Monday 27 February 2017

Travelling outside the city, Kanazawa and Toyama City



It took some time for me to write this post due to the busy schedule i met with after I got back from the trip but I finally decided to sit down and write about my first trip for 2017!

It was a trip that was planned last minute and also thanks a deal I found on Expedia that was really affordable, considering that the trip consisted of 2 flights and a 5 nights stay at a hotel.

So! In the 2nd week of January, I went to the city of Kanazawa! Its about an hour flight from Tokyo, but from Singapore it took me a total of 12 hours, that included a 2-3 hour stopover to get to my destination (Phew! I never knew I had to travel so much to get to somewhere in japan...cuz my grandparents lived just in an area that's about an hour bus ride from Narita)

We reached pretty late at night and almost missed the last bus that went into Kanazawa city (luckily we ran and made it in time). The weather wasn;t too cold as well and the first day was really a blur for me because I was too tired.

I'll probably just summarize my trip based on the cities. I managed to visit Kanazawa and Toyama whilst I was there. We were supposed to visit Hida City but unfortunately, the day we wanted to go, due to heavy snow, we weren't able to go, hence instead we went to Iwase!

Kanazawa Station! Their station's architecture was inspired by a certain type of japanese drums! 


So! Kanazawa City!  Of course, being me, I did not plan much before going so we started the day at the tourist information counter and got our one day loop bus pass (It's only at 200yen! and you can ride the loop buses as many times as you want! These buses brings you to all the 'must see' spots in kanazawa! Aside from the loop bus, you can also freely ride a handful of local buses).

We got to visit the Higashi Chaya District, Kenrokuen, Kanazawa Castle, Omicho Market, Nagamichi and Nishi Chaya District. Basically all the 'must see spots' were pretty much covered. We did stop by Ninjadera (Ninja Temple) but didn't have the time to go in to take a look.

Higashi Chaya District

A part of  Kenrokuen 

This picture does not do justice to Nagamichi, but it was a really cool street

I was really in awe about the streets of Kanazawa. Especially when I went to Higashi Chaya district and Nagamichi (a place where samurai generals used to live). The streets and houses were all preserved really nicely.  Thats what I love about japan, they actually make an effort to preserver and keep certain parts of history in their country. Also, Japan is rich in culture and history and places like these just reminds you of that. But Nagamachi was really an eye-opener for me. It made me realise 'wow. Samurais actually really existed and these are proof of their existence'.

Out of the 6 days, we went to Toyama City for 2 days. And the first day we went there, was apparently the day which was the coldest. But I am not complaining because I got to see snow (for the first time! And zomg..I think I found my new favorite season...I thought Spring was the best, but scratch that! Winter is awesome!).
The day where we decided to visit Toyama and it snowed really badly 

We visited the glass art museum which had a very interesting architecture, the observatory (but we couldn't really see anything cuz it was snowing really badly), after which we had to go back because the snow was wayyyy too bad to travel anywhere further. The second time we went to the city, we visited Iwase! It looked like an ordinary neighborhood but it was a neighborhood that was just next to the japan sea. And we just strolled around the area.
These waters that lead to the Japan Sea..it was pretty cold here




So yes, we didn't visit many places but it was okay because I got to see everything that I wanted to see and also I got to experience what its like to be covered in snow! I always thought that snow would be really wet and icy, but when I touched it, it was dry and was very different from my imagination.

This trip spurred on my dreams to live in the countryside of Japan. Enough of the city. Places like Kanazawa and Toyama are my dream places to stay in.



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