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The Japanese Adventure - Day 16, Miyajima
Jun. 16th, 2007 01:44 pmWell, it's been a fail - fail - win win fail kind of day. ^^;; The first fail was when I got on the tram going the wrong direction, and only realised when I was really close to the end of the line. -_- Hence, I ended up spending more than I'd saved by not getting the tram all the way to Miyajimaguchi, and getting the train with my pass instead. Oh well, it was only 150yen. So I got there just before lunch, and looked at the shrine and 5-storey pagoda before getting some tenpura and zaru soba. Zaru soba is, like, my favourite food in the world right now, it's so plain and simple but the sauce is so delicious! :9 I by chance went into a restaurant full of foreigners, lol, which always happens when I actually know in Japanese what I want to eat. ^^' Oh well. Arashi were on TV! Aiba and Ohno were in Ueno zoo. They lost the quiz-thing against some guys so couldn't eat food. There was zaru soba on the show too! I shall always think of them when I eat it now. And vice versa!
Afetr lunch, I got the cable car up to the top of the mountain. It's an amazing journey! So silent - all you can hear is the birds singing, and the faint hum of the cable. You can see all the islands in the inland sea, and you travel up this steep, forested slope almost to the top of Mount Misen. From there, you can walk right to the summit, and explore the woods and shrines and temples all around. There's a temple where an "eternal flame" is supposed to have been burning for a thousand years, or something - I dunno about flame, but in a small building there's a wood fire with a cooking pot over it. I walked round the room once, quickly, and my eyes were streaming, it was so smoky! But I love that smell of burning wood. I can still smell it on me!
I elected to walk down through the woods - I think I took the hardest course, as what appeared to be the main one was closed due to landslides. But Arashi must've still been in my mind, lol, cos I chose the "Ohmoto" course, which was a LOT of steps - my legs were shaking way before the bottom ^^;; - but it was incredible, totally worth doing. It was a gorgeous day, too - I was afraid it would rain, as it has been for the past few days, but it was glorious sunshine all day (and I remembered to put cream on so I'm not toasty this time! ^^'). I saw a number of lizards, including one with a neon blue tail; the forest is meant to be full of monkeys, but I thought I'd missed them till I saw just two, right next to the path, near the bottom. I was a little afraid they were going to jump me, lol. *So* many deer too, all over the place! I patted one, they're completely docile (though I saw one chewing happily on a map that it'd probably ripped from someone's hand).
I'd read in my guidebook there was meant to be a festival today, but I think it must've been and gone, cos there was no evidence of it at all on the island, though I saw it mentioned somewhere as a summer festival - must've missed it, I think. Oh well, no real loss, because it was an amazing day anyway! The shrine itself wasn't that thrilling (to be honest, they never are - temples are where it's at), but the mountain was fantastic. I can see why everyone recommended Miyajima so highly, it's wonderful.
On the way back, I thought I'd better eat before I went back to the hostel, cos I'd end up eating supermarket bentou again, which I actually quite enjoy, but I thought I should try harder. XD So I decided on sushi.
...Mistake. x_o I went to a place that I assumed would be like the place I went to in Osaka, where you just say "I'll have some of this" and they give you it, then you say "I'll have some of this" and they bring you another. But I didn't understand a word the guy was saying to me, so I was just like "...Can I have some of this?" (naming the three things I liked that I could remember the names for, lol) and he made them, sure, and it can't have caused them any particular trouble, cos I only wanted 3 very simple things, but still, I feel like I completely missed the point. It wasn't helped by two middle-aged ladies sitting near me and laughing with the sushiya-san about his attemots to communicate with me. I know they weren't laughing *at* me, but it was damn off-putting. :/ That wasn't even a situation I could've done any better in, because I just don't know about sushi shops, so I don't feel my language failed per se, because I just don't know the relevant stuff; but that still didn't stop me feeling like crying. ^^' Still, the sushi was good, and they charged me a reasonable price, so I guess it worked out, but... I knew I should've just bought something in the department store, but noooo, I had to have hand-rolled, didn't I! I decided to buy myself chocolate on the way home to make up for it, lol. I've become very fond of the Spark supermarket! They have conveniently packaged watermelon chunks! :9 Something Japan doesn't really do that well is fresh fruit. You don't usually see it in the convenience store or anything, and it's very expensive, even in the supermarket. But watermelon! :9 And some very cute grapes, that I must eat before they go funny.
