Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Solo Trip Nagoya (August 2023) - Takayama and Shiragawa Day Trip

 

I've always wanted to visit Shiragawa, and when I found out that it can be done as a day trip from Nagoya, I tried very hard to see how I can get there on my own. After much research, it seems the best way was to join a day tour. So I found one from Klook, which took me to Takayama and Shiragawa, with lunch included. I think it cost be almost 100sgd! But since it was still within my budget, and I was already nearby, heck! Let's go! Above is the bus for the day tour. I would have like to sign up for an English speaking tour, or even a Japanese one, but the day that I wanted to go, there was only a Mandarin speaking tour..... 

Above was the waiting point for the start of the tour, I have already researched the place previous day, so I was able to be there on time (actually early). You should have seen the nagging a Taiwanese guy got for being late ten minutes because he got lost and couldn't find the place! Lol. He got nagged through out the trip!

The bus ride out of Nagoya was stunning. I realise it was actually the very first time I saw Nagoya outside of the city. All the time I was in Nagoya, I was rushing from one attraction to another via train and spend most of my time indoors. What a sight to see the great outdoors again! I felt so free!

As we drove towards the mountains, the beautiful scenery just got better with blue skies and rivers and greeneries! The weather forecast actually predicted rain, so I was just happy that not a single cloud was sighted that morning. 


A little bit about the day tour. Not only was it mandarin speaking, but the tour guide actually insisted that I downloaded WeChat so that he could keep in touch with the group. Personally I thought that was rather uncalled for. I had to waste my data downloading and installing the app just so that he could spam me with info? He told me it was for incase people got lost along the trip. I had joint a Japanese local tour prior in Fukuoka, and it was never an issue. Nobody got lost, and nobody was late. But I guess mandarin speaking tour is a little different. As the day progresses, I do pity the guide. People were late. And people were lost! For almost half an hour! But I was always on time :)  And I would highly recommend joining a local Japanese tour next time! It is a lot more informative, a lot friendlier, a lot more polite, and super value for money! I even got souvenirs at the end of the tour! In return, I did gave them some souvenir snacks from Malaysia and Singapore too. One day, I will blog about it! So much to do! So little time!


Back to the green sceneries, we drove further into the mountains.


The bus made a pit stop at a highway service station. It was just maybe a 30 minutes stop? Or perhaps even less? And prior to stopping, the guide told us that the yogurt, the milk and the soft serve ice cream was good here and recommended we try some. Above was the view of the service station.


You could wander around looking at the view. There was even a small platform where you could climb up to. It was really a nice spot, if only we were stopping longer!


There were shops outside selling soft serve ice cream, but I didn't think I'll have time to enjoy it.


I did bought myself a nice bottle of milk, and it was indeed delicious. I managed to sit by the window overlooking the mountains to enjoy the milk, but maybe for only 5 or 10 minutes before I have to get back to the bus. And now I have craving for fresh milk.....

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments