Miyajima and Hiroshima - March 21st

The boys are gone and I miss them so much, but I suppose I will finish what I've started and keep blogging about the days spent with them.


In Miyajima, we stayed at a nice quaint inn.



It was run by a motherly old woman. When I called her to make the reservation:


Woman: When will you be arriving at the hotel?

Me: Some time at night.

Woman: Well night time, that's a long time, you have to be more specific, dear.

Me: Well, we'll definitely make it by the last ferry over.

Woman: Well the last ferry, no I think you should aim for the second to last ferry, because what if you miss the last one? In my experience, better safe than sorry.

Me: Yes, Mommm.


And then when we got there:


Me (to Phil and Steven): I bet she's going to say "Why hellooooo. So you did catch the second to last ferry, good gooood."

(Upon us entering) the woman: "Why hellooooo. So you did catch the second to last ferry, good goooood."


So we have a Miyajima Mom now. :)



After we checked out of the hotel, we went to Itsukushima Shrine again for the day view.

Here's me and the boys in front of the big gate:



Phil really loves the deer...



Inside the shrine:



Miyajima is known as one of the three great beauties of Japan. It's not hard to see why, with the shrine beautifully submerged in water when the tide is high.




After a full morning of Miyajima, we ferried back to Hiroshima for the Peace Memorial Park and Museum. To see the destruction of which the impact still continues is sobering, but it is also uplifting to see how Hiroshima has risen from the ashes and remains a city of peace to this day.

The Atomic Bomb Dome, preserved to look as it did just after the drop:



Thousands of paper cranes that are sent from all over the world in the hopes of peace:



Hiroshima before the bomb:



Hiroshima after the bomb:



Statue of Mother and Child in the Storm:



The A-Bomb Dome and Peace of Flame seen through the Memorial Cenotaph:




Personal ranting:
It was a great day, but due to miscalculations with time, things turn ugly for me here. It becomes apparent that I am in danger of not making it back to Chiba in time for my school's graduation the next day. Phil, Steven, and I hurry to the station, and I leave the two boys in a mad rush for the bullet train. I can hear the bell signaling the train's departure when I am going up the escalator, so I drag up my 40-kg suitcase up, somehow making it on. It's good to know I am on my way, but the train is crowded with Friday-night businessmen and travelers, resulting in me standing all the way from Hiroshima to Tokyo -- FOUR HOURS. And then, I realize that the local train to Chiba from Tokyo is not running to my station anymore at that late hour, which forces me to take a taxi from the closest station.

Can we just say... SUCKS?????

Beppu and Miyajima - March 20th

Beppu is famous for its numerous hot springs.



So the first thing we did was to go to a co-ed mud bath. Everyone's naked, but you can't see anything as long as your body is submerged in the water. No photos were allowed for obvious reasons, but let me share some classy lines a 'friendly' fellow bather said to me:

"If you didn't have a boyfriend (referring to Phil or Steven), I would help you put mud on your back."

(When walking over to another pool, he slows down to walk behind me because I am covering my front with a handtowel): "Your backside is all goose-bumpley."

"Oh, there's a mosquito floating near your boobs. I do understand how it feels though."

This is all in Japanese, so when I translated everything to the boys later on, they looked appalled.


Anyway, here's the bus stop you'd get off to go to this place, 別府温泉保養ランド (Beppu Onsen Hoyo Land). I give it 2 and a half stars. The murky water makes it difficult to avoid running into things or notice steps going up/down. Also, the floor can sometimes get too hot because it's all natural. I got some mild burns actually.




After spending an hour locating a meat bun store that one of the books recommended, we were replenished enough to continue our exploration of Beppu.

One of the main attractions of the area is called The Eight Hells -- pools of boiling water that have some kind of unique characteristic like having a vivid color. We managed to hit 3 of the hells.


Hell #1: 海地獄 (Ocean Hell)
This hell has a bright blue color.



Ocean Hell also featured Amazonian lotuses that only grow in hot spring waters in Japan.




Hell #2: 血の池地獄 (Blood-Pool Hell)
This hell has a bright red color.
Here are Phil and me looking devilish in front of the pool.




Hell #3: 龍巻地獄 (Tornado Hell)
This hell spirals up like a tornado. It's not active all the time, so sometimes you have to wait a bit. I think it shoots up for 6 minutes every 40 minutes, or something like that.




After enjoying the hot springs and hells, it was time to move onto Miyajima, a sacred island off of Hiroshima.

Here's the bento box (lunch box) we had on the bullet train:




When we got to Miyajima, we threw our things in our hotel room and hurried to 厳島神社 (Itsukushima Shrine) before the light-up ended at 11 p.m.




The madness that is traveling with Phil+Steven continues...

Holy Socks, NO!

Don't leave home without first checking that your socks have no holes in them as you must remove your shoes in Buddhist temples, shrines and traditional restaurants.