...I think I had some fandom things to say, but I've forgotten them. ^^' I'm sure they'll come back to me! Though I do feel the need to mention Subaru having Yasu as his desert island companion to take care of his basic needs. Hahaha, I LOL'ed hard.
Tomorrow, off to Takamatsu (on Shikoku) to stay for a couple of nights! I hear there's a good garden. And a good one in Okayama too, so I hope I can fit that in too. :)
Afetr lunch, I got the cable car up to the top of the mountain. It's an amazing journey! So silent - all you can hear is the birds singing, and the faint hum of the cable. You can see all the islands in the inland sea, and you travel up this steep, forested slope almost to the top of Mount Misen. From there, you can walk right to the summit, and explore the woods and shrines and temples all around. There's a temple where an "eternal flame" is supposed to have been burning for a thousand years, or something - I dunno about flame, but in a small building there's a wood fire with a cooking pot over it. I walked round the room once, quickly, and my eyes were streaming, it was so smoky! But I love that smell of burning wood. I can still smell it on me!
I elected to walk down through the woods - I think I took the hardest course, as what appeared to be the main one was closed due to landslides. But Arashi must've still been in my mind, lol, cos I chose the "Ohmoto" course, which was a LOT of steps - my legs were shaking way before the bottom ^^;; - but it was incredible, totally worth doing. It was a gorgeous day, too - I was afraid it would rain, as it has been for the past few days, but it was glorious sunshine all day (and I remembered to put cream on so I'm not toasty this time! ^^'). I saw a number of lizards, including one with a neon blue tail; the forest is meant to be full of monkeys, but I thought I'd missed them till I saw just two, right next to the path, near the bottom. I was a little afraid they were going to jump me, lol. *So* many deer too, all over the place! I patted one, they're completely docile (though I saw one chewing happily on a map that it'd probably ripped from someone's hand).
I'd read in my guidebook there was meant to be a festival today, but I think it must've been and gone, cos there was no evidence of it at all on the island, though I saw it mentioned somewhere as a summer festival - must've missed it, I think. Oh well, no real loss, because it was an amazing day anyway! The shrine itself wasn't that thrilling (to be honest, they never are - temples are where it's at), but the mountain was fantastic. I can see why everyone recommended Miyajima so highly, it's wonderful.
On the way back, I thought I'd better eat before I went back to the hostel, cos I'd end up eating supermarket bentou again, which I actually quite enjoy, but I thought I should try harder. XD So I decided on sushi.
...Mistake. x_o I went to a place that I assumed would be like the place I went to in Osaka, where you just say "I'll have some of this" and they give you it, then you say "I'll have some of this" and they bring you another. But I didn't understand a word the guy was saying to me, so I was just like "...Can I have some of this?" (naming the three things I liked that I could remember the names for, lol) and he made them, sure, and it can't have caused them any particular trouble, cos I only wanted 3 very simple things, but still, I feel like I completely missed the point. It wasn't helped by two middle-aged ladies sitting near me and laughing with the sushiya-san about his attemots to communicate with me. I know they weren't laughing *at* me, but it was damn off-putting. :/ That wasn't even a situation I could've done any better in, because I just don't know about sushi shops, so I don't feel my language failed per se, because I just don't know the relevant stuff; but that still didn't stop me feeling like crying. ^^' Still, the sushi was good, and they charged me a reasonable price, so I guess it worked out, but... I knew I should've just bought something in the department store, but noooo, I had to have hand-rolled, didn't I! I decided to buy myself chocolate on the way home to make up for it, lol. I've become very fond of the Spark supermarket! They have conveniently packaged watermelon chunks! :9 Something Japan doesn't really do that well is fresh fruit. You don't usually see it in the convenience store or anything, and it's very expensive, even in the supermarket. But watermelon! :9 And some very cute grapes, that I must eat before they go funny.
...I think I had some fandom things to say, but I've forgotten them. ^^' I'm sure they'll come back to me! Though I do feel the need to mention Subaru having Yasu as his desert island companion to take care of his basic needs. Hahaha, I LOL'ed hard.
Tomorrow, off to Takamatsu (on Shikoku) to stay for a couple of nights! I hear there's a good garden. And a good one in Okayama too, so I hope I can fit that in too. :)
