Soothing day

My aunt and cousin decided to take me on a drive to a village with preserved homes with thatched roofs since my day off coincided with my cousin's. I've been wanting to go there and it was one of my day trip candidates. My cousin is a good driver, but he takes on the winding mountain roads like a bat flying out of hell. Even the best of us can get woozy, and I keep on forgetting to pack motion sickness pills.

It was overcast, so Mt. Fuji was mostly hiding behind clouds, as were the tops of surrounding mountains. I could see bits and pieces from the breaks in the clouds but I never saw the entire mountain. At least it wasn't pouring rain like the weather report said it would be. It wasn't too hot to be walking around outside all day and there was a nice breeze, but it wasn't as cool as we thought it would be although we were up in the mountains.

When you go out to the countryside, there are rest areas called Michi no Eki (literally translates to station along the road), where you can get locally grown produce, souvenirs, and a bite to eat. One of these rest areas had faucets where people can collect fresh drinking water. My aunt and cousin came prepared. They had tons of pet bottles to fill with fresh mountain water. The water coming out of the faucets is cold! But it does taste good. No chemical aftertaste, unlike tap water at home.

We made it to Iyashi no Sato (directly translates to soothing village) in one piece. Unlike Miyama in Kyoto, where people are actually living in these homes, the homes were mostly converted into shops with hand-crafted goods. Of course, there were a few converted to restaurants serving local noodle dishes, but there were also shops selling hand-made fans, hanging ornaments, art, silk scarves, incense, ceramics, and souvenirs. One of the homes was a preserved museum, with the kitchen and rooms left as it was used in the past. I was surprised to see a grand piano just sitting there in one of the rooms.

I had fun hopping from one shop to another, looking at their wares. I ended up getting myself a delicate blue silk snood. It appears that the owner of the shop grows the silkworms and spins, weaves, and dyes the silk himself. One of the shops is run by an artist who drew the cartoons for a long-lasting Japanese animation called Nihon Mukashibanashi (Japanese folk lore). If I had unlimited funds, I probably would have bought out a lot of of the shops. There were so many cute things!

It was also interesting to see flowers blooming on top of the roofs and other vegetation growing. Made me wonder if the flowers were planted up there? The front-facing side of the roofs were pretty clear of extra vegetation, but the ones rear-facing were pretty much left as is. One roof even had a young tree growing. I wonder if they take them all down before it starts to snow?

I was hearing rumbling in the distance and it started to sprinkle by the time we got back to the parking lot. Since the shops were getting ready to close (they close pretty early, around 5 or 6pm), we headed for the Michi no Eki for a late lunch/early dinner. We were pretty hungry since we only had a light breakfast and munched on snacks during the drive. I had oyakodon (chicken and egg over rice). I didn't think the portion would be so filling since I was planning to try the ice cream, but I was too full. No ice cream for me that weekend. Shocked? LOL

There was a free museum at the Michi No Eki we stopped by so I went in to take a look while my aunt and cousin browsed around the produce store. There were a lot of amethysts on display of various sizes and a big pagoda carved out of jade at the entrance of the museum. I went downstairs and was greeted with a T-Rex sinking in lava. The kids that came in after were crying because they got scared. LOL There was a shop selling sculptures made out of semi-precious stones, along with jewelry and beads. The hanya mask and pagoda made out of tiger eye was impressive.

The best way to end a day is to have a nice soak at an onsen (hot springs) bath. We went to one they took me to before. If it were clear out, we could see Mt. Fuji from the outdoor bath. Oh well, too bad. But soaking in the outdoor bath felt really good after a day of walking about and shopping.

How do you usually end your day when out on a day trip?