Before I begin, I would like to first clarify that this travelog posting is super outdated (my trip was back in end December 2015 lol) but lately I've been missing my Japan shinkansen rides a lot which makes me really want to reconnect with the lovely memories I have from Japan again. Which explains why I'm writing this now. Also, really important FYI I'm not sure if any of the stuff I'll be mentioning have changed over the past 1 and a half years so just in caseeeee please do your extra research ya! ^^"
- This post is a continuation of these posts -
Day 2 part 1: Okonomiyaki love - Day 2 in Japan: Hiroshima pt1
Day 2 part 2: Deers and Blue Skies - Day 2 in Japan: Hiroshima pt2
Okies, now that my little fyi is out there along with my recap list, let's see how much from my trip I could remember haha!
I actually couldn't remember if we ate anything for breakfast on this day. Though I do remember that we had quite a tight itinerary planned. In the morning, we've visited Kenrokuen Garden and during noon we explored Shirakawa-go. I've initially thought of joining the two posts together but since my Shirakawa-go posting would be pretty lengthy, I've decided to split them like what I did with my Hiroshima posting.
Back to Kenrokuen, in the morning we took the Kenrokuen Express bus to a bus stop near Kanazawa Castle. From there on we took a short walk to Kenrokuen Garden. Do take note that at Kanazawa Station, to catch a bus to Kenrokuen, you'll be heading to the bus stop at the east side of Kanazawa Sation.
Back to Kenrokuen, in the morning we took the Kenrokuen Express bus to a bus stop near Kanazawa Castle. From there on we took a short walk to Kenrokuen Garden. Do take note that at Kanazawa Station, to catch a bus to Kenrokuen, you'll be heading to the bus stop at the east side of Kanazawa Sation.
Kanazawa Castle during winter~
It rained earlier so the tiles were slightly slippery. In areas at Japan that would have heavy snowfall, they'd protect the pine trees with a "rope cage" called yukitsuri. You'll see more of em at Kenrokuen Garden later or actually throughout Kanazawa.
Kenrokuen Garden is open daily. Opening hours during 1st of March - 15th October are from 7:00AM til 6:00PM. From the 16th of October - End of February opening hours are from 8:00AM til 5:00PM. You do have to pay a small fee to visit the garden though. Adults are priced at 310yen/ticket and children are priced at 100yen/ticket. For a garden that has made it into the top 10 best gardens in Japan across many travel sites, I think it's worth the entrance fee. Plus, the garden is huge! I went during winter so I did not see many flowers though the greenery in the garden add on with the refreshing cooling morning air was pretty calming and enjoyable.
Because the floor is wet and slippery, I've never been happier to see a garden with occasional small slopes here and there to have this bamboo mat. (I'm prone to slipping you see :') )
Here we have the oldest fountain in Japan. I was actually really sleepy when we went to Kenrokuen Garden so I actually didn't capture many photos, just some family group photos, these and some snapchat videos. The garden has many greens and it's a very peaceful and calming place to take a walk and clear your mind a little. (though you might encounter large tour groups at certain times and spots) If you visit Kanazawa in different seasons, you'd be able to catch different colour leaves in the garden as well.
After we've visited Kenrokuen Garden, we're now walking back down to the bus stop to return to Kanazawa Station. While walking down, we passed by some shops selling souvenirs and snacks. Either we really didn't grab breakfast or we were simply waisek (24/7 craving for food). Whichever it was, we got food.
We passed by this shop selling these rice stuffed fried beancurd....? so we went in.
Upon ordering, they actually fry it on the spot for you! At that time the weather was so cold, a nice warm snack was exactly what we needed!
Japan has made my wallet itch so much because they're just so good with cute pretty packaging T_T
I actually took this photo cause I thought the fugu (puffer fish) looked cute ahhaah O 3 O
While we were waiting for our fried stuffed beancurd, my sister saw some fried sotong(?) balls outside the shop. (so we played the waiting game again cause they had to fried these too hahaha)
Snacks are finally served! The prawn balls were exceptionally good i'd say!
After we got back to Kanazawa Station, we've decided to skip the restaurants and grab food from the supermarket at Kanazawa Station instead. If I did not recall wrongly, the supermarket should be called Hyakubanmart 100 Mart. Why can't Malaysia supermarkets serve yummy food like these with affordable prices too? T_T (I am clearly super in love with Japan supermarkets and convenient stores!)
This XL size karaage chicken was super good and it's only 284 yen??? That's only RM10. And also the best karaage chicken I've had ok.
grilled fish for under 200 yen!
We obviously did not finish all the ramen during lunch la haha. (we kept some for supper LOL) Oh and that 200yen on top of the ramen is fried calamari! Really tasty too! I've also lost count the number of vegetable juices I've drank at Japan.
After our yummy supermarket food lunch, we had to quickly get changed to catch the bus to Shirakawa-go! Will be updating about my Shirakawa-go adventure really soon!
ciao ciao!
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