Japan 2010 Chronicle - December 24
Morning of Christmas Eve we were up at 07:00, and on a Kobe Line train at 07:47, bound for Osaka. We switched at Osaka onto Thunderbird 7, departing at 8:42. Since we were already inside the JR train station, we figured we would just queue for the unreserved seats. The entire train was non-smoking anyway, possibly a sign of the times.
Arriving at Kanazawa, we found it was not only cold, but pouring with rain to boot. The rain was coming in at an ungodly, nearly horizontal angle, which prevented getting any shelter using the nearby bus shelter. Instead, we made it for a nearby shopping centre, knowing that it was across the street from the hotel, so there would probably be an exit nearer to the hotel, the Dormy Inn Kanazawa. There was indeed an exit right opposite the hotel, but we still had to cross the road with our luggage, in the rain. At the very least, the rain had let down a bit by the time we got that far. The only thing we had to suffer was looking like douches while pulling luggage through the middle of a shopping centre, but amazingly, nobody sent any strange glances our way.
After checking our bags (it was too early for check-in), we headed back to the tourist centre. Mostly this was to see if they would book a Ninjadera tour for us (which they wouldn't - they told us to book it ourselves) but they were helpful in telling us how the loop line bus worked and which stops to get off at for different stuff. The girl on the desk was a trainee, learning to serve tourists in English and stumbling through it okay (and cutely. :))
We bought the usual shitty, plastic umbrellas from a nearly kiosk at the train station and headed to the bus. Destination was the Confectionary Museum, but actually, first we had some business to do, reserving a seat on the bus to Shirakawa-go. The bus company's ticket office is visible from the bus exchange, and they were quite easy to deal with so we got the tickets without a hitch.
Then we were able to stand in the freezing cold for the loop bus, which arrived before too long.
The museum, though, was something of a letdown, probably due to the time of year. The demonstrations of making confectionary were not running at all as there was just the one staff member on the front desk, charging people their entry fees. The confectionary sculptures were quite remarkable, however, and worth a look, since the entry fee was only 300円 anyway. The additional 1200円 to learn a bit about making Japanese confectionary was something I was looking forward to, but unfortunately wasn't meant to be. We might have to go out of our way to come back to these parts at a different time of year.
After hitting the shops below the museum for convenient souvenirs, we start walking vaguely towards Omicho Market as it was approaching lunch time and supposedly MoriMori Sushi was in the area. We had heard of the place because it has trains deliver the sushi to the table.
The walk on the way saw the first snow of the trip, starting to fall between the rain showers.
The markets were interesting mainly because it seemed like everyone was selling crabs. :) All the restaurant-type places in the area were selling seafood of some variety, which was unsurprising. MoriMori was of course one of those as well, and we did eventually find the place, but unfortunately the place was insanely busy, and we opted out in the end.
We were wandering around looking for other food options, and ran into Curry Champion. With a cheesy name like that, and wiener curry on the menu, we had to do it. Plus it was a ticket machine place - makes life easy. The curry was great, too. Looking back on it now, it turns out that curry is a bit of a famous dish in Kanazawa. So we inadvertently had a local specialty without even realising it at the time.
After lunch, we returned to the hotel and checked in properly. Then we did a run over to Tower Records in the neighbouring shopping centre. I nearly cleaned out their Vocaloid stuff (sure, they probably had more in stock out the back anyway...)
Dinner for the night was at a place called "Bangkok". I spent 2800円 all up, which got me pad la prig (fish in chilli, basically), fish cakes, spring rolls and beer (Chang, of course. If you're going to eat Thai food, you drink Thai beer, right?) The food was good, but the bite on the chilli wasn't nearly as hot as the same dish from my local restaurant back here in Sydney.
Moving onto Machrihanish for some scotch... the place wasn't bad (though the owner does appear to have a bit of a golf obsession as old-style golf bags are on display around the room.) The Old Parr (800円) wasn't bad either, but the entry fee of 600円 had us baffled as it wasn't itemised on the bill. We thought the drink got marked up without us knowing, but soon figured out that there was a cover charge added in. Should have had more scotch to make the cover charge sting less, although I realise that this is faulty logic and probably exactly what they are aiming for. Rule of thumb for Kanazawa, most places will charge an entry fee, unless they say they don't. This may contribute to the general lack of patrons in most bars there...
Speaking of the ones which say they don't charge an entry fee, "Jigger Bar" (lol) St. Louis was one of those. Got an 850円 'Voyage' (some special cocktail comprised of green apple liqueur, dry vermouth and lemon juice.) It wasn't bad. We started to feel restricted by this Japanese bar habit of pinning customers to seats instead of giving them free roam of the bar, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Some cute girls on a table further over were killing time by themselves, presumably pinned down by the same restrictions but thinking nothing of it because it would be the norm for them.
On the way back to the hotel after all this, a gust of wind from hell ripped the umbrella from my hands and shredded it, turning the thing into some kind of strange metallic spider. I walked back to the hotel with the broken umbrella, and got a bit wet. At one of the convenience stores, I picked up something to keep my head a bit warmer, along with the usual questionable konbini food, a suspicious ginger energy drink and a litre cask of Onikoroshi sake (which costs hardly anything, compared to prices back home.)
At some point Retro comments that the open top beanie makes me look like a hobo. That's fine, I might as well drink some more sake when I get back to the hotel, and get properly into the hobo spirit. You'll see pics of the hobo hat later on.
Christmas Eve ends without getting a date. Hey, this is not Amagami, so it isn't the goal. :)