Hirayu and the Way to Kamikochi
Happy birthday to my mom! We love you!
We left our Takayama Hotel early, dropped off our bags into the little vault room of the hotel, and wandered to the bus depot just down the way.
We found a super nice guy who spoke English really well and asked about tickets to the Hida village and to Hirayu.
He was super nice, sold us the tickets, and sent us on our way. We hopped on the bus and they dropped us off at the little village that was the inspiration for Tanjiro's village in Demon Slayer.
It was neat to see the old houses and tools and imagine living in the way they did hundreds of years ago. Every house had a thatched roof and a hearth, which was key to keeping the house bug free, the thatch somewhat moist, and the ropes in the home tight.
The technology they had that we don’t need to use ever is so interesting.
We saw a wishing pond, into which Henry threw true, hopefully sealing his wish to not be stung by giant Asian hornets.
We took the bus back to our previous hotel, picked up our bags and grabbed the bus to Hirayu, onsen capital of Japan and the closest resort town to Kamikochi, our destination for tomorrow.
We checked into our onsen hotel, found a nearby hike to a local waterfall and headed out through the forest toward the river.
Summer is rife with grasshoppers, dragonflies, beetles, and cicadas. Henry isn’t a fan, but Malcolm caught a few things as we walked up the mountain.
The waterfall and the bridges along the way were beautiful and a great way to escape the heat and sun of the road.
After the hike, we headed back to the hotel to collect Charlie and grab a quick pizza dinner.
The quattro formaggio pizza was good as was the meat lover's (Morgan had a side of veggies and sausage). We got ice cream after and headed home to go to the onsen attached to our hotel.
Our third onsen experience was much more comfortable, work is helping line we knew what to do and not make fools of ourselves. The water was super hot, and nicely relaxing after a long day of trains and hiking.
We're replacing in our traditional Japanese style room, meaning think mattresses on the floor. Pay for my back,I hope this is a good idea. For how pudgy I seem, I can sure feel all of my bones against the floor.