Stupidity Hole

Japan Trip: the Fourth day in Miyajimaguchi

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Stupidity Hole

I didn’t get enough sleep.
Thankfully, I was still functioning.

I would have had to have gotten up very early to do it, as there would have been about five hours spent on traveling.
尾道市(Onomichi) was the starting point.
That wouldn’t have taken too long to get to.
I was going to cycle the しまなみ海道 (Shimanami Kaidō) bike-way, which would have taken, by estimate, four hours.
What I would have done on the other side would have posed a problem.
If I took public transport back to 尾道市, it would have taken well over an hour to get back.
Had I used public transport to go around west first, then back to Miyajimaguchi, or back to 尾道市 first, then that also would have taken a while.

I know spending a while traveling after a long cycle is the worst thing in the world, but I knew I wouldn’t be up for it and it would have been a bit of a waste of time as I could instead spend that time exploring places, such as 厳島(Itsukushima), instead, which is what I decided to do during the previous day.

The other thing that was a deciding factor for me not going is that we hadn’t decided where to go yet with the days we still had to book accommodation for, so I thought it would be easier to go to 尾道市 so I could spend as little time as possible traveling to get to the start of the bike-way.
I also thought the town would have some interesting things to check out.

My plan for the day was to walk along the Tsutsumigaura nature walk there and see where it took me.
Before leaving, I asked Gabe as to whether he had booked for 尾道市 (we ended up deciding to go there during the previous night as well).
He told me he didn’t see why he had to book everything.
He had a point.
However, he had agreed to book somewhere during the previous days.
I booked a place at HTS Guest House Onomichi and told him once I was done.

I headed out to 厳島 with one of the people I had been talking to during the previous night (Jay).
We went for breakfast once we reached the town.
I can’t quite remember what I had. I think it was a chicken dish.
I know it was good.

I walked with Jay to show him the path to 弥山 (Mount Misen) via0 紅葉谷公園 (Momijidani Park) as he was interested in checking it out.

Then I started making my way to the Tsutsumigaura nature walk.

When I was walking there, I saw a few pathways that lead away from the road I was on.

I wanted to explore them, but decided against as I didn’t know how long I would end up spending if I were to.

It didn’t take too long to reach the start of the trail.
I’d say… about thirty or forty minutes due to not taking a direct route.

The walk was an easy, and straightforward.
It allowed for many beautiful views of parts of 厳島 that one wouldn’t normally see.
Vegetation was thick and abundant.
For me, it was very much like bushwalking.
Well, it was whenever there weren’t hornets I’d run from as they were hovering directly in front of me as I thought they were the Japanese giant hornets.

Other than that, very much like bushwalking.

The track ended in a cabin and camping area.

I found a bathroom and went to use it.
However, near the toilet there was an insect that I had seen pictures of before but was unfamiliar with.
I wasn’t sure if it was aggressive or not, so I let it be, hoping that I had not disturbed its being.

Turns out it was a house centipede, so I was safe.

After a few minutes of walking, I came to the beach I had visited on the previous day.
As far as I was aware, the track was meant to continue beyond here.
I came across a road that lead further on and decided to follow it as I thought it would lead to the remainder of the trail.

There was a lot of walking that day.

I had already walked quite a lot during the trip, but this was the point where I did the greatest amount.
The road was quite long, winding around hills and following occasional beaches.
On the beaches I passed I would see a shrine facing the ocean.
It was a curious, picturesque sight.
I was lucky enough to see a Japanese macaque.
I wasn’t able to get a picture of it as it was out of sight before I could pull my camera out.
I don’t mind though.
I don’t think I would have been able to do it justice.

The road went on and on never seeming to stop.
It would only continue forward.

The theory that during the descent of Mount Fuji, we were actually in hell, was just that: a theory.
We couldn’t see the sixth station due to the fog and it did seem unending, but at least there was an end.

This was beautiful, winding around hills, seeing the ocean, islands, beaches, wildlife, but it never ended.
Everything could be seen but there was no end in sight.
The farther I walked, the farther it stretched out.
It was so obvious and yet, it wasn’t.
I was given the smallest slither of hope and had it gradually seeped away from me until eventually the walking became something I could not stop, despite my pleas to give up.

