vagabonds3

Photos: Extra—More Grand Tour

vagabonds3 — Sun, 9 Mar 2025 14:14:00 GMT

Photos: Extra—Costa Rica

vagabonds3 — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 17:19:00 GMT

Photos: Extra—Darién Canopy Camp

vagabonds3 — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 21:53:00 GMT

Photos: Extra—Return to the Galapagos

vagabonds3 — Sun, 2 Feb 2025 14:21:00 GMT

Photos: Pre-Inca Peru

vagabonds3 — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 22:28:00 GMT

Photos: Extra Salta and Cayafate

vagabonds3 — Sun, 5 Jan 2025 19:47:00 GMT

Photos: Extra Cordoba and Quebrada del Condorito National Park

vagabonds3 — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:36:00 GMT

Photos: Extra Ibera National Park

vagabonds3 — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 20:21:00 GMT

Photos: Extras Ushuaia to Buenos Aires

vagabonds3 — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 13:32:00 GMT

Photos: Extras Chile 24

vagabonds3 — Sun, 1 Dec 2024 14:16:00 GMT

Photos: Extras Peru 24

vagabonds3 — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 13:36:00 GMT

Photos: Extras

vagabonds3 — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 17:53:00 GMT

Evicted!

vagabonds3 — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 18:47:00 GMT

THIS MAY COME AS A SHOCK, BUT WE HAVE EXCEEDED our photo limit . . . AGAIN! I haven’t been able to start a new journal in the Vagabonds series so we are switching to graynomadsusa, a site I established for our RVing days. So after 1000 stories, 9000 photos and 600,000 views of vagabonds, our new stories can be found at the rather unwieldy journals.worldnomads.com/graynomadsusa title. Better than Facebook, I guess.

We will give this new site a try and see how much interest there is. We will keep on traveling regardless and hope you will come along with us.

Paraphrasing the infomercials, our new address is journals.worldnomads.com/graynomadsusa. That’s journals.worldnomads.com/graynomadsusa. Once again, journals.worldnomads.com/graynomadsusa.

Takamaya: Hida Folk Village

vagabonds3 — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 20:39:00 GMT

THE HIDA FOLK VILLAGE IS A FAIR WALK FROM Takayama. But a short bus ride. The 1000 yen return fare also includes admission to Hida no Sato, a sprawling open-air museum. There are 30 or so thatched and shingled houses, shrines, workshops and sheds scattered around a small lake and along wooded hillsides.

Thatch Roof House

Most of the buildings have been relocated from other areas of Hida. All have received TLC to keep them in their original condition and provide a glimpse into village life in the mountainous Hida region.

Typical Room Rice-paper Window

Many have a smoldering fire in a sunken ironi hearth, providing a smoky if not welcoming ambiance. Winters in the Japanese Alps are cold and snowy and I can’t image that the tiny fire pit could keep out the chill, what with the rice paper windows.

Logging and Lumbering were brutal jobs

Logging was a major industry. Various kinds of sleds carrying logs were pulled across the snowy hills either by horses wearing woven snow shoes or by loggers themselves. Logs were sawn by hand into boards and shingles for houses. Women engaged in sewing, silk making and weaving and the villages were known for wood carving.

Sachido Stitching Silk Wedding Kimonos

We spent a picturesque morning and somehow evaded the rain promised by the weatherman.

Takayama Matsuri Festival

vagabonds3 — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 21:47:00 GMT

WE JUST REALIZED WHY WE SKIPPED TAKAYAMA in 2014. The Takayama Matsuri, one of the three most popular festivals in Japan, was going on while we were in the area. I don’t recall trying but I am sure we couldn’t have gotten reservations or even a seat on the train at that time. It’s possible we intentionally skipped it — we’ve been know to give Carnival a miss in Rio because of the crowds and the cost.

Matsuri Festival Floats

Anyway, we are here now and spent the day experiencing the parade vicariously at the Festival Float Exhibition Hall. The admission price is a little steep but nothing compared to what it would cost to be here on Festival days. (I just saw on-line that a tour from the States to this year’s Autumn Matsuri costs $3000!) There are actually two festivals. The Sanno Festival parade in the spring has twelve yatai (floats) and the autumn Hachiman Festival parade has eleven yatai. And it isn’t just the floats — there are dancers and costume lions and drums and puppets. At night the floats are illuminated with as many as 100 paper lanterns.

Gyojin Tai Float Homei Tai Float

Four of the floats are on exhibit on a rotating basis in the Exhibition Hall along with costumed mannequins of the guys who push some floats, pull others, carry the altar and lead the each yatai. Japan’s largest portable shrine (mikoshi) is also on exhibit. Weighing in at 2½ tons, it takes two alternating teams of 40 men working in 15 minute shifts to carry.

Mitoshi Portable Altar Rainy day cart

As you walk through the Sanmachi-suji district, you may notice some very tall garages with fences in front where the floats not on exhibit are stored. The exhibit hall has towering double doors to permit the floats to enter and leave. And there is a special technique for making tight turns that involves a small auxiliary wheel. Seems they’ve thought of everything. There are even special wagons to substitute for the yatai in case of inclement weather.

Sakurayama Hachimangu shrine

The entry ticket also includes the idyllic Sakurayama Hachimangu shrine and the astonishing Sakurayama Nikkokan, with 100 year-old models of the shrines of Nikko. I could have spent an hour in contemplation under the trees at the shrine. We will wait until Friday when we are in Nikko to see how well Sakurayama Nikkokan mirrors the real thing.

Nikko in Miniature, 100 years old