*Somebody* had a great idea to watch the sunrise this morning. So a wake-up call confirming the tour was on happened about 3.55. Scared the crap out of me! We knew it was going to be cold, but we were also quite hot in the room – so we put a few layers on, and then our top few layers in a backpack, and made our way to reception.
There would have been ~100 people doing the tour. We caught the electric bus back to the previous stop from yesterday, and it was starting to get cooler. I was expecting them to have the heaters on to keep everybody warm, which would have been stupid because of the amount of clothes we were all wearing, and we didn’t want to have to take them off. Luckily they took the logical approach and had it fairly cool so we could be rugged up. Nonetheless my driza-bone and gloves didn’t go on until we were walking outside at the lookout.
It was quite light outside already; but the sky was clearly red in one direction. We took a few photos, and weren’t shivering, which was good as we had brought quite a lot of clothes on this trip and wanted to justify them all coming! Eventually the sun started to rise above the mountain. It was a magical sunrise – words can’t describe the mountains, half covered in snow, as the sun broke through.
After about 15 minutes we caught a bus back to the hotel – it was now about 5.30, and we thought we’d go outside to see the sunrise from where we were staying! You could see the sun reflecting on the peaks of the mountains opposite but it hadn’t risen enough for us to see it yet. We gave up on this one and went back inside.
After a cup of shitake mushroom and pepper tea (which tasted more like soup), we waited until 6.45 when breakfast started. We had a bit of everything – it was a full buffet so we had our choice of lots of food, and we indulged in all we could!
After breakfast we were both feeling pretty tired, so decided to get a little bit of sleep. After an hour or so, we woke up, showered, packed our bags and checked out. It was just before 10.00, and our tour was scheduled to leave at 11.45, so we went for a walk around the “lake”, which was supposed to be about a 1 hour stroll. Because the sun was up we knew it would be warmer, so we left our bags at reception, and just had T-shirt and jumper on (Kaoru had a couple extra layers). Again, we were treated to sensational mountain views as we walked up and down the snow. We saw a couple of raichou birds – an almost extinct species that are very old. Apparently it was very lucky for us to see them.
Near the end of our walk we went to a “cultural building”. Because we had seen these birds we had to fill it in a register, and were given stickers. However the building was just too hot. I was already down to just my T-shirt with my jumper around my waist but I would have still been hot in shorts! So we made our way back to the hotel and went to the 5th floor lounge to wait out the next 40 minutes or so, with a hot chocolate.
It was finally time to go, so we found our tour guide from yesterday, and we boarded our bus. This drove us through the snow wall, and the winding roads, for about an hour. Then we boarded a cable car further down the mountain, and said goodbye to our tour group. They were going back to Tokyo directly, but we had other plans. So in 8 minutes we boarded a train, bound for Toyama Station.
This was quite an interesting trip. Kaoru kept making jokes comparing the stations to Yarraville station, because they were unmanned. However they were old shelters really (albeit with larger waiting areas).
At Toyama we caught a train to Takaoka station. There we had a snack and a drink, before catching a 4.00 World Heritage Bus to Gokayama. This was about a 1 hour trip. After being on low ground for a while, we were expecting to have a warm night. But no, the last 20 minutes of driving were steadily going up-hill, and soon enough we were driving through scattered snow again. The bus driver pulled over and told us where to get off the bus, and we walked about 20 minutes in to town.
Wow. What an amazing town! I can see why it’s world heritage listed. Very old style houses, with grass roofs, all with a perfect 60 degree angle for maximum strength given the weight of snow they must sustain. From the cartoon map Kaoru had printed out, we managed to find our building without too much trouble (there are 12 buildings in the village – so yeah, it was never going to be *that* hard!).
After being taken to our Tatami room and putting our bags down, we went to the “family room” and had some green tea and filled in a registration form. We met another guest who was Japanese, but currently living and working in Hungary – he was just back travelling through Japan for a bit. Then another couple came out of their room, from USA. They had arrived yesterday and had enjoyed a restful day today.
Before dinner we were told we were getting a room upgrade! Another couple who were supposed to come had cancelled. So our new room was about twice the size! Score!!!!
Dinner was, as always, a fantastic feast. Our host told us stories, mostly of which he probably tells every night. The couple from the USA said that the previous night, the other guests were a couple of Frenchmen and a Chinese, so communication was very limited. They were wrapped at having a translator tonight explaining all the details!
After dinner we watched a short movie about the history of the village. The American couple told us how they had ~7 hours travel time tomorrow to get to Kyoto, so Kaoru, the other Japanese boy and the owner talked about all the various options they had, and I think in the end, a better option was found. Then after a hot bath, it was time for an early night. I could feel the bottom of my legs were very swollen – not sure if this was due to the walking, the altitude or the weather. I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight! About 9.00 we could hear music playing – it was like the “it’s time for bed” song for the village.