Day 5 - 9 Jun 15

We got up very early at 530am. When I was ready (and while waiting for the rest), I paced up and down the hotel corridor and patted Yu to sleep in the hope that he'd get as much rest as possible. Thankfully, he managed to catch at least half an hour of sleep before our day began.

After breakfast at the hotel, we walked to Miyagawa Morning Market. Unlike our local market which is usually located in a sheltered premise, the stalls at Miyagawa are all out in the open and they are all lined across the street along Miyagawa River. We bought Hida beef in yakitori style and munched along the way and I topped it off with a cup of ice cream shake with coffee flavour. Totally yum!

We then explored Sanmachi Traditional Buildings Preservation Area and the old private houses of Takayama. It was a wonderful experience of a stroll within the preservation area; their architectural uniqueness was one of a kind - yes, it was historical and thus preserved - and I bet you might not find them in other parts of Japan.

We checked out of Best Western Hotel Takayama at 1030am and drove for about an hour to Shirakawago. There was a slight glitch as we arrived at the wrong spot of Shirakawago. Again, something was wrong with the mapcode. We were at least close by so it took us at most another 10min to arrive at the designated spot, which led us to the World Heritage Shirakawago - the Ogi-machi Gassho-Zukuri Village with historic Gassho-style houses. Man, once we crossed the suspension bridge, it felt as though we were teleported to another world of more than hundred years ago. It sure felt surreal to be roaming around this historical village. We also visited the Wada House. It was a private residence open for public viewing. The attic was huge and it afforded a lot of space for the kids to run around and for us adults, it was a timely break from all the walking.

We had a quick lunch at one of the eatery. Then we proceeded to take a shuttle bus to the observatory platform where we could have a bird's-eye view of the village. The view was indeed breathtaking from the vantage point. An official photographer took a picture of us and we had it developed for 1,500 yen.

We left at about 340pm, after spending close to about 4 hours at the Ogi-machi Gassho-Zukuri Village. It was all worthwhile and I even felt a little reluctant to part with Shirakawago, after it had completely stolen my heart.

We headed straight to our accommodation for the night which was at Holiday Inn Ana Kanazawa Sky. It was about 530pm when we arrived.

Dinner was at 630pm at one of the restaurant (recommended by Foursquare) at Omi-cho Market which was just a stone's throw away from our hotel. Needless to say, I was a satisfied customer after having 4 pieces of tempura with rice and a cup of chawanmushi.

After dinner, we went to the supermarket to buy milk for Le. It was only 740pm and the door to the supermarket was already half shut and frantically, we gestured to the staff to grant us the exception of entry to only buy a packet of milk. A lady came towards us and signalled us to wait while she ran to - apparently her superior - to ask if we could be granted entry. Without hesitation, the staff obliged and we managed to get the packet of milk. Thank God for the kindness shown towards us; while the staff had the prerogative to refuse us entry, he didn't. Such gracious people that makes this world a better place to live in.

We went back to our hotel at 8pm. As usual, we settled the kids and then went to bed.