As I walked further on I noticed the roots that were burrowing into the sky, slowly breaking its complexion down into edible pieces for the sea creatures waiting underneath.

As what remained of the sky turned into rot, the creatures that were hidden from my view approached me with confidence.

They kept their gnashing teeth on the ready and their hearts hidden from view.

The roots continued their push upwards and I kept walking but the road only continued to persist, refusing to allow an end to this journey.

One of the creatures then spoke:

“DOES A FLOWER CRY?!
DOES IT?!”

Eventually I reached a point where the road forward was closed and the only way to continue was to follow one that headed away from the ocean, up a hill.

Feeling that this was a familiar situation, I decided against going further and began to walk back.

There was a sign nearby that said the pier was eight-and-a-half kilometres away.

Not another walk through eternity!

To be fair, the walk wasn’t that bad.

It just felt long.

Eventually I decided to try and get a lift back to town.
My feet were starting to tire more than I thought they would.

The first vehicle that I stopped wouldn’t take me due to space.
They told me to ask the next person.
The next person took me to the campgrounds.

From there, it was an easy walk.

Soon I was on my last ferry to Miyajimaguchi.
Whilst there was still a fair bit to cover and I wouldn’t be returning during the trip, I was lucky enough to see a good portion of 厳島.
It was a satisfying experience.

Once I was back at the hostel, I offered to buy Jay, Gabe and another person beer.
Jay, the other person and I went to the rooftop to watch the sunset.
It was a good way to close the day.

Then I went to sleep.

That’s what should have happened.

So we went back down and drank some more.
I was eating pizzas as well and ended up eating four.

There were three people there that had heard about how Gabe had bought ten shots during the previous night.

They decided to have ten each and if they were able to have them all, one of them was going to pay for all the shots.

I had bought a few shots as well, but as they weren’t finished, I gave them one.

Jay, the other person, a couple who joined us and I headed for the local 7-Eleven to buy more alcohol.

I went barefoot as I couldn’t be bothered putting my shoes on.

We were back pretty quickly with more to drink.

I bought myself a sake and plum wine and downed them pretty quickly.

Then it became hard to talk for a while.

Once I was able to talk properly again, I bought a cassis and orange.

That wasn’t the best idea I’ve had.

Eventually I decided to go to bed as I was done for the evening.

I said goodnight to everyone I could (most of the people staying at the hostel were drinking at this point [somewhere around midnight]), then made my way up the stairs to my bed.

I don’t know how I did it.
I was sleeping on the third floor which meant I had more stairs than a drunk person should ever have to go up.
I somehow made it.

Somehow.

I also don’t know why, after making my way up, getting to my bed was an impossible task.

I looked at the ladder and decided that it would be less arduous to find an unused bed that was a bottom bunk.

I found one pretty quickly.

Almost as quickly I had to get out of it to make my way to the bathroom.

I threw up slightly on a toilet door, then let loose in a sink.

I then failed miserably when I attempted to clean it out and managed to fill the sink up more using water to try and get my stomach’s semi-liquid gift to the world to go down the drain.
As I was too drunk to do clean it properly, I decided it would be better to try in the morning, so I wobbled my way to the new bed and very quickly passed out.

Posted in Life | Tagged drunk, eternity, flower, island, Japan, monkey, nature, plum, shrine, sink, walk | Leave a comment

Pictures From the Third day in Miyajimaguchi

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Stupidity Hole

Photos in relation to the last post.

HARDY HAR HARRRR!

I don’t know why I laughed.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged beach, bike, City, guitar, Hiroshima, HMV, Japan, oyster, slime, tram, trip | Leave a comment

Japan Trip: the Third day in Miyajimaguchi

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Stupidity Hole

Shortly after waking up, Gabe and I had breakfast at a bakery nearby.
I think it was a bakery.

I made my way to Hiroshima.
Unfortunately I didn’t leave early enough to get there before sunrise, but I still wanted to go to the 広島平和記念碑 (Hiroshima Peace Memorial) anyway.
Once I arrived in Hiroshima, I hopped onto a tram heading to the memorial.

I enjoy trams.
It’s fair to say that I enjoy them a lot.
I like being on them.
I like how they operate.
I like how their networks can be incredibly vast and go on for ages.
I like how quick they can be.
I enjoy trams.

