We arrived in Hiroshima, and found the hostel. We'd heard that oysters were good here, so went to a restaurant that offered Hiroshima-yaki made with oysters. Hiroshima-yaki is Hiroshima's take on okonomiyaki, made with soba noodles. It's very good! In the restaurant, we didn't get to make the food ourselves (which was a pity), but it was good to watch them make it on the hotplate right in front of us.
We drank sake, which really wasn't very nice... but we decided that it was better slightly warm, and definitely when accompanied by food.
When we finished dinner, we went for a few drinks - they serve their red wine CHILLED!! Oh the scandal! Once you think of it as sangria though, it's ok. On the way home, we noticed something rather perculiar... Everywhere you looked (and I mean EVERYWHERE) there were stationary taxis, waiting for a fare. None of us had ever seen anything like it. There were taxis parked along the curb of EVERY street in site!
This pic doesn't even BEGIN to show how many taxis there were!
Singing their little hearts out
We went and sang karaoke (fun times!) for a few hours, and walked home. When we were about 2 minutes away from the hostel, Neil felt sorry for the taxi drivers, and decided to give one of them some business. We flagged down a taxi and went the 1 minute drive to the hostel. Which cost us about £6. Bargain. And then Neil didn't have any money, so we had to pay for his 'good natured' intentions. Thanks Neil!
We went in, had a few glasses of vino and went to bed.
The next morning, the sun was shiing and we headed to Miyajima, a little island an hour or so away from Hiroshima. It has a shrine on it called the Itsukushima Shrine, the gate (torii) of which looks as though it's floating in the water at high tide.
As well as the spectacular torii, the island is also home to lots of wild deer who are very, very cheeky and will eat any food that stupid tourists accidentally leave lying on the floor when taking pictures... Not that I'd do such a stupid thing with my plums, of course.
Gillian went first...
Kenny and me pretending that we're not freaked out having fish nibble at our feet!
I have to admit... it was all a bit weird for me, and I didn't manage to keep my feet in for long. But the others managed it, and came out raving about how 'cushioned' and 'bouncy' their feet felt!
I truly did have an amazing time at Miyajima. It was beautiful weather, spectacular scenery and great company. I recommend anyone going to Japan to make the effort to go there! But make sure that you go at high tide, or you could end up just seeing this...
Not quite as spectacular a sight!
When we got back, we went to the Hiroshima museum. It was as harrowing as I'd thought it would be. It represented the A-bomb disaster in a very detailed way, looking at all sides concerned, holding its hands up to the part that Japan had to play in it. It really went very detailed though, including artifacts such as human skin and nails... pretty grotesque. But the accounts of first hand experiences made me very sad, and I shed a few tears. It's NOT a jolly day out, but it's definitely worth going to see.
Outside, there's a Children's memorial, where there are glass cases filled with origami cranes, making up art-work. Below is an example, made purely out of tiny cranes. It's pretty amazing!!
The A-Bomb Dome during the day and at night
Then we headed back to the hostel, and went to bed.
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