Solo Trip Nagoya (August 2023) - Shiragawa Entrance

As mentioned, my day trip to Takayama and Shiragawa came with a Hide Beef lunch (paid extra), and I was not disappointed. I was actually expecting maybe 3 slices of thin beef? But Oh my was I surprised. For a start, since I signed up as a single person, I was quite surprised they lay the table for one. It looked rather awkward, but I didn't  mind. Look how lovely the table setting is. 

Look at how juicy and thick the beef slices was. There was almost 7 slices for me. And although we have maybe around 45 minutes for our meals, I truly enjoyed mine slowly, savouring the beef in each bite. Interestingly, I overhead other passengers complaining about how it was so hard cooking the meat by them selves as they have to eat it quickly and couldn't enjoy the meal. I couldn't relate to that. I kinda like my meat on the raw side, and cooking them to my liking was my preferred way of eating it. Wasn't that the point of having individual serving so that you can cook it to your liking? Besides, you could always move the meat to a serving plate if you are afraid it might overcooked if you leave it. Gees. People would complaint about anything! I have no complaint for the lunch arrangement. It was one of the best point about this day tour. The other being our next destination, Shiragawa!

Again, we were given a map, this time the tour guide spend more time explaining it to us, marking the path we should be taking. Warning us not to get lost. At first, I thought, what kind of tour is this if they only provided a map and transportation? It felt kind of a ripped off, really. Anyway, I did get lost, even with the map. Shiragawa is just a small village, but I somehow managed to overshot it when making my way back, and have to back track a bit to get back to the path. But I wasn't late though. I always make some allowance for time and almost always am punctual!

Here is the carpark the bus was parked at. Even the carpark was stunning!

To enter Shiragawa, we had to walk over this long bridge over a running river. At first I was thinking what would people with a fear of heights do? Not cross? I was quite nervous about crossing, but the bridge looked solid enough. 

Here is a side view of the bridge which I took while waiting for the rest of the passenger to get back to the bus. Pretty cool looking right? It does shake if many people walk on it, or if the wind blew strongly enough and you happen to be at the middle of the bridge.

Even with all the fear of heights and drowning, I still stopped at the middle to take some photography of the gorgeous scenes around me! How could I not? The sky was blue, the water clear, and beautiful mountains all around me! I absolutely love this! And I wasn't even inside the village yet!

Above was taken when I was back waiting for the rest of the group. We were allowed to walk freely, so I did walk ahead of the rest and came back a good 20minutes early. Far off the river I could see emerald looking pool of water. I could see people near the water just enjoying themselves. Oh how I wish I too have time to go down to the river and just spend the day laying next to the running water. Maybe I could come back and stay in future?

More scenic views.

Across the bridge, there is a torii gate. It marks the entry to Shiragawa village!