Taiwan Best Trip Above & Below.

Hey guys, I know I have already made many blogs about this trip, but let me make one more. Right here,..

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

Day 14 - Takayama's Charm

Our rooms had wirless internet, and Dennis and I were glad to use it until 11am, when we decided to walk the town. It was raining, of course, so it wasn't the best of days. First, I had to go to the post office and mail my broken camera back to Taiwan to get fixed. I have some bad luck with digital cameras, so I hope it will be able to be fixed. I don't know why, but the lens wouldn't close. So, hopefully, it is just a small problem to be solved.

After the post office, we walked down the street to visit another temple. This one was nice because it had an old growth tree on the gounds looking large and old. Plus, they had a temple tower, with a needle on the top, resembling temples I had seen in Thailand, but with a Japanese flavour.
After the temple, we walked to a Japanese bridge to see the old part of town. The roads were narrow, and the buildings one or two stories tall. You could see it was an ancient market, modernized for the hundreds of tourists walking around. Each building was either a tea shop, restaurant, or souvenir shop.

One striking memory I have was the amazingly sexy Japanese girl I spotted. Unlike other Japanese girls, this one had a strong tan, and was not shy of showing it off, walking down the street with her long legs. I had to get a closer look and walked past her. We both glanced at each other and exchanged flirtatious smiles. It made me realize two things; first, I need to learn more Japanese! And the other is, I might be 30, but still not too old for sexy young women! Thank god!

The walk around town was long, and we visited every corner we could, our curiousity driving us to another place for a better photo, another cultural site, away from the crowds. All this walking made us tired, so we went back to enjoy playing with our computers and getting a good rest in our most comfortable of rooms.

Day 13 - Farewell Maze

We were tired for staying up late, and a bit slow to leave. We stayed in bed until 10:30am and prepared to leave. We didn't arrive at the fishing center until 2pm. We would enjoy our last meal together having some kind of cold noodles, that a person must slurp while eating. In Japan, this gesture means it is yummy, for me, the sound is rude, I didn't slurp at all. I can confidently say, that the way I ate these noodles was in the eyes of Japanese, rude and incorrect.

Okay, time to go! Oh wait, maybe not, look at the rain! Ah, forget it, let's go anyways. Dennis and I put on our bags and all of our rain gear, and got onto our scooters. On the road again! We said our fairly emotional goodbyes, and Rocky and Ikumi wouldn't accept the 10 000 yen we gave them, instead, the gave us back 6000 yen, which actually was handy later that evening.

Before leaving the area, we stopped by our cake friends once again. Here, we enjoyed some cake and coffee. The cake shop is called Siefrieda. They were very pleased to show us some of his earlier creations in a photo album. I was quite impressed by his photos, included cakes looking like volleyballs, basketballs, dogs, trucks, police cars, and my favorite was a piano cake made for a wedding. Nice!

They took us upstairs to see their home above the cafe. It offered some pretty nice views of the valley and some comfortable living space. Needless to say, I am envious of their home!

After the nice visit, we finally went on the road highway 41, to the north, to a famous town in the area called Takayama. It is famous because of its well preserved steeets from the olden days. We arrived after dark and went on a mission to find a hotel, when we stumbled upon a hostel. The hostel was great, and new, so we decided to stay 2 nights. The place is called J-Hoppers, and I recommend anyone who travels to this town to stay there!

Day 12 - To Gero and Bread

This was our last full day in the Gero area. Wow, time flies. This time, Dennis was feeling better and he was ready to go somewhere new. As usual, Rocky was busy with his work, so we both decided to check out Gero city.

This city is actually called Gero Spa, and it is famous throughout Japan for onsens. They even have a mixed, outdoor onsen in the middle of town, where you can publically see naked people in a city. But we didn't go there.

Instead, we check out the information center and got some handy road maps. Then we walked around the shops and stopped inside a gallery where we made some postcards with water paint. I decided to make a postcard showing the waterfalls I had seen the day before in Osaka. Dennis made a postcard of the Maze area with trees, fishing in a river and the fishing center. We were very impressed by the many postcards on display. Here, we met a nice old lady who takes care of the place, and two young girls who came from Nagano for a short trip.

After the postcards, we visited the Gero City Hotel office. Here, we met some people who could speak English, and they shared with us much information about the area, good for future tourism business! On this shirt trip to Gero, the people were very nice to us, and we got a lot of cookies and snacks to enjoy for later.