Maybe it has something to do with riding them when I was a young child.

Anyway, I got off at the memorial and spent a few minutes there.
It is a powerful testament to the devotion to peace the Japanese populace work for.
WWII was a pretty nasty event, but for some reason, whilst I admired and respected it and what it stood for, I didn’t feel overwhelmed or taken aback or saddened.
Seeing it didn’t affect me.
Still, it should be treated with reverence.

I then switched to wandering mode and… well… wandered around for a while.
I came across a HMV at one point.

For anyone in Australia: remember those?

Yes, it was pricey.

With that being said, the range was excellent.
I’m fairly certain that this one put the range of the ones we had to shame.

I bought Hear You by Toe, Release by ESNO, and 藍のうた by カナタ, after being able to listen to them whilst in store.
Whilst Hear You was the superior out of the three, I think they were all worthwhile purchases.

Last week I was reading about Stanislaw Lem and, despite discovering this before, discovered that one of his books was called His Master’s Voice.

It had me wondering if it was possible that HMV was named after the novel.

It wasn’t.

After some more wandering (and a brief lunch featuring a hot dog), and purchasing a new strap and some plectrums from a guitar store I came across, I headed back to Miyajimaguchi.

Once I was back at the hostel, I spoke to the staff briefly about what I’d been up to.
I then spoke to Gabe a bit more about where we should go next, before discussing going to a beach on 厳島 (Itsukushima).

He told me where it was and said he may head there.
I told him I’d go check it out.
I borrowed a bike (it was called Udon) from the hostel and headed out to the island.

Once I was there, I headed to the beach, stopping on occasion to enjoy some of the fantastic views that I had the luxury of seeing.

At one point I saw someone burning some wood (I imagine this has something to do with oyster farming).
I took some pictures, then continued cycling.

It didn’t take me too long to reach the beach.

Reach the beach.

Reach… the beach…

Nope. Don’t have anything.

The waves were calm, which was nice, but it didn’t appeal to me at the time.
I had a strong desire that day to have waves around me, but as that was not to be the case, I lost a lot of the interest I had.
When I saw that the showers were locked, I lost what little interest in going for a swim I had left.
It’s a pretty small thing to have as the deciding factor as to whether you’d go for a swim or not, but for me it was enough to not make me want to.

Oh. There were some deer around the area.
I had been seeing them when I was away from the town, as is to be expected.
However, it was nice to see them there as it made it feel a little less near civilisation.

I headed back to Miyajimaguchi, then, based on a map provided by the hostel that pointed out some places of interest, cycled to 江波山公園 (Ebayama Park) so I could get a good vantage point for the sunset.

Now that was a good, lengthy trek.

I spent most of it cycling through suburban areas, occasionally asking people if I was heading in the right direction as I thought I may have passed the park.

At one point I stopped and spent some time walking around an oyster farm as it was low tide and I had not seen one up close before.

Hearing all the oysters make crackling sounds was unsettling to an extent.

I reached a point where the road ended at the t-intersection.

After asking someone for the direction of the park and them pointing me to where I had to go, I continued cycling… right past where I was meant to go.

The sunset had already started, so I took some pictures during that period.
I’m not too sure how long I was cycling for after getting directions.
It was probably about fifteen minutes.

I ended up asking someone for directions as I was pretty sure I had missed the park.
I was right, but they didn’t know where it was.
Someone overheard me asking and then cycled with me to where I needed to go.
I was incredibly grateful.

I got to where I wanted to be as fast as I could.
Coming to a set of stairs, I hopped off and began to make my ascent.
Sadly, it was a few minutes too late.

As I was going up, I talked to a person about language and the difficulties of it.
It was a short, but enjoyable chat.

Despite the sun mostly being set, once we reached the top, I was able to get excellent views of some of the area around me.
There was an excellent view of Hiroshima from there.
Despite my location not being up high, it looked very small.

After a few minutes, the person I spoke to headed off.
I spent a little while longer taking photos and enjoying the view before making my way back.

Once I was on Udon again, I began to hunt for ほの湯 (Honoyu Onsen [I think]) as, based on the map, it was close by.

