Alas

Hello all. I know you've been chomping at the bit to hear more exciting adventures about my time here in Japan. Unfortunately real life has gotten in the way of my traveling recently. I started working a job Tuesdays and Thursdays teaching English, and have between 2 and 4 classes every day Monday through Friday. So I've been doing little of interest, unfortunately, as my time has been consumed by work and the inevitable drag as things stop being so new and shiny and my impetus to go out there and do exciting things on a whim begins to wane makes me more prone to watch hours upon hours of Avatar: The Last Airbender (the series, not the movie, don't worry) than hike a mountain or wander the streets of the city. I know, it's lame and there's no excuse for it, but it looks like there's little likely to change for a little while actually.

So I hate to say it, but until classes end and I begin having 4-day weekends to explore the Kyoto and Shima slopes, among other things, I may not have much to say here. At some point soon I'll have a post on Osaka, as I'm there twice a week and am there so often. And I may have more on Kyoto too at some point. I promise the winter season will make things interesting all over again. I want to go somewhere cool (Tokyo perhaps) for Oshougatsu (Japanese new years), Christmas will be fun, and I hear that Osaka has a German-style christmas market. I won't expect it to be too reminiscent of Deutschland, but it'll be cozy I'm sure and I will find/make some Glühwein if it's the last thing I do this year.

So there it is. My apologies. Keep checking back from time to time, but the next month will be somewhat light on the posts. You're all awesome and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Of course you can check out the best of all of the photos I've taken at www.flickr.com/delue

Miyajima: Climb It

I sure ain't in Kansas any more. And I thought the drive to NYC was a haul when I was living in Exton!




My apologies for the long wait, I hadn't meant to take ten days to continue my story about Hiroshima and Miyajima, but midterms got in the way and the like. Anyway, on to day two!

I woke the next morning and learned my first lesson about staying in internet cafes: set an alarm. Because I left 20 minutes late I had to pay an extra 500 yen. 500 yen for 20 minutes! At this point I knew I was headed to Miyajima so I grabbed a drink and headed to the station. One 15 minute train ride later and I was at Miyajimaguchi where I boarded a ferry and headed to the most photographed Torii gate in the nation.

Now you can board a ferry in Hiroshima which will take you directly to Miyajima from the Peace Memorial Park, but I decided to take the train. Why you might ask? Because I didn't realize there was a ferry from Hiroshima which I maintain is probably the most valid reason possible.

For a larger map giving context of where Hiroshima itself is in comparison to Osaka and the rest of Japan see my last post.


The day was nothing if not absolutely gorgeous. The smell of salt water and a nice breeze while the sun shone down was exactly what I needed after a wet and heavy day in Hiroshima. The ferry is very nice, though it was crowded, and cheap.


After landing and disembarking I just started to walk around the island. Miyajima itself is a huge tourist spot with a temple built over water and the beautiful Aotorii which you can take a boat through at high tide, yet walk out to on dry land at low tide. The regional specialty foods are a local style of Okinomiyaki which is very different from the Okinomiyaki we have here in Osaka, oysters served every way you can imagine, and a maple-leaf shaped baked good filled with a variety of fillings, though the most traditional is the all-too ubiquitous and delicious red bean paste.


These guys again.


I hadn't yet eaten, so I quickly got hungry and whipped out some of the dried fish I'd bought the day before in Hiroshima and started to go to town. At this the very tame deer of Miyajima came out in droves. I fed them a little, despite knowing full well that I shouldn't do so. I was saved pretty quickly from the threat of angry and hungry dear tearing me limb from limb though, as my friends from the day before ran into me entirely at random and we toured the temple.


There's also this, which is huge, and which I didn't see up close unfortunately.





Eventually we broke for lunch where I got my first taste of the local oysters. They were delicious in this Kakiudon. We also ran into some more awesome gaijin from KG which was unsurprising given that there were about 70 of us on the island all at once.


At this point Dylan and I (he's in green in that pic) ditched the girls once again in favor of mountain climbing. Miyajima has a beautifully tall peak which can be reached by the adventurous by one of 3 mountain trails in varying states of repair and ease, or by pansy girly-men in a cable car. The ladies were excited about riding a cable car and being at the summit in 15 minutes while we were stoked on setting aside 3.5 hours for hiking.


The hike followed a river for a good bit, then split off much higher. We added a good hour to our hike up the mountain by playing around in the stream, hiking off the trail, and climbing things we were probably not meant to climb. It made for good fun and a few amazing pics for the photo album. Unfortunately most of the pics of me are on his camera and all those of him are on mine.








I thought the views were beautiful as we started to get above the first layer of treetops. Boy was I in for a surprise.

I took this shot hanging from a tree over a faster-flowing portion of the river. When I got home and realized that such a terrible photo came of it I was thoroughly displeased.



At about the halfway point the views really began to be astonishing and only got better from there. I'd say they were taking my breath away, but that deed was being accomplished mostly by the far-too-heavy pack I was carrying.






Near the top there was a very small shrine. Offerings of Cup-Noodle were all over. Sometimes I wonder about this place...



Just before the summit the trails join up with the drop off point for the cable car and we joined in lighting some incense/candles in another small shrine. Then we headed straight for the top. When we got there we clambered up on top of some huge boulders and enjoyed some of the most amazing views I've ever seen.







Eventually we headed back down the mountain to catch low tide so that we could walk out and touch the Aotorii.

It very quickly becomes very crowded at low tide. We made it pretty quickly, at the lowest point there were swarms of tourists at the base.


At this point I simply took a break to spend all my money on food.

Delicious Kakiokinomiyaki that blew my mind and tasted nothing like Osaka's Okinomiyaki.

Tasty little treat. I will partake more of them next time I'm around. I also had one fried on a stick. Grilled oysters and an asparagus bacon corndogesque thing on a stick were also amazing, but they were too quickly devoured for me to manage a photo of them.



As the sun set we hopped back on the fairy and made our way back home on the ever amazing Shinkansen. I'd recommend visiting Miyajima to anybody who's going to be in the Hiroshima area. It could be done with Hiroshima in a single day if you took the cable car instead of hiking.

One last thing. I'd recommend, for those enjoying my travels, that you check out my flickr page at www.flickr.com/people/delue . I keep a map by GPS tagging all of the photos I take and post on there so you can see exactly where all of my photos were taken. It's a handy tool. Just go to that page, click photostream and then choose map. Also subscribe and leave me love in the comments my friends.

Next will likely be an amalgam of the best of Osaka thusfar, though I'm not sure when that will be. I may also embark on some epic journeys this weekend and if such is the case you will be the first to know. Much love to you all.

Keep the stoke,

DeLue