After this nice afternoon, we went back to Hida-Hagiwara where Ikumi was selling her bread. This was a very social evening, and we got the chance to meet many local people and kids. I really enjoyed hanging out by their stall. It was comfortable and fun. We had many disussions with the locals and I played with the kids. We even met a couple of cute young women for a change, and it was nice to flirt. Dennis explained that he felt a little sick, and was treated to some kind of Japanese massage on the shoulders. He was puzzled, as she kept her hand on his upper back, that she continously gave off heat from her hands. I think Dennis was now cured!

The evening winded down, and we went back to Rocky's for our final sleep. Dennis and I shared with Rocky our plans for the Taiwan trip where we will compete with 51 other teams for the best itinery in Taiwan. We went to bed both happy and excited about everything, that neither of us could sleep and we ended talking for most of the night, while Rocky was sleeping like a rock.

Day 11 - Walk on the Wild Side

The morning shone us some bright blue sky weather. What a relief to see the sun! Rocky had planned an adventurous day together, then we got the phone call. He would be unable to tour us around the region, but suggested I visit him anyways for more information. Dennis felt worse than the day before, and took this day to rest and recover. He had a sore throat and fever.

I went back to the fishing center, and Rocky showed me a map, some brochures and shared plenty of information. I decided to go see some waterfalls and enjoy a job though the hills! I drove my scooter alone, through the windy roads. It was at this moment I felt free. Here I was, alone, going 70km through the mountains of Japan. Freedom was at my feet and a wave of happiness took over my body.

I reached a small town in the north called Osaka, much like the big city's name. I turned right and followed a river into the mountains. When I arrived, there was a big parking spot. I paid 100Yen for parking and had a three hour run/hike around. In 6km of walking, I saw 6 waterfalls. And apparently, in this area, there are as many as 100 waterfalls. The 6th one I saw was the best, and hardest walk of all. Along the way, I spotted a snake with a red ring around its neck. I also met a toad, that was aggressive towards me when I got closer. I didn't return until late, about 5:30pm. Rocky has plans of bringing tourists here. I agree, it is a good idea, the place is beautiful. It was different being alone, in the woods, but I didn't mind one bit.

You know, everyone says Japan is crowded, and it is, but, I know from experience, there is a lot of nature to be seen and beautiful countryside. You'll like it more than the cities, so I suggest while in Japan, get out there and discover it for yourself!

Before returning home, I stopped and bought some cake from our new friend's cafe. It all looked so good, I chose 6 different cakes to share with everyone.

When I got back, Ikumi was gone. She was busy making dough and baking some bread. As for Rocky, we invited me to a fourth and final soak in the hot srings. Rocky gave us a coupon each time we went, and entered for only 100Yen each time. After, we cooked some dinner and had a nice chat. Dennis was still feeling under the weather, so we let him be.

Day 10 - Wheat Harvesting

The morning, we saw David off. He needed to return to Tokyo to catch a plane and fly back to Amsterdam. He decided to hitchhike south to the city Nagoya and catch a bus to Tokyo. So, we shared breakfast together and said our goodbyes. After, Rocky called us, he wanted to talk to us.

We left back to the fishing center to share some words. Rocky has a future plan to bring tourists to the area. Dennis and I are starting a tour company, so we sat down and discussed the opportunity of opening up his area for tourism. It was after this talk that I decided it best to stay a little longer to get a better feel of the area.

It is true, in Maze, near the more famous Gero. There is a lot to do. For example, fly-fishing, is very popular in the raging rivers. Rocky has introduced the river trcing, or as he calls it canyoning, or even can be called river trekking. Plus, there are many hiking options, like climbing tall peaks in the Japanese Alps, or even seeing waterfalls. Plus, there are many onsen options all around. But, today, they wanted to share even another different experience, and that was harvesting wheat by hand.

After lunch, Rocky's wife Ikumi, took Dennis and I to her friend's house. This lady we met, Nanako, had a wonderful home in the countryside, surrounded by rice paddies and mountains. I was quite pleased to come here and join. She had some cute dogs, and cows and some wheat drying. We were taken to a machine, used by pushing a peddle, to harvest the wheat. Better explained in the photo. Next, we needed to sift out the husk from the wheat itself. It was not very efficent and took a long time, and in the end, we had about 10kg of grain.

After the farm work, we went for a walk around the property and and next had some tea inside. To our enjoyment, sumo wrestling was on television, and they explained the rules of the contest. It was pretty exciting to watch. We were impressed to see that there were men from other countries other than Japan in the ring, and those ones were excellent, too.

After tea, we returned to Rocky. And once again, it was onsen time. Dennis was feeling sick, and took a break, and Rocky still had some work to do. Ikumi and I were the only ones to go for the onsen. It is too hot in there for me!