Initially, I planned to go to Korea for summer holiday. However, my colleague who was crazy with everything Korea told me that it was not convenient for me to travel alone there. She said that it is safe to travel alone, but if I wanted to eat the Korean cuisine, some restaurant will need at least 2 persons and the transport fee will be too expensive alone. So, I abandoned the idea after I could not find anyone who want to go with me.
very amazing fireworks display!
So, another friend of mine suggested Miyajima Hanabi 宮島水中花火大会. It is a very highly ranked fireworks display in Japan. Since I did not have any other plans, I tagged along. Since I went to Hiroshima and Miyajima before, I just planned to go to Miyajima for this fireworks only, so I had time at my disposal. To save on transport cost, I used Youth 18 ticket 青春１８切符, it is a kind of discount ticket, it can be used 5 times per day or 5 people can use it per day. However, the catch is only normal JR train can be used. I don't mind that though. For the 5 times, 2 times would be used for return ticket for Miyajima. 1 time I shared it with my friend to go to Miyajima. The rest 2 times, I will use it to go shopping in Hakata 博多. The Youth 18 ticket cost about 11500 yen, so divide by 5, only 2300 yen per day. It was so cheap compared to Shinkansen.
On 11th August, I woke up early to take train to Miyajima, the station is Miyajimaguchi 宮島口. However, there is a true saying "people plan, god decides 人算不如天算". The JR normal train Gantoku line 岩徳線 broke down on that every morning. So, normal trains up and down ShinYamaguchi were stopped after the train reached Asa 厚狭. The JR people advised us to take shinkansen from Asa to Hiroshima. First, not knowing the extend of the break down, I asked whether I could take shinkansen to ShinYamaguchi, and then continued to take normal train to Miyajimaguchi. However, it could not be done. The JR people also did not know when will be the Gantoku Line back to service. So, we bought Shinkansen tickets to Hiroshima, another extra expenses. At the end, we only saved a few hundred yen only on transport. Haiz!
After reached Hiroshima, we took train to Miyajimaguchi. A lot of people were heading to Miyajima direction, all aiming for the Miyajima Hanabi, so the train was packed. After a delicious lunch of Anago rice 穴子丼 (although nice, but Unagi rice is nicer though), took ferry to the Miyajima island, one thing here, Youth 18 ticket covers the ferry ride from Miyajimaguchi to Miyajima island. While still on ferry, I could see that people started to camp and fight for seats already under the hot sun. So early, it was only noon.
 |
| Anago Rice 穴子丼 (too many people queuing up at the shop, so we opted for take-away) |
Since me and friend visited here before, we just walked around the souvenir shops street. It was actually kind of fun, I bought a mini puzzle (limited in Hirohima only), deer skin purse for my mom and a hand made comb. Unfortunately, since it was a short trip, I did not bring much money, so had to stop buying things.
I noticed that the photographers not only brought along big and expensive looking lenses, some even brought sophisticated sound recorders, so professional. By the way, the fireworks were synchronised with music, but I think that the music was covered by the blasting sound of the fireworks.
 |
| people waiting for the fireworks! |
 |
| before the fireworks! |
 |
| the souvenir street |
 |
| 'One Piece' Mini Puzzle (limited in Hiroshima 広島限定), stayed up late to complete this! |
By 3pm, we got worried because another friend who was supposed to reach Hiroshima on 9am using night bus still haven't contact us. So, we messaged him. I knew that I should not do that, but when I received his message, I burst out laughing. His message was, "Dun be shock. still inside bus, jammed dao, wanna crazy liao." He was trapped inside that bus for 18 hours already. He later said that the bus barely moved at highway. After the bus stopped for refreshment at a train station at around 4pm, he just left and took train to Miyajimaguchi, he said that if he waited until the bus reached Hiroshima, he would miss the fireworks. So, he reached Miyajimaguchi right before the fireworks start, 7pm. Just nice!
Me and my friend started to claim a spot for us since 4pm. We sat for almost 4 hours at the same spot, very tiring, some more under the hot sun, my face was so red, needed to apply many lotions afterwards. However, the spot was not very nice, some view was blocked by trees. So, my other 2 friends just went down to the water area, they later said that from that area, everything can be seen, very beautiful. But, their legs and shoes were full of seaweed result of that.
I did not move far, just maintained the same place because I knew with my height, even if I moved to a clearer spot, I could see the fireworks, but not with the clear view of the torii 鳥居. With my current place, I could see the torii and partial fireworks, I was satisfied. It was very amazing, but it was slow and dragged until 1 hour. There were long gaps. My photos were not good, but it offered a glimpse of how the fireworks looked like, it was worth going there just for the fireworks.
 |
| Miyajima Hanabi 2012 宮島水中花火大会２０１２ |
 |
| Miyajima Hanabi 2012 宮島水中花火大会２０１２ |
 |
| Miyajima Hanabi 2012 宮島水中花火大会２０１２ |
 |
| Miyajima Hanabi 2012 宮島水中花火大会２０１２ |
 |
| Miyajima Hanabi 2012 宮島水中花火大会２０１２ |
 |
| Miyajima Hanabi 2012 宮島水中花火大会２０１２ |
 |
| Miyajima Hanabi 2012 宮島水中花火大会２０１２ |
After the fireworks finished, most of the people, including us wanted to be out of the island, so one can imagined how jammed the whole island was, especially at the ferry terminal. The hanabi finished at 9pm, but we only managed to get on the ferry by 10pm. It was so crowded. When we were waiting at the boarding area, we could see that the ferry was not so stable due to too many people, it swayed, so frightening, luckily the ride was not so long, only a few minutes.
After that, we checked into our hostel, Miyajima Backpackers. The staffs were very helpful and enthusiastic. However, I think many of us went to see the fireworks, so everybody back at around the same time, the 3 bathrooms were not enough, had to wait for my turn. Another thing was before going to bath, one had to take a specially made coin, that coin will provide 7 minutes of water for bath. I took long bath, so I bathed very fast that time, at the end, I only used 5 minutes, still left 2 minutes, hahahah! After my bath, all the lights were turn off in my room, so I had to arrange everything in dark, plus I was afraid to wake up my room-mates, so had to do it carefully. I gave up finally, and just tuck the pillow case to the pillow and lied a sheet to sleep on. I did not make a proper bed. The public computer on the ground floor had a very beautiful fireworks picture as the wall paper, the photographer was very brilliant.
I woke up at 6pm the next day for my trip to Mojiko. That is another story!
No comments:
Post a Comment