From Shodoshima, we took ferry to Tokushima 徳島. After a very long drive with a very moody weather, we reach to take Oboke Pleasure Cruise 大歩危遊覧船. Although the car was provided with GPS, it brought us into wrong turn and we kept drove up to a narrow hilly roads which only allowed one car though. It took us a while before we found the port. Actually I was quite scare because the day before, the tv news showed that a child died due to a boat accident in Shizuoka 静岡. However, after assurance from my friends, I took the ride.
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| the boat ride start from here 大歩危 |
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| 大歩危（the rocks, water） |
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| 大歩危 |
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| 大歩危 |
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| when the rains was too bad, the water level will be very high until it flooded the building大歩危 |
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| monster ice cream (milk, charcoal, mocha flavour) . The taste was too awful for me. Felt like vomit after eating this. |
It cost 1050 yen per person for the ride. The ride was to see the scenery along the river, specially the river rocks. However, I think it was ok only. I think that the most magnificent view was the place where the boat depart. If we saw the place from the building above, it was so overwhelmingly beautiful. After the boat ride, I had a monster ice cream. It was terrible, after eating that, I was feeling unwell for the whole day.
After that, we went to the Iyanokazurabashi いやのかずら橋. It was a suspension bridge made of a kind of vine and it was a National cultural asset. Seeing that the bridge was with a lot of holes, I was really hesitated to cross that. However, it was a experience, so I did it anyway. When I was in secondary school, a school trip to Forest Research Institute Malaysia in Kepong also had me crossing a wooden suspension bridge. I was young and fearless then, now when crossing the bridge, I kept yelling and hoped to pass it fast. However, my friend was stopping to take photographs and I dared not cross pass them without holding on to the holder. So, I waited hugging the holder. I was feeling not well when crossing, so I did not notice the view around it, but from my friends' photos, it was nice.
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| いかのかずら橋 Ikanokazura suspension bridge |
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| the bridge was one of a government recognized heritage |
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| it was horrible on the bridge, but my friends kept stopping for photos |
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| a waterfall near the bridge, nice view |
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| the view of the suspension bridge from a concrete bridge nearby |
After this, we took lunch at a nearby restaurant that served Soba そば. It tasted different from the soba that I usually eat, it was very soft in texture, not my liking, I had to try very hard to finish it.
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| Ika soba (too soft for my liking) |
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| the shop was just next to the main road near the bridge |
Next, we proceed to Kochi 高知 to visit a temple called Chikulinji 竹林寺. It ranked quite high in the tourist guide online. It was quite a disappointment though. However, there were a lots of Buddha statues. Probably those have never seen Buddha statues would be wooed, but not me. Maybe I am not the religious type. But then, if came to Shikoku, but never visit the temples, was not logical. Shikoku was famous for the temples, with a lot of pilgrims. Legend has it that if the pilgrims manage to visit the 88 temples associated with monk Kukai 空海, one can earned a lot of good deeds. Along the way, we only saw 2 persons who wore monks cloths and walked under the hot sun. One of my friend told me that actually there were bus services for those people who want to visit all the temples in Shikoku, but I forgot whether it took 2 weeks or 2 months. However, if someone took bus to all the temples, then it was not sincere anymore. Oh, before we reached the temple, we went to a observation platform for the Kochi city view. Mmmm, just so so only.
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| Kochi |
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| Kochi view from the observation platform |
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| Ryoma Sakamoto 龍馬坂本 face was on the coffee in one of the restaurant |
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| Chikulinji 竹林寺 |
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| Chikulinji 竹林寺 |
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| Chikulinji 竹林寺 |
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| Chikulinji 竹林寺 |
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| Chikulinji 竹林寺 |
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| Chikulinji 竹林寺 |
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| Chikulinji 竹林寺 |
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| Chikulinji 竹林寺 |
After the temple, we wanted to go to a place where whale meat was sold. However, when we reached. We were surprised that it was just something like supermarket. So, 2 of my friends went to see what is going on and the rest of us stayed inside the car. Not long after that, they came back reporting that nothing inside, the whale was packed nicely in plastic bag already. So, we left to see the Ryoma Sakamato 龍馬坂本 statue. It was a big huge bronze statue. We just snapped photos and left, all around the statue was souvenir shops. This Mr. Sakamoto was very famous in Japan, his story was made into dramas and a lot of the places I went so far had something to associate with him. So, I googled about him. He was a revolutionists who was killed, before he was killed, he went to a lot of places in Japan. Thus, the places that he went to during his lifetime became some sort of tourism product. I did not know Japanese history, but for a person who became someone like this, he must be very influential to the modern Japan.
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| Ryoma Sakamoto statue |
After that, we drove to our accommodation. The name was ペンションお宿, which in English was Pension Inn. From our horrible experiences with the last 2 days stay, and the name, pension, all of us was like 'oh, god, please let the place be ok!'. We thought that the inn was opened by some pensioner to pass time. Along the way, there were a lot of cemeteries. So, we were like, oh........... When we reached the PENSION Inn, there was a car workshop, and the inn was on the 2nd floor. Then, I thought that my night sleep was going to be accompanied by gasoline smell. However, much to our pleasant surprise, the workshop was clean and the rooms was nice! Plus, we were the only group of people there that night. The bed was nice.
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| a nice bed to sleep in (the best!) |
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| tontoro ramen, it rhyme |
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| Kimchi Ramen |
After dropping our bags, we went out to search for dinner. First, we decided to eat barbecued meat 焼き肉. However, the restaurant manager told us that it was full that night. There was even a van that ferry people to that shop. It must be a very famous restaurant. Next, we went to a ramen shop. The shop name was Tontoro 豚とろ, same name as the one I once went in Kagoshima. Interesting! I had Kimchi Ramen because I need something spicy, while all my friends asked for the recommended ramen. The waitress asked us whether we were the students from the nearby university or not, and we answered not, we came from all over Japan. Haha, we looked young enough to pass as students. After dinner, we went to nearby supermarket to buy alcohol and junk food. Since we were the only customer that night, we can make noises. This was the first time I drank Umeishu 梅酒, it tasted like cough syrup. I do not like that smell, however my friend said maybe it was cheap, hence the taste. She said "2 litre alcohol only 1000 yen, what do you expect!"
Day 1:
Matsue
Day 2:
Sakaiminato
Day 3:
Tottori
Day 4:
Okayama
Day 5:
Tokushima (Shikoku)
Day 6:
Shodoshima (Shikoku)
Day 7:
Oboke & Kochi (Shikoku)
Day 8:
Ehime
Day 9:
Onomichi
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