okay guys so today we took a day trip from Takayama and we have arrived in
Shirakawa-go (白川郷) this is a destination I've been wanting to visit ever since I've
read about it and my guidebook because it sounded amazing and then seeing it in
real life is just like yeah so basic credible this place is known for its
farmhouses and they call it the praying hand
farmhouses because kind of look like this yeah kind of like a frame yeah so
it looks a lot like the type of construction you'd expect to find in
Switzerland or Austria or Germany except it's in Japan in a valley surrounded by
mountains it is beautiful so yeah we're spending the whole day here we came from
Takayama which is about 50 minutes away and we paid around $20.00 per person for
the bus and yeah we're just going to enjoy it this beautiful place yes you're
in Japan
okay so our first stop here in Shirakawa (白川郷) is the observatory there's this really
cool lookout point where you get those postcard perfect views of the town so we
just got on the bus and paid to come up here because it's pretty hot and it
looked pretty steep so it was 200 yen per person and yeah it just drops you
off right here you can enjoy the views snap a few photos and then once you're
done you can take the bus back down or you can walk down I think we may
actually walk because downhill is easier but yeah let us show you the views first
okay so we are coming down on foot the way down is always easier plus we have a
bit of shade yeah this is really nice and we also got some nice lookout points
along the way where we can see the town so Sam's just catching on for getting
some footage but we'll show you that in a second what do you say no Claire wow
factor yeah you imagine this in your mind but then see it in person it just
blows your mind
garrison so now the big question when is the best time to visit Shirakawago (白川郷) so
I've seen a lot of images online throughout the year all the seasons and
honestly I don't think there's a bad time to visit this place we're here in
summer so it's lush and green and a lot of the farmhouses have flower gardens
and all the flowers are in bloom I've also seen images if you visit in spring
you have the cherry blossoms if you come here and fall you have the red foliage
and then if you come here in winter it's just covered in a blanket of snow like
this is part of the Japanese Alps so they get a lot of snow and it just looks
like a fairy tale really and during the winter they light up all the little farm
houses at night so you can see like these little lights glowing so yeah I
really don't think you can go wrong anytime you come here unless it's like a
super rainy day yeah I totally agree if I could have a preference I think I
would come in the winter the photos and videos I saw from this place in the
winter just looked surreal mm-hmm this is pretty cool this is how they
refrigerate their drinks with cold water
oh the recession like home then the water it runs down into this
little canal yeah she shoots up and then they're sick yeah so here we have the
old Fujisaki house it's free to enter you can come here and rest just have to
take off your shoes we've put them on the shelves here and
yeah we can come in and just hang out in a traditional farmhouse oh it's nice and
cool in here history lesson with Sam yeah one of the interesting things we
found out researching online is that a lot of the farmhouses here have actually
been moved to this location so that they can be better preserved and yeah that's
kind of fascinating it's I think it's helped to expand the community a little
bit yeah it's also
thank you so much yeah whoa what are you guys we got some ice
cream we are melting over here and the ice cream is melting we just need it to
cool down somehow I got matcha and vanilla Sam go match up your matcha 350
yen per person we get a little bit of shade and yeah we're just taking a
little break we just finished visiting the temple next up we're going to the
outdoor open-air museum yes yeah ice cream what do you think roller coaster
slippery refreshing when it's this hot this is more necessity lingerie
fun fact with Audrey fun fact about garbage fascinating stuff I know but in
this town you will not find public garbage cans on the streets so basically
if you eat street food or like a little snack you need to throw out your garbage
at the place where you ate or you have to carry it with you take it back home
throw it out or your hotel or whatever but they do this in order to keep down
the like the amount of garbage the town gets yeah and also because of wild
animals and I mean like we're in the mountains surrounded by forests you want
garbage cans on the street and then animals are roaming like oh it totally
makes sense to be honest yeah also this sign right here is an
important one to look out for because it means they serve ice cream so look for
that little red and blue flag
what's going on what's going on is that we're having lunch right now
so we crossed over the bridge with the intention of visiting the open-air
museum first and then we saw a restaurant with so well on the menu cold
soba udon tempura - oh that sounds good let's go eat lunch first so that happened
and food is never our first priority yeah so I'm gonna show you guys
everything on my plates this is a lovely little set so I got the soba noodles
it's a lot bigger than we expect yeah so these I believe are made with buckwheat
yeah and they have a bit of nori on them a little bit of seaweed they're served
