saw a snake sunning itself and watched it slither all the way up a rock face. Junko and Mitzy kept walking and were all entranced and then realised they had gone, but defiantly stood our ground, laughing at the pace of our nature walk.
We were corralled and back into line through the lovely walk and arrived at a shrine where they were celebrating a 2 day festival.
There was a large garland of pine in the torii gate. We had to walk thorough it twice, in a figure of 8. Then we wrote a wish on a piec of wood, to be burnt in an offering and rang the bell and clapped twice at the top of the shrine. There were art works in the shrine that could be bought to bless your home. Ken bought one for us. It is drawn on beautiful paper and they added our name to it.
Finally, time for onsens. This is our last night and the onsen experience has upped its game. We arrived at the inn, it was very peaceful with a fire burning in a fire pit, an irori hearth with bear skins on the floor. The inn has many onsens. There is a shared and an open one in the bottom of the building, as well as 2 private ones. Then there are 5 private and a shared one over the road in an outdoor setting. There are many onsen inns in this area.
Our room is lovely, with plenty of space and a little sitting room. The futon is ready and we have both pyjamas and yukata robes. There is no shower, so we are obliged to visit the onsens. We popped on our robes and went downstairs to the private space. It was so nice, the water was very hot, but we could also sit outside in a rockpool where the water was a little cooler and we could enjoy the natural surrounds. Tiny flowers dropped onto us and birds chatted to each other in the trees above. We needed to experience the whole place, so we packed up ourlitttle basket and waked across the road, stopping for fresh lemonade in the pavillion outside, another fire burning.
The outdoor onsen was way too hot. It wasn’t as nice, but still lovely, a private garden surrounding the wooden tub. We checked out the shared spaces - men and women separate of course - before walking back up the mossy path to the inn.
After a drink and a rest in our room, we were back for food in the dining room. We were seated according to our rooms at long sunken tables with cast iron cooking pots in the middle which were surrounded by sand. We were quite spread out from the rest of our group. There was so much food again - starting with a little glass of plum wine, then there was trout sashimi with fiddlehead fern, soy and turnip; fava, tofu, plum wine jelly with bamboo, pork spare rib wrapped in a leaf, green pea custard with shrimp, lotus root dumplings, sweet fish on a stick,rice cake on a stick (like arancini, but with sesame seeds on the outer and miso in the rice), vegetables and tofu, okra, spring onions, sweet potato and beef. Then there was a dish of tempura covered leaves, a little plate that had spinach leaves, fiddlehead ferns, baby sweet fish in a daikon and vinegar sauce.
Finally came the miso - this one with a shrimp dumpling, the rice and pickles. And a dessert of custard, fruit and cream. Phew! Delicious.
I had started with a sweet potato shochu drink, and Ken a beer and then we joined Jo and Allan who had oredered a bottle of wine. We ordered another, and then, as everyone was thinking about going back to their rooms, another. The meals are large and they come out at a very fast rate and it is all over very quickly. There were 7 of us left and we all sat around one table and enjoyed chatting, until we got kicked out of the dining room at 8.30. We took our glasses and bottle and went looking for somewhere to sit. We ended up at the irori hearth on the bear skins, until we got told to move on from there too. Lights out in the main areas at 10. But you can have an onsen 24 hours a day. It had been a really nice evening chatting and laughing and getting to know one another better.
Danelle
2024-05-17
I’m so enjoying the travel blog and photos. I wonder whether Kate the journalist will include the visit to the bears in her article about the walk. I agree that Walk Japan management would not approve at all.