Takayama or Bust

Takayama was the next place on the winter vacation tour. It is a small city in the mountains known for its old history and buildings.

If the guy was doing this in the U.S., he would definitely have back problems

First lets revisit the Kyoto blog. Remember the ATM's that were closed down. They were closed for Jan 1st, 2nd, and 3rd since those are all New Years holidays in Japan. So we were stuck with $100 cash for 2 days. That doesn't sound horribly bad because there's credit cards.

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2 rice balls for lunch ........ $2.10
1 train ticket from Kyoto to Takayama ........ $80
1 hotel room in Takayama ........... $130
Stuck in the middle of nowhere with no cash .... Priceless

There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard.
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Have you ever seen the small print on one of these MasterCard commericals? I believe it reads, "tag line not applicable to Japan"

We went into a convenience store and asked the clerk if they took credit cards. He gave us a blank stare. So I pulled out my credit card to show him and he laughed......... then said no. This was pretty much the same response for the entire town and most of Japan. Therefore, we walked around the town for the day and went on a temple walk in the mountains. Luckily, Buddha doesn't charge (But he does at larger temples).




That night we splurged and treated ourselves to a nice dinner. Chashu Ramen.

At least it's not cup o' noodle

The next day we walked to a historic site where they had transported many old buildings and homes for people to see and walk around in.



It was really interesting to read about these homes and to walk around in them. One very interesting thing to note was this one house. It just goes to show times have definitely not changed over the centuries. Notice where the husband had to sleep when he pissed off "the boss".


And that rounds up Takayama.

Next Stop: Tokyo