Getting to Takayama from the Kansai Airport was a huge ordeal for us, mainly because we wanted to save money by using the benefits we get from the Takayama-Hokuriku JR pass. Based on the recommendation we got from a lady at the JR office, we were supposed to follow this pathing:

KIX > Shin-Osaka > Kanazawa > Toyama > Takayama

We woke up early at around 5.30am to ensure we would not miss our train from the airport to Shin-Osaka.

 

I was seated next to this quiet Japanese dude wearing a face mask. The journey from the Shin-Osaka station was long, so naturally I fell asleep because I’m a sleep glutton. After a while, the person next to me got off the train at one of the stops. It was then Kenneth told me I fell asleep on this poor Japanese dude’s shoulder, who could’ve just nudged me to gtfo but didn’t. What a nice guy.

So we stopped by Kanazawa to wait for a train to Toyama, and we decided we might as well walk around since we had a couple of hours to kill.

When travelling across the various states in Japan, the storage facilities near train stations are great for temporarily keeping your luggage while you waltz around and enjoy the activities a place has to offer. There is no joy in walking around whilst having to lug your big heavy luggage bag. The lockers cost around (¥)300 to (¥)500, and you can store your luggage inside for as long as you want, one-time use.

We were hungry so we decided to grab lunch.

Our first ramen experience in Japan was meh. We had better ramen later on. The gyoza was pretty tasty though.

Picking places to eat in Japan, in itself, is as tricky as picking sightseeing spots. Personally, I wouldn’t fuss too much over where to eat in Japan, since I’m more inclined to spend my money on visiting nice sightseeing spots. Food in Japan generally tastes great everywhere, and the ones that don’t taste that great aren’t downright garbage.

In a nutshell, if you don’t know what’s good, just find the restaurant with the longest queue. Japanese and Malaysians are similar in a sense that we will queue for food if it’s good. Well… maybe not all of us.

So after a great deal of window shopping, we made our way back to the station to catch our train to Toyama…

..and then we realised we messed up our time. We missed our train to Toyama. (phuck)

This meant we had to catch another train, which ended up delaying our journey by 2 hours.

It sucked that we made such a blunder, but we still found ways to keep our spirits up. As shown below..

Being in a cold country means being able to see your breath. So, like cavemen discovering fire for the first time, we spent a great deal of time blowing amongst each other while waiting for the train. Yes, we looked like absolute tools doing this nonsensical crap. Thankfully we were the only ones on the station platform.

The snow got progressively heavier the closer we got to Takayama. It was surreal seeing snow for the first time (for me at least) in such a pretty form. Japan’s snow is like powder, all fluffy and nice to touch.

After a long journey that started from 5.30am, we finally reached the Takayama station at 4.45pm, which meant close to 12 hours of travelling. All because we wanted to utilise our JR pass to the fullest. Definitely could’ve planned the route better but train rides allowed us to really see some nice views.

Next part will be on Takayama!

P.s No more procrastinating Japan blog pls