Day 15 - Road to Shirakawa-go

Shirakawa-go is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a place we must visit. Along with everyone else of course. But, as you know, we are different. We travel by scooter, not bus. This drive was long, and we temporarly got lost twice along the way. The roads were not well labaled and the deeper we were in the mountain roads, the more we doubted ourselves. To our relief, it was actually a great drive.

We climbed high, into the mountains, up an extra long and windy road, encountering a long snake. When we got to the peak of the mountain and started our decent on the opposite side, we were greeted with a remarkable view of the Japanese Alps displaying its summer colour of green.

The drive down was great too, and we were welcomed by a most beautiful waterfall where we took some photos while on our scooters.

The drive was long and we still doubted ourselves when I noticed a turn-off to a view point. Sure enough, there it was Shirakawa-go. Nice place! It was a the biggest village in the area of this style of house called Gassho. These homes were originally built to house 20 people each, and to make silk from worms and gunpowder. I can honestly say that was the way it was, since now, these homes have been invaded by a highway, mobs of tourists and us.

The scenery and architecture was great for photo opportunities and we took a lot. It was nice to be here, in the middle of the mountains. We stayed a few hours and took some nice photos and funny photos, too.

The drive north was fun. It included many dams, lakes, rivers, more Gassho villages, and tunnels. It was also a long drive, and we were a bit worried about where we would camp. The good news is that we have mobile interent for my computer with the telephone company, that we can use google maps to find cmapsites. And we found a wonderful spot. Near a small lake, in the middle of the Japanese rural villages and of course, it is free! We liked it so much, we decided to stay two nights, so that we could work both on our blogs, and prepare for our trip to Taiwan. click here ; Above & Below