cold perfect they had they had the option of
getting hot and this is slow way they like oh all the way way more Timaru than
I thought like that's a little slicker hole order yeah I think got the nice
little shrimp pumpkin tofu green leaf spicy pepper eggplant I'm really curious
about the tofu oh the tofu tofu with you I don't think
so this may be my first I don't recall so I'm gonna dip it I
already tried this I thought it was some miso soup at first you know it's awesome
I do not drink soy sauce yeah
all that Square that's juicy yes yeah you also gave us some tribes and wasabi
yeah so I think I'm gonna add that to the soy sauce
no no if that's how it's done but because what I'm doing today wakes up
dead can through and a little bit of salt maybe we'll add a bit of salt maybe
for the noodles there you go there we go wrinkle it over so yeah that is lunch
here in Chicago dip the noodles okay try those noodles whoa that's an interesting
fight better better with the wasabi kick give it a kick
hello hello so I got the other set there's basically two options those
noodles that you got and then if you look down here this is it on dented the
same you have the little slivers of nori on top but what's cool that wine is like
check out this base cubes nice cute let's keep it cool there's two more over
here check that up all right let's try this
Oh walk it down
look at youth lurking there not like a book these this is so refreshing being
served cold yeah I can't imagine having hot right
now mm-hmm these are big thick noodles are chewy tasty that soon be really nice
I love how much temperature they give ya I have to say the first time I ever saw
cold noodles on a menu it was in Korea yeah I was like they know nothing that's
good way back what did oh it it is just great in the summer
because you own delicious tempura this is a wonderful meal and you know it's
nice about this too is that we're cooling off in here mm-hmm there's no
direct sunlight and there's a nice breeze coming in there is it's just
perfect we'll be ready for sightseeing everyone
okay so we are now inside the open-air museum we paid 600 yen per person to
visit did and we also got this little brochure which has a handy little map
inside yeah so here you can see the outline of the open-air museum with all
the different constructions what is it did you saw a little waterfall that's
the first thing we noticed when we when we go through the toll gate this is
gonna be nice and I should mention the type of construction we see here it's
called gassho oh goody um and that's the the wooden frame buildings with
straw roofs yes and these houses don't use a single nail not one it's not
incredible it's pretty impressive like yeah how are they holding it up together
yeah let's go have a walk around and here we have farm house where it would
appear you drink tea for free what do you say we just had lunch but I think we
can do tea all over though that's like a digested food so how's that tea
the houjicha oh yeah Oh see green-tea favorite our new favorite and again it's
nice to cool off in here get shielded from the Sun you get some breeze exactly
shielded from the Sun and just resting for a little bit's it's quite warm out
yeah well yeah I mean we've just entered a folk village and it's so cool you have
so many different structures yeah like one of the farmhouses is a bathroom the
other one is the Information Center here you can drink free tea I know you can go
inside as some of the other ones and just wander around
Sam has just announced he needs a nap and just like that he's lying down on
the floor that's that heat getting up at 5:00 in the morning to get ready or what
it was but maybe all three this isn't a good angle for you Sam it's probably not
very flattering no mr. cornflakes is walking through the Attic
you're gonna come wave at us mr. cornflakes mr. cornflakes is filming
okay this is kind of scary because you can see all the way down to the second
floor we're in the third floor right now oh my gosh I don't know
my hands are so clammy okay now that we crossed the plank without falling in
we're on this little island which has a bit of an unusual house this is just
like an a-frame it looks like it's mostly straw yeah um and this was
temporary housing like if someone lost their home in a fire yeah which I
imagine could happen quite often seeing as this is just wooden straw yeah um
they would be housed here the other house was rebuilt so let's do it
alright guys we are back at the bus terminal yep ready to return to Takayama
how was it it was wonderful it was very hot near the end yeah our energy was apt
but like if I look at it objectively it was a lot of fun we were looking very
like disheveled and sweaty every moment but honestly it was a really fun day
trip I really enjoyed it I would highly recommend it if you're in Okayama or
Kanazawa it's worth the day trip out here it's just beautifully and I feel
you don't have to spend the whole day here no I believe enough it's honestly
enough I've read online they recommend two to three hours here we were here for
no pasta 5 ok but we've covered the whole town life is
really nice and down every single stream so I feel like that is enough time half
a day indeed so yeah we hope you guys enjoyed this video we hope you're in an
air-conditioned space right now cuz that would be lovely
umm and we'll see you soon on our channel with more videos from Japan
you