Feeling much better today as I left Nagoya and headed inland for the town of Takayama in the Gifu prefecture. The bus ride was beautiful. The scenery was of lush forested mountains and small villages nestled in valleys with rivers running through them.
Arrived in Takayama. Now it`s not a big town, you can walk across it in about 25 minutes but what it lacks for in quantity, it makes up for it in quality. It has the largest section of Edo period (1600-1868) housing, untouched outside of Kyoto. Where I`m staying as well is picturesque. It`s a converted Temple now Hostel. My first Japanese style hostel as well. It has tatami matted rooms with futons to sleep on and japanese style bathing rooms.
Met a lot of nice people here. 2 brothers especially, Carlos and Pierrot from Italy. Nice guys. Went into town and had a mooch through all the souvenir shops. Walked down the main street of the Edo section of town. The had some dinner. Now the dinner was an experience let me tell you. I had some gyoza to start with and then a ramen dish. However this ramen dish came in a metal pot with the contents still bubbling ( should have been a hint).....What was in the pot was the spiciest, pepperiest dish I have ever tasted, or attempted to eat. I couldn`t finish it. The Japanese have a style of eating noodles where you slurp them to help cool them down. If I did this too hard then I would choke on the sauce. I drank a lot of water that day.Tomorrow I will visit the sights of Takayama.
