Really great day today.
Four of us from the hostel went to Miyajima this morning. We had to take the train to Miyagimagichi station where we caught the ferry to Miyajima Island. To my delight, all of this was covered by my Japan Rail pass!
It was just a 10minute boat ride to the island, and another 10minute walk along the 'beach' to the main attraction, the red gate in the sea. No, that is not its official name. Oh well. On the way I saw a guy selling grilled oysters, apparently this area is famous for oysters, so I had to try some :) They were good
It was certainly a lovely red gate (now I'm thinking it was more like a big archway?) so we spent a little time taking photos around there before going into the shrine directly opposite. Because it's high tide in the morning, the shrine looks like it's floating, as does the archway, and it looked really nice.
After the shrine, I left the group because they wanted to climb up to the top of the mountain on the island, and I thought it was probably best I didn't try that. Instead I bought a ticket for a round trip on the cable cars up to near the summit, where there is a viewing platform. As I was walking up to the cable car station, I heard English, so I introduced myself to the source and discovered 3 teachers who are teaching English in Japan. One was from New Zealand, one from Singapore and the third was from Canada. they were really good company, we went up in a cable car together.
At the top there was a small cafe where we got some lunch. I had cold Udon noodles that had to be dipped in this cold sauce. There were ice cubes mixed in with the noodles, it was so bizzare, but it tasted really good, and I liked the idea of a cold meal in all this heat.
Then we went to the top of the viewing platform, which was just outside the cafe, and took some photos. They then went to climb to the summit, so I just chilled in a small gazebo for a while.
After some time, a group of Japanese girls came and sat by me, chatting happily away. I realised that one of the girls wasn't Japanese, she just spoke it very well. They were in quite a large group, so for once, I didn't introduce myself for a while, but I didn't wait long before they asked me where I was from and we got into a conversation. The foreign girl with them was half Polish and half Austrian, living in London and studying Japanese. Crazy.
We went back down in one of the gondolas at around half 3ish, and I had to say goodbye to them at the bottom so I could meet up with my group at 4. On the way, I say that the tide was low, and I could now walk to the archway-gate-thingy. I had to go that way to get to the meeting spot anyway, so I snapped a couple of good pictures on the way.
Apparently touching the archway will give you good luck for the next year, so heres hoping!
They were all pretty tired out, so we decided to go back to the ferry. Once we were on the train back to Hiroshima station, I managed to find a seat, but I gave it up to a dad carrying his baby. The mum turned out to be a former English teacher, so we had a good long chat on the journey home, which was about 35 minutes. I was really grateful for the company, especially since I was standing. Her baby was also seriously cute.
Then I headed back to the hostel for a shower. On the way I noticed Karl Pilkington with a suitcase examining a map and going in my direction. I asked if he was looking for Hana hostel (where I'm staying) and he was! So I showed him the way (didn't get lost this time, thank God!). I feel like I have done some good deeds today :) Karl makes a reappearance in Osaka.
At around 8, a bunch of us went to an Okonomiyaki place which had lots of okonomiyaki stalls side by side. We picked one and I ordered one with oysters in it. The size of it was daunting. I struggled to eat just over half before giving up, but it was so delicious. So so good. Aaaah.
After paying up I headed back to the hostel and now I'm sitting in the common room typing this up and listening to some music before bed :)
Four of us from the hostel went to Miyajima this morning. We had to take the train to Miyagimagichi station where we caught the ferry to Miyajima Island. To my delight, all of this was covered by my Japan Rail pass!
It was just a 10minute boat ride to the island, and another 10minute walk along the 'beach' to the main attraction, the red gate in the sea. No, that is not its official name. Oh well. On the way I saw a guy selling grilled oysters, apparently this area is famous for oysters, so I had to try some :) They were good
It was certainly a lovely red gate (now I'm thinking it was more like a big archway?) so we spent a little time taking photos around there before going into the shrine directly opposite. Because it's high tide in the morning, the shrine looks like it's floating, as does the archway, and it looked really nice.
After the shrine, I left the group because they wanted to climb up to the top of the mountain on the island, and I thought it was probably best I didn't try that. Instead I bought a ticket for a round trip on the cable cars up to near the summit, where there is a viewing platform. As I was walking up to the cable car station, I heard English, so I introduced myself to the source and discovered 3 teachers who are teaching English in Japan. One was from New Zealand, one from Singapore and the third was from Canada. they were really good company, we went up in a cable car together.
At the top there was a small cafe where we got some lunch. I had cold Udon noodles that had to be dipped in this cold sauce. There were ice cubes mixed in with the noodles, it was so bizzare, but it tasted really good, and I liked the idea of a cold meal in all this heat.
Then we went to the top of the viewing platform, which was just outside the cafe, and took some photos. They then went to climb to the summit, so I just chilled in a small gazebo for a while.
After some time, a group of Japanese girls came and sat by me, chatting happily away. I realised that one of the girls wasn't Japanese, she just spoke it very well. They were in quite a large group, so for once, I didn't introduce myself for a while, but I didn't wait long before they asked me where I was from and we got into a conversation. The foreign girl with them was half Polish and half Austrian, living in London and studying Japanese. Crazy.
We went back down in one of the gondolas at around half 3ish, and I had to say goodbye to them at the bottom so I could meet up with my group at 4. On the way, I say that the tide was low, and I could now walk to the archway-gate-thingy. I had to go that way to get to the meeting spot anyway, so I snapped a couple of good pictures on the way.
Apparently touching the archway will give you good luck for the next year, so heres hoping!
They were all pretty tired out, so we decided to go back to the ferry. Once we were on the train back to Hiroshima station, I managed to find a seat, but I gave it up to a dad carrying his baby. The mum turned out to be a former English teacher, so we had a good long chat on the journey home, which was about 35 minutes. I was really grateful for the company, especially since I was standing. Her baby was also seriously cute.
Then I headed back to the hostel for a shower. On the way I noticed Karl Pilkington with a suitcase examining a map and going in my direction. I asked if he was looking for Hana hostel (where I'm staying) and he was! So I showed him the way (didn't get lost this time, thank God!). I feel like I have done some good deeds today :) Karl makes a reappearance in Osaka.
At around 8, a bunch of us went to an Okonomiyaki place which had lots of okonomiyaki stalls side by side. We picked one and I ordered one with oysters in it. The size of it was daunting. I struggled to eat just over half before giving up, but it was so delicious. So so good. Aaaah.
Dad! I had some Shochu with soda! It was nice :)
After paying up I headed back to the hostel and now I'm sitting in the common room typing this up and listening to some music before bed :)
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