Entrance to the train station; a 'fountain' with words made out of water!:
Omiyage!
Japan is a country of omiyage (souvenir gifts) - basically when you go travelling outside of your own town, it is customary to buy omiyage for your workmates, friends, etc. It is not so much a "buy something only if you can find something" - it is more of an expectation that you will buy omiyage to pass around when you return from your trip (be it on business or pleasure). Omiyage usually comes in the form of a box filled with individually-packed goodies (this country is obsessed with individual packaged things). If you forget to buy something, no worries, because major train stations around the country are packed with these specialty stores selling omiyage. Kanazawa eki (train station) is no exception. Seriously, there are so many stores (probably more than 30!) selling omiyage things.
This photo is of one aisle inside one of the departmental-like section of the train station - there are about 5 aisles full of these 'stalls'. On the other side of the train station, there are more omiyage stores.
Ryokan
We checked into a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) located smack bang in the middle of the 'happening' part of the city (called the Katamachi District). The ryokan itself was interesting, complete with a public hot bath (truth be told, I was a little disappointed at not having my own private bathroom and toilet, but it is all part of the experience, and I should stop behaving like a spoilt princess). We went with Murataya Ryokan because it is mentioned in the Lonely Planet, and is one of the more affordable places to stay in the city. It is in a great location close to everything yet situated in one of the back streets so it is pretty quiet when you need your sleep. I was lucky enough to have my bath at a time when no one else was using it.
We booked two nights at the ryokan, but that night, it dawned on me that
1) I did not have much cash with me
2) ATMs are not open on weekends (we'd walked past so many banks that day too! As I walked past each of the banks, I kept thinking that I will have the chance to grab the money later. Silly me forgot that ATMs in Japan have 'opening hours' between 09:00 and 18:00 Mondays to Fridays only - you can use some ATMs outside of those hours but there is a fee) - yes, in a country where you can find convenient vending machines everywhere (even in the most obscure little village), there are inconveniences such as ATMs being unavailable on weekends.
So unfortunately we couldn't afford to stay an additional night at the inn. We'd planned to go to an AJET welcoming beach party scheduled that Saturday night at Uchinada (25 minutes train ride from Kanazawa) so the lack of funds posed an obstacle to that party. Anyway, we decided that we'd miss the party and head back home Saturday afternoon.
A small traditional Japanese garden at the ryokan; and our room:
Taiko drummin' action
Kanazawa city holds a 'Tale of Four Seasons' music event every season, and the Summer event was scheduled for that Friday night. I didn't even know what was on so we rocked up not expecting much. Two hours of taiko drumming which was awesome! Best of all, it was a free performance at the beautiful Castle Ishikawa-mon! The performance was amazing and now I wanna learn how to play the taiko drums!
Kenroku-en
Kanazawa is famed for its Kenroku-en, which dates back to the 17th century and is considered as one of the top three best gardens in all of Japan. So naturally we wanted to see it. With our packed itinerary (which is even more so packed since we had one day less), visiting the garden was only possible if we woke up at an obscene time for the garden's opening time at 07:00. Kenroku-en means 'combined six', referring to a renowned garden from Sung dynasty in China which required six attributes for perfection: seclusion, spaciousness, artificiality, antiquity, abundant water and broad views. It is a beautiful garden, and I took oh-so-many photos. Here are some of them.
Omochi markets
As it is probably pretty obvious by now, I love going to the markets. In the middle of Kanazawa city, there is a huge market selling all sorts of fresh fruits and seafood as well as pickled veges and strange looking seaweed slime (which tasted pretty good!). There is this Diamond Store within this market that sold international groceries and this is where I bought some much-needed things that I can't find easily up in the Noto like coconut milk for curry. There are plenty of stalls selling take-away food like super fresh sushi and sashimi, and of course the oh-so-unhealthy takoyaki (octopus balls).
Entrance to Omicho market; and takoyaki:
Adventure at the onsen spa
We ended up going to the beach party because we bumped into our fellow JETs' supervisor who had vouchers for this onsen sorta spa place where you can stay overnight for really cheap (around $10), but it was quite far from the city centre. However, when we rocked up to this onsen spa place at 23:00 that Sat night, they told us there was no room for overnight stay, but that we were welcomed to hang out in the spa/onsen area for around $10. No thank you - I wanted my sleep! Anyway, it was quite an adventure that involved Eliza ringing her supervisor (who doesn't speak much English) in the Noto, who then rang John's Japanese girlfriend in Osaka who then rang us back to relay the message. We then had to go to the nearest service station to call for a taxi. I was so tired by the time we arrived at this other onsen-sorta-spa-place that all I wanted to do was sleep. I think we paid around $AU22/p for the onsen/spa facilities, and an extra AU$5/p for an overnight stay - since majority of what we paid was for the spa facilities, I felt obliged to try out the onsen (it was the ONLY way I could get my much-needed shower). I'm glad that Eliza was with me to show me what to do! Poor Rob was on his own.. Rob and I were separated (men and women had different sections), and as we did not yet have our keitais (mobile phones) it was pretty inconvenient trying to arrange when and where to meet up the next morning when we were already so tired.
Surprisingly, I wasn't very self-conscious doing the whole public bath thing. Having bad eyesight helped since I couldn't see anyone else nor see anyone else staring at me. Plus I look Japanese so I didn't stand out very much (fellow Aussie Eliza received lots of stares though). Plus everyone else was naked too so it wasn't all that bad. I was too tired to care anyway. The sleeping room was also public (there were probably 20 or so other snoring women in there) and I dearly wished for the luxury of privacy. But like I said, I was too tired to care.
All in all, it was a pretty nice trip to the city. I just wish it wasn't so far away from our apartment!
There was a beautiful sunset at Uchinada Beach when we arrived for the beach party:
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