KOCHI > UCHIKO > MATSUYAMA > IYA VALLEY > TAKAMATSU
Day Trips : NAOSHIMA & SHODOSHIMA islands
We landed in Kochi Airport and rented a car. Visited the Kochi Sunday market, made the mistake of buying pure yuzu juice (who would have known that the 100% bright yellow juice is so concentrated it tasted like we were drinking acid!), and tried the local specialty - Katsuo no tataki, at Hirome market's Warayakitataki Myojinmmaru where there was a long queue. Also visited Kochi Castle where we got "adopted" by a volunteer guide who explained many things to us. It made me more interested in Japan history and historical characters.
The next day, we visited Yokaichi Uchiko old town, and following that drove up to Dogo Onsen; the inspiration for Spirited Away. Unfortunately, the front facade was under renovation. We bought a number of Mikan goodies as it was the local produce of Ehime. Mikyan is the cute mikan-dog mascot of this place. |
After visiting the Nagoro Scarecrow Village, we continued on our drive through lots of windy roads and chanced upon more snow at higher altitudes. There was even a full frozen lake and we saw wild sika deer, pheasants and snow monkeys as well. These random encounters really are what make road trips so fun and unpredictable! I'm hoping to see inoshishi in one of our future road trips. We headed for Aizome Kobo, an indigo dyeing studio before settling in for the night at Rihga Hotel Zest in Takamatsu. |
I would highly recommend this experience to anyone visiting Takamatsu. Our host was vibrant and energetic and her father does the lovely wood carvings in which Wasanbon is made.
We visited Ritsurin Garden next, and once again got randomly picked up by a volunteer guide XD Ritsurin garden is super pretty with its koyo in season. I feel like we managed to see various seasons in this one trip! We learned the differences between "female" and "male" pine trees and the criteria for bonsai.
We then drove west to Chichibugahama, which was unfortunately crowded with tourists. It was really hard getting a good shot. We did enjoy toasting our own marshmallows in the cold though. James is surprising good at toasting perfect marshmallows! After the beautiful sunset, we drove to Sanuki Manno Park where there were Christmas light illuminations going on. That pretty much concluded our night. |
On our final day in Japan, we went to Yokohama and met up with Karmen and her 4 month old baby girl, Natalia. Had tea at Disney Harvest Market. We enjoyed ourselves at the Christmas market at the Red brick Warehouse. I find Christmas markets in Japan a lot closer to German style Christmas markets. I liked that they sold Christmas themed items like Christmas tree ornaments and wreaths, which is not often the case in Singapore. I do wish that Singapore had fancier Christmas markets! It was a pity that the Nissin cup noodles museum was closed on the day we went ; I look forward to visiting it the next time we go to Yokohama. We ended the day visiting Yokohama Chinatown before heading to the airport. This had been a refreshing trip and a much needed babymoon before little Anya pops. Hope we'll get a chance for an overseas vacation next year! |