Have you ever found yourself in a city but can not quite remember what made you book a trip to said location? No? Well, I can be forgetful and I had to scratch my head small when I got off the train at Takayama.
I booked the hotel about 6 months prior, and time had wiped off the reason I booked 3 nights in the unassuming city. A quick google search told me the area is known for hida beef, soba ramen, scenic mountain views, easy access to the World heritage town of Gokayama and Shirakawa-go, and top notch onsens.
To be frank, at the check-in desk I was mentally kicking myself for the error, but then providence saved my sorry self when a bunch of fun Norwegian physicists and mathematicians took pity on me and took me into their fold. Sadly, it was their last day there, but getting to explore the city with them started my time there on a good note.
My new friends and I made an effort to walk to the historical part of Takayama, the Hida Folk village, but hunger took hold of us, so we went off to find food instead. We flakes. From what I read, the Hida Folk village is a mini replica of where I’d just spent my previous 2 nights at, so I figured I was not missing much.
After lunch, the daytime touristy sites were all shut down, so the guys went off to an onsen and I just wanted to get more sleep time; getting naked with female strangers in an onsen was never on my bucket list. After a mini snooze fest, I went out to try out the local Hida beef, then met up with the guys afterward. All in all, it was a pretty tame night filled with good laughs.
On my second day in Takayama, I did not want to do anything touristy besides trying out different dishes, so I committed fully to that plan. #laze-mode Activated.
I left my hotel for lunch and dinner + about 30 – 45 minutes of walking around the city aimlessly after each meal for the sake of staying healthy and taking in new sites.
I did not know that the Japanese have their own curry dishes until I kept walking by restaurants that offered curry meals in other cities.
At first, I assumed they were replicating Indian styled meals, so I did not give it a second look until people kept telling me about how I was missing out big time. I can not point out the flavors in the dish but all I can say my mouth was in heaven with every bite I took. Japanese curry, based on the dish I had, is very different from Thai and Indian curry.
Don’t ask me to describe the flavors because I can not, all I remember is how happy I felt when eating it. I went as far as preaching about it to every traveler that I came in contact with during my time in Takayama. #overSabi
I wanted to go back for this dish again, but my ever expanding girth stayed my legs and this curry chicken will forever be in my guinness book of food awesomeness.
After almost 3 weeks in Japan, I figured my tastebud could do with a change of scenery so when a local mentioned a good burger joint about 30mins walk from my hotel, I did not even think twice about it. I also figured the 1 hour combined walk would help with the damage on my body. hehe 
When I got there, I randomly asked a local customer what her favorite burger was, and she pointed out the avocado burger, and I ordered it with a touch of skepticism. Avocado in my burger, really? Shoot, the way I devoured the dish was insane. Finger licking goodness, and no need for ketchup. Amen!
On my 3rd day in Takayama, I decided to rouse myself and see beyond the food in Takayama, so I bought a bus ticket to check out the Okuhida region.
I was checking out Okuhida with a lovely Irish couple and they convinced me to give the onsen experience a try. I can’t remember the name of the onsen we went to, but I was afraid small oh. First of all, I was the only black person that I’d seen since I left Kyoto, and I did not want strangers to be staring at me rudely while I was knackers. So, yes, it took a lot of mental pep talk to get myself to drop the towel and get into the public bath.
Shockers, they didn’t bat their lashes at me…and if they did, I did not notice it. Once I got out of my head, I was able to take in the experience of bathing naked in the hot spring with the view of the mountains surrounding me.
It was breathtaking, beautiful, and liberating.
This was also my last night in Takayama, so I figured I HAD to eat more Hida beef. It seemed like everyone had the same idea because most of them had no seating place. The place I ended up at required a shorter wait time and I was curious to try out the Hida beef in a steak form.
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