I asked someone for directions and they told me I needed to go back down the road that I had come down that ended at the t-intersection.

I had a feeling that they didn’t know where the one I was looking for was, but I went down the road anyway as part of me just wanted to head back to the hostel.
I probably missed ほの湯.
I ended up cycling back to the hostel as quickly as I could as it was night-time and I wanted to rest.

Once I got back, Gabe asked me if I wanted a drink.
I told him that I wanted to rest as I was buggered.
The staff seemed shocked to hear how far I cycled.
He told me that Malcolm Turnbull had challenged Tony Abbott for leadership of the Liberal Party.
I told him I would have a shower and be down as quickly as possible.

I can’t speak for how Gabe feels about politics.
With that being said, I feel that he is as interested in it as I am.
I can get pretty passionate about politics at times.
It was something I was introduced to at a very young age (something I’m quite thankful for).
Generally I don’t throw my support behind any parties as I feel that a good portion of them are terrible.
I do feel that some have good policies though.

Anyway, I bought a beer for ¥800; an incredibly cheap price for how big the beer was (it was larger than a pint).
I don’t normally drink beer as I find the taste to be pretty nasty, but this was important.
Luckily it was (for me) quite a good beer.
It wasn’t anywhere near as bitter or sharp tasting as what I’ve had in the past.
I found it to be fairly smooth and light.
We had pizzas as well. Those were still good.

Whilst we were following the challenge, I went upstairs to find other Australians in the hostel to let them know of the turn of events.
There were some who came down soon after, but as they weren’t into politics, they weren’t following it.

Eventually it was revealed that Malcolm Turnbull was the new Liberal Party leader.
The news was bittersweet, as these things should generally be.
Whilst I enjoyed Abbott’s onion-eating antics (the strength of that feat should have been enough to crown him ruler of Australia), he had most certainly overstayed his welcome.
There was, and still is, a lot of uncertainty with Malcolm Turnbull.
I do think he can do an excellent job, but at the same time I also think that it may be a bit too late for that.

Anyway, Gabe and I were happy.

Gabe had periodically mentioned how he bought ten shots and how we had to drink them.
I made the wrong decision in choosing not to believe him.

Soon after the leadership spill was over, the shots came out.
Half were tequila; the other half, vodka.
The reason Gabe bought so many was that they were 100 each.

We had two or three each and then gave the rest away.
It was just a bit too much to have.

Gabe and I spent a good portion of the remainder of the night talking to other people in the hostel about why the change of leadership was a good thing.

This lead to me talking about problems I saw in Australia as a whole.
The other Australians said that they didn’t say the same things I did, but shortly after admitted they hadn’t seen much of Australia outside of Melbourne.

On a quick side note, I’m not going to get into the details of what I see as problematic in Australia.
I will say that the issues are entirely fixable and I hope that the people of Australia, myself included, begin to work together as a whole to fix them.

Anyway, we all talked about other stuff as well, until about two in the morning.
Gabe had gone to sleep much earlier.
I had been planning on doing a sixty kilometre cycle on the suggestion of a friend of mine.
I was going to do it after waking up in the morning, but when I found out how long it would take to get to where I had to start, I reneged on the idea.
Staying up for a while probably had something to do with it as well.

After saying goodnight to those who were still awake, I went to bed, hoping to get enough sleep to be functioning in the morning.

Posted in Life | Tagged beach, beer, bike, cheap, cycle, Hiroshima, Japan, memorial, party, peace | Leave a comment

Pictures From the Second day in Miyajimaguchi

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Stupidity Hole

I’ve chosen to upload less pictures this time as I feel I’ve been a bit excessive with my photographic uploading.
Also I’m saving some of the photos here for posts that will focus on them.

Also, from looking over the photos I took, I realise I really should have known that I was in the 宮島自然植物実験所 (Miyajima Natural Botanical Garden).

Heh.

Oh well.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged bird, crab, gate, island, Japan, pagoda, shrine, statue, town, trip | Leave a comment

Japan Trip: The Second day in Miyajimaguchi

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Stupidity Hole

In the morning I headed out to 厳島 (Itsukushima) again.
My plan was to spend time on 厳島 in the morning, then head to Hiroshima in the afternoon to see the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in preparation for taking a photo of it at sunrise.

