After a bit of a poor showing yesterday (though let’s face it, even my poor showings are pretty solid), I’m hoping for a return to form today. My internet however is once again being a bit etch-a-sketchy which is not a major surprise given my beautiful surroundings.
Today began like many others have and a few more will, riding the rails. This time in the form of a Shinkansen bound for Hiroshima.
A pretty quick trip (less than 2 hours) and we pulled into Hiroshima station. Here we changed for the JR to Miyajimaguchi station. The rail network in Hiroshima was noticeably less advanced than others, or at the very least not as tourist friendly in offering language alternatives. But even the signage and vocal notification of what station you’re at was down from Kyoto and Tokyo (they still have Cityrail comfortably covered though).
Side Note: I just took a break from writing this blog to have another onsen relax. (When it rains men, it pours), and at this ryokan the onsen was incredible. Nice wood paneled interior (no, I’m not selling a car here). The best part was the outside portion of the onsen, contrasting the warm soaking water with the outside rain, nearby sounds of running water and the passing deer was simply sublime.
Anyway, after negotiating garbled announcements we made it to Miyajimaguchi where some light rain had just begun (the actual rain was yet to arrive) and we took the ferry full of people (mainly tourists, us included) across to Miyajima. I also came to the realisation that I really truly detest hearing the Australian accent overseas. It’s grating and it doesn’t make me feel comfortable or at home whatsoever. If anything it makes me question ‘do we really sound like that?’, ‘do I sound like that?’ (yea mate, ya do) and it really irritates me.
Arriving on the island of Miyajima we initially planned to walk around for a while before finding our accommodation. As luck would have it the shuttle service for our accommodation was arriving so we simply took that up to the ryokan. The bus wound it’s way up mountains, around backstreets and it seemed like we’d chosen somewhere that was in the middle of nowhere and miles away from anything. As it turns out, it is nicely in the middle of nowhere but not far from the main sites.
I’d almost rather not mention the next chapter but, for you dear readers I will not self censor every detail. The good must come with the bad (am I the ugly in that case?), and the truth must be told. We had an abortive expedition to Mt Misen. We paid our fairly large amount to get the return rope way journey up the mountain. However, partway through our first rope way portion we both realised just how much we hate rope ways and wanted to return. So we did, and as such, did not see the top of the mountain or the views from it. Not a major loss but admittedly a bit of a disappointment. For my part I wish I had researched a bit better in terms of cost and what was involved, and some better decisions could have been made. There’s a lesson for you. Do I get paid overtime for educating people on my holidays? (No is the answer there. With the way things are going, we’ll all be lucky to get paid at all, but enough politics).
The rope way adventure successfully aborted (can you successfully abort a mission? I suppose the Gallipoli withdrawal is counted as a ‘success’ even though it was a retreat, so yes), we made our way down to the shrines which dot the island. We first went to Senjokaku which is a huge open shrine/temple that you are able to walk around. From here we could see the large 5 storeys pagoda. It was a nice spot to sit and relax and unwind after the previous hour.
I almost forgot our foods on sticks! My wife had roasted corn on a stick (boring! But probably quite tasty) and I went with the deep fried oysters on a stick (less boring! Pretty tasty, the jury is still a bit undecided though).
We wandered around for a while just checking out different shops and the area around the main shrine (we were waiting for high tide) before stopping for proper lunch (not stick lunch).
It was raining fairly heavily at this stage (and was to rain heavier later – I have only just realised that the “wet season” is not just a clever name, who knew? – that said, the temperature today was pretty good and the rain actually served to make everything look beautiful) and we made an unplanned stop at Miyajima aquarium. This is a pretty small scale aquarium, and I felt a bit bad for the otters who were on display at their living quarters were not that large (I will never pass up a chance to see otters though, if I was insanely rich, I wouldn’t have tiger cages Mike Tyson style or monkeys Michael Jackson style (Also what is it with “Mike’s” and animals?), I’d have a huge otter park with like a dozen otters that had room to run around and swim around and just go nuts. It would be otter mayhem! Yes, I did just do a terrible pun and a bracket within a bracket – bracketception. The aquarium had some kinky eels I had never seen the likes of before.
Next stop in the increasingly heavy rain was Daisho-In temple, a Buddhist temple at the foot of Mt Misen. As I mentioned previously, it was bucketing down now, though the atmosphere this created, coupled with the scent of incense and the sounds of running water and the drumming of a ritual is enough to make anyone at least somewhat spiritual.
Finally our last stop before returning and actually checking in to the ryokan was the Itsukushima shrine with its famous Torii gate over the water, the shrine itself also being elevated. The Torii gate was not precisely a surprise, it is the most recognizable symbol of Miyajima island and viewable from practically anywhere. The tide was not a particularly high one today though it was worthwhile going at high tide and seeing the water, in part, come up to the shrine. Words don’t adequately describe places like this (well, they probably do, my words don’t) and I’m not an expert photographer so you’ll kind of just to accept my word that it was great.
I think I’ll just try and chill out now. Tonight will be a ryokan dinner (not our first ever), and hopefully a night boat tour around the floating Torii gate. Tomorrow we head to Hiroshima proper to check out the Peace Park, Castle and other areas (depending on time and tiredness) before returning to Kyoto.
Moshi Moshi! Daniel Desu. 