Trip to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Iwakuni (18th & 19th June 2011)

My friends decided to have a 2 days trip on a weekend. After much discussion, we decided it would be on 18th and 19th June. Initially, the plan was 1 day Miyajima and Hiroshima, then the next day went to Fukuyama. However, after much considering and input from other travellers from the internet, decided to make Miyajima into a 1 day trip. There were 7 of us in this trip. 

Shinkansen that took me to Hiroshima

Port to go to Miyajima

Since Hiroshima is not so far yet not so near from Kumamoto, there's no overnight bus service. If from Hakata, the distance would be around 4 hours ride. The itinerary by a friend of mine suggested that it would be better if we meet at Hiroshima station at around 9am. Since overnight bus was out of question, I had to use Shinkansen (bullet train), for this trip, transport used up 2/3 of my budget. I was supposed to take the earliest 6a.m. shinkansen to Hakata, then change train to Hiroshima. However, I overslept, and had to settle for the 6.30a.m. train and reached Hiroshima Station at around 8.45am. Just in time!

After that, we went to the tourist information centre to buy the Miyajima-Hiroshima 2 days pass. However, it was not sold there, we had to go to a counter outside Hiroshima Station to buy the pass. It cost 2000 yen per person. Then, from Hiroshima station, we took tram to Miyajima Port. It was a long ride, almost 1.5 hours. Luckily, there were 7 of us, so we chattered all the way, not even a single dull moment.

Then, we boarded the ferry to Miyajima. On 18th June morning, it was high tide, and according to some Japanese, the view of the Miyajima Torii is the best during high tide, some of them even choose to go to Miyajima when the tide is high. The first thing we saw in Miyajima was the deers, they were roaming freely around the island. Some were tame and actually let people touched them while being photographed. However, there was a nasty deer, while one of my friends was sitting on the rock using a paper to fan herself, the deer 'hijacked' the paper and ate it, no matter how we yelled at the deer, it finished eating the paper. I hoped that the paper won't caused any illness. Another thing was that the smell of the droppings was very overwhelming.

There was a stall selling oysters (牡蠣), we decided to buy. It was so delicious even without any flavourings! After that, we went to see the Torii, since it was high tide, we could only see from the beach. After that, we bought ticket to go into 厳島神社 Itsuku shrine, a traditional shrine. From a platform inside the shrine, we could take a photo with the Torii in the right angle. Everybody queued up to take photograph. After covering all the 'must go' locations inside the shrine, we decided to go to Mt. Misen by ropeway. However, the route to the station was not easy too, it was a steep slope, very tiring! If I have to climb up the Mt. Misen without using the ropeway, I would have give it a pass.

A stall that sells oysters in Miyajima

Oysters!

deer roaming free on the Miyajima island

the Torii during high tide

One had to change to another cable on the midway. After we reached the end of the Shishiiwa station, we got out. However, it was not the end. To see the 'eternal flame', we had to walk and climb some more. The route was not long, but is was steep. Finally, we reached the another shrine that housed the 'eternal flame'. It was a small bunch of 'fire', more like smoking wood. Way less grandeur than we previously thought. After that, we proceed to the top of the Mt. Misen. However, the view was not great. We just climbed for the sake of reaching the top of the mountain. Along the way, there were cute little monks' statues.

a pagoda seen from Itsuku Shrine

one of the buildings of Itsuku Shrine

During spring, it will very beautiful with all the red leaves

use cable cars to reach Mt Misen

little monks

Anago rice set

Torii during low tide

Sweating profusely and tired, we went down to eat our lunch. Since the anago 穴子 is  famous here, I chose anago set lunch. If compared to the unagi rice (another kind of eel) from Yanagawa, it was not so delicious. After that, we went back to the itsuku shrine. By around 4.30pm, the sea level drop due to low tide. Now, the whole Torii was exposed, so we walked there. The Torii was made of wood, and from the legs, we could see that there were many shells and insects. Quite disgusting. The Japanese were right, it was better when high tide. 

Since we had seen the Torri during high and low tide. We went back to Hiroshima station to retrieve our bags stored in the locker. After that, we checked into the K house. it cost 2500 yen per night. The bed was nice, at least it won't move easily compared the one in Kagoshima. However, the K house didn't provide toiletries. Have to bring own or buy a set from the counter. 

After that, we went out to eat dinner. First, we wanted to eat Okonomiyaki. However, the recommended restaurant was full house, so we went to another restaurant to eat tsuke men (漬け面). We overestimated our tolerance for spicy stuff and ordered a level 10 curry. However, it was so hot that even me couldn't finish it. Luckily, a member of our group chose a level 5 curry, I used his curry to finish the noodle. After dinner, we went to the A bomb dome, it was dark and the night view was so eerie. After that, went back hostel to sleep.

Tsuke men

The different level of spicyness

A bomb dome (night view)

A bomb dome (day view)

The next morning, went to A bomb dome for the day view. We met a volunteer who was a 'in-vitro survivor' of the 2nd world war atomic bombing. His mother was pregnant with him while the base was bombed. He told us interesting bits about the peace park. After he finished, he handling out paper that stated a blog address and he wanted us to read it, a memoir of his mother. 

After that, we went to the peace museum. It was so sad to read how the child was bombed, and how the parents found their children's body. Only the powerful people will gain from war, it is the civilian who will suffer.

Next, lunch time, finally we had our Okonomiyaki. So delicious!

Okomiyaki

Kintai bridge

Since the day was still young, we decided to go to Iwakuni to see the kintai bridge (a wooden bridge with arches) by bus, the round trip was 1600 yen. In Iwakuni, actually there was a Iwakuni castle apart from the Kintai bridge. However, my friend said that all the castles in Japan were actually almost the same, just go to the famous one enough. Since I went to Kumamoto Castle (Japan top 3 castles) before, I decided to give it a pass. I forgot how much I paid to walk on the Kintai bridge. Before we went to Iwakuni, we were misinformed that no nails were used to built that bridge. However, nails were used. According to the guide book "the unique structure of the arches is so precise that a solid bridge has been made. The technique used to construct the unsupported 35-meter arches from relatively short timber is said to be of the highest engineering standard". The bridge is very curvy. From here, we visited a nearby garden with beautiful hydrangea. After that, we went to a restaurant to eat Iwakuni-sushi. It was layered and the seafood was cooked. Quite interesting!

Beautiful Hydrangea

Iwakuni-Sushi

Finally, we went back to Hiroshima station and had dinner together before going back to our home. It was a very humorous trip, couldn't stop laughing because my travel mates were such an interesting person!