Samurai Residence + Kenrokuen Garden

Day 8. Still cold as ever - but at least it wasn't as cold as the day before. After today, we'll be moving towards cities liao!! YESSS!! no more sight seeing in kampung area!! THANK GOD!! cause I was really getting a bit bored liao blogging about historical places, been a while since I wrote any "ojibala" stuff ;oP

Talking about "ojibala" stuff, Japanese really have their way with English.

Spot the weird-ness??

A mini chapel
aaawww.. perfect for an intimate wedding!
The hotel we stayed in this time (Tonami Royal Hotel) is actually a popular wedding hotel. They offer a lot of various wedding packages and they even have a chapel built just outside the hotel for the occasion ;o)

Tonami Royal Hotel - outlook

Ok, it's time for us to continue on with our journey..

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After 1hr++ drive, we reached our 1st destination. The area is called "Samurai Residence". And I suppose everyone knows why this area is a tourist attraction spot by its name.

All the houses here were very old, hundredS year old, OLD! And yet the Japanese were still able to perserved it until today - looking all tidy and new.

This area is where the lower level samurai were staying during that time. U can see the houses built are all very different than what we have now.

These houses has been pass from generation to generation so yea, the remaining family members of the samurai still lives here up until today - and NO! they are not samurai anymore! semua kerja office sudah.. modern samuraissss..

We have to walk + talk quietly cause this is still consider as a residence area.

SEE!! SEEE!! told ya I'm not a shorty!!!!

I had to bend my knee so much to even walk pass the door!! uii sehhh.. bangga saya~

I would have a nickname called "tall-y" if I were to be living with the samurai during that time ;oP

Tourguide Nelly with Me~

*Random pictures taken*

nah nah.. another scary devilish head!!

Another one of the Japanese Garden, they are just really that damn good in this!

Uncle Marcus + Jessica + Traffic control lady

Us visiting the inside of a Japanese samurai house. Everything looks very tiny and the space is small - no wonder ppl keep saying Japanese ppl are short and small-sized.

*tandas Jepun*
so darn small.. I can't fit in what to say wanna shit!!

After walking around for 1hr++, it was time for us to head back to the bus and head to our next destination. Saw this cute little Japanese dog walking down the street~~

steady lehh org Jepun~~!!

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Next stop was Higashi Chaya

The street famous for geisha, yes, u heard me well, GEISHA!!!

But the bad news is, we went there during the morning sooooo, u won't be seeing any geisha in my blog today ;oP I was so excited also la then, thinking I will be sure to snaps millions of pics with geishassss that day.. sigh.. wat a disappointment!!

This is where the MOST popular geisha in the whole street is working at (based on wat Nelly told me la..)

*The Geisha Street*
It's not easy being a geisha cause 1st, u'll have to be a degree holder (disqualified),

Know a lot bout political + economical current issues (disqualified again),

Know "cha-dao" - tea making & serving where the girls take almost half a lifetime learning (disqualified again!!),

Know how to have a great conversation with ANYONE (ahh.. this one I think I'm qualified),

Great posture, gesture and attitude (ok la.. this one I got bit bit la..)

And they don't come cheap!!!

Nowadays, there are no more full-time geisha. The ladies will only work at night after finishing their normal office hour, so being a geisha is more like a part time job.

Geisha are getting less cause it takes a person too long to master all the skills of a geisha. Geisha are totally different than hookers (that is what I thought of them at first bahhh!!) cause u only pay them to have a chit chat and tea drinking session with u. The Japanese calls them "chai-女" which means high educated + talented ladies.

*yummy pao pao* - can u notice those are actually fake?

Altho we only spent less than 1hr here but we learnt a lot.

No geisha to see bah so we left early lorr..

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Only a short car ride and we reached our next destination.

deh deh.. stuff like this also need 1,500yen = RM60.

We can get this below RM20 back in Malaysia.

Below RM10 in China!!

There we are.

*Kenrokuen Garden*
Kenrokuen is a strolling-style landscape garden with the characteristics of a typical landscape garden of the Edo period. It was actually the garden of Lord Harunaga.

The garden was named (by Shirakawa Rakuo) combining the six attributes of a perfect landscape garden, Spaciousness, Seclusion, Artifice, Antiquity, Watercourses and Panoramas.

The garden was only opened to public on May 7, 1874.

Random pics taken upon entering the BIG garden.

Karasakinomatsu Pine
This majestic pine tree is one of the best-known tree in the garden. The 13th Lord Nariyasu obtained the seed from Karasaki, near Lake Biwa, and it has grown from that seed to its present size. On Nov 1st every year, gardeners begin setting up yukizuri to protect the branches from heavy snow. The ropes on the trees are a winter sight that is characteristic of Kanazawa.

Me & mom

Behind: Kasumigaike Pond and Uchihashitei

Winding Streams (Kyokusui)
The abundant water running through the garden is taken in from the Tatsumi Water System, which was make for extinguishing fires after a big fire in 1631.

How come we don't have such beautiful garden make back home nehh?

Fountain (Funsui)
This is the OLDEST fountain in Japan. Its water comes from Kasumigaike Pond, and it works by natural pressure caused by the difference in the levels of the two ponds. Normally the fountain is 3.5m high, but its height changes depending on the surface level of Kasumigaike Pond. The fountain is said to have been developed as a model for the construction of a fountain that was in the castle in 1861.

Didn't really have the time to snap pictures of the entire place cause there was just too much to see and so little time ;oP so that's about it. Highly recommanded for visitors!

Mom grabbing her old version of coca-cola~~

Ishikawamon Gate (Back gate to Kanazawa Castle)
Built in 1788, this gate along with the Sanjikken Nagaya storehouse, is one of the few remaining original structures. It has been designated as a National Important Cultural property. The shinny white roof is covered with lead tiles.

After almost a 2hrs walk, finally it's time to move forward. But before we head to our mini bus, we did some light souvenir shopping on the street outside Kenrokuen Garden ;oP

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It was late afternoon liao, we stopped by a unique shop when we were on our way to the last destination of the day.

Everything sold in this shop is all plated with real gold. Even the skincare~!!

I bought a gold box of mask & essence for my face ;oP but I haven't really got the chance to use it yet, might try it tonite at home and see if my face will turn really shiny after using the Gold Mask.

Ok, there was actually a story about this room. Something about a person who is so darn rich back in the old days, he uses actual gold to build his house or something. I wasn't really concentrating on the story that time cause I was too busy checking out the gold-made skincare bahhhh...

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After the short stop at the gold-shop, off we head to our final spot of the day. Few more hours to go and I can finally crash on my new hotel bed!! yes, I was pretty tired walking liao that day!

Kurokabe Square
It last evening time when we got there so most of the shop are closing down liao..

aaah~~ tis is wat I wanna be..

pui pui + kawaii + with lotsa money!! kaching!!

Mommy is always happy when there are stuff for her to buy, especially when the stuff is FOOD. She was freezing cold here but still managed to pose for the camera of course ;oP

yupe, all for sale.. but no point buying these stuff home la...

*Souvenirs sold*

Daddy was really busy snapping photos around when he was in Japan. Every little this and that. Luckily for tat, all of u get to see great photos ;o)

Tat's a wrap for today!

Off we head to our hotel and get ready for tomolo~ I was getting excited cause we'll be heading into more modern (cities) places liao starting tomolo onwards.. jeng jeng jeng..

-stay tuned-