Takayama

Heavy rain once again greeted us this morning in Takayama. Unfortunately it took its toll on the two morning markets that are a feature of this town. It also made for slow going as we walked around the town between the markets.

A short bus ride from town centre took us to the Hida Folk Village. A lot of work has gone into preserving a number of original houses from the area in this one spot. It was amazing to see all the different styles of architecture spread over centuries and really only changing on the 1960's.

This was also the first place we saw snow today. Not a lot but enough to remind us just how cold it can get here.

We returned to town for lunch and made an elderly restaurant owners day by giving her a small koala in thanks for her hospitality. They really do get very excited whenever we pull one of them out, I'm not sure how they'd cope seeing a real one.

Finally a break in the weather gave us a chance to walk around the hills surrounding Takayama to explore the 20 plus temples and shrines that make up what is known as "Little Kyoto".

The Cyprus pines that surround a lot of the path are beautiful and being the only people on the path for most of the journey was a little surreal after the hoards of people we have encountered at most other sites.

Making our way back to the hotel from the shrine walk also gave us an opportunity to try some of the local sake and warm up. There are a lot of sake breweries here all identifiable by the ball of pine that hangs from their doorway.

After dinner at an Izakaya (like Japanese tapas) and a relax in the open air onsen at the hotel we're ready to go to Kyoto tomorrow.