Once I was on the island, I made my way to 厳島神社 (Itsukushima Shrine).
I think I was actually heading to see torii gate again as there were less people around (It was around eight in the morning).
As it is situated near 厳島神社, I imagine that’s the reason why I ended up checking it out as well.

It was by far the largest shrine I had seen on the trip.

Seeing it in the morning whilst it was still high tide and with a small amount of people around gave a fairly relaxing atmosphere.
The beauty of the shrine was far more apparent to me as well.

After I was finished with 厳島神社, I made my way to 宮島水族館 (Miyajima Public Aquarium).

When I saw it whilst I was wandering on the previous day, I thought it would be worth checking out.
I found it to be as enjoyable as Osaka Aquarium.
Its focus was the Seto Inland Sea.
I think it did a good job of covering the inhabitants there.
However, I do feel that some of the tanks really should have been much larger than they were for some of the creatures.

After I left, realising I spent far more time than I thought I would (about two hours), I decided to go and see the Miyajima Natural Botanical Garden.

They were listed as being four kilometres away from the aquarium.
I thought this would give me a good opportunity to see if there were any beaches along the way (Gabe and I had brought swimmers with us as we wanted to go to a beach at least once during the trip).
I’m fairly certain I walked a distance longer than four kilometres.
The long and winding road (dun dun, dun dunnnn dun) would rise and dipping occasionally, gradually leading to a feeling that it was far, far longer than its advertised length.
I followed the road all the way to its end, seeing some oyster farms along the way and getting excellent views of the sea and land opposite to my location.

Once I reached the end of the road, I walked for a few minutes longer, soon reaching what appeared to be a ruin of an old building.

I didn’t explore it as I felt I was intruding.

There was another pathway in the area but as it appeared to be highly overgrown, I chose not to take it.

In hindsight, I’m pretty sure that a good part of the walk I did was the Miyajima Natural Botanical Garden and I didn’t realise at the time.

I started walking back, planning to head to the Okunoin Temple that followed a road connected to mine.

It didn’t look to be too far away from my location.

That was most certainly not the case.

Now, walking on an uphill road for somewhere around an hour-and-a-half a day after climbing a mountain, which was a day after getting around a mountain whilst carrying a bike is not my idea of fun.

There were times I thought it would be better to turn around, but decided not to as I thought I was close.

Eventually I did reach the temple grounds.

I rested for about ten minutes before asking someone (there were two people there who had driven up to maintain the area) where the temple was.

It was about twenty metres away.

I approached.

It was small and humble, fitting in nicely with its surroundings.

I could hear someone praying inside.

After listening for about two minutes, I began to make my way back down… for about three minutes, when I stopped and took a path I saw on the way up that lead back to 弥山 (Mount Misen) instead.

Now, this was partly by accident.

Well, it kind of was partly by accident.

I wouldn’t have taken that path had I not been up there.
I thought it would be faster and also, as the sky was fairly cloudless, I wanted to get more photos from the observatory.

So, that is to say, it wasn’t by accident at all.

The walk to 弥山 was a nice change compared to walking along the road.

The biggest thing was that it felt less like walking on a road.

Surprising, I know.

There were parts that almost felt like being in the Australian bush.

It was a fairly smooth trek that took about an hour to complete.

When I reached the observatory, I took a few more photos and enjoyed the view again.
With a clear sky, it was still good.

Once I was finished, made my way to the cable cars (there are cable cars you can use to go up and down the mountain), took a few more photos there, then went down.

I didn’t enjoy cable cars before then and I still don’t now.

I wasn’t really interested in jogging/running down the mountain again though, so I dealt with it.

Once I was back down, I wandered a bit more around town, saw the Goju-No-To Pagoda, then made my way back to Miyajimaguchi.

When I got back, I spoke to the staff about what I got up to for the day, then spoke to Gabe.

He had a small wander around Miyajimaguchi, but didn’t really do much else.

He also extended our stay there by one night.

We had a few days with no accommodation booked to allow us to decide on a whim as to where to go after Miyajimaguchi.

We ended up extending the stay by a night as I thought it was a fantastic place and told Gabe it was worth it.

He seemed to be happy with the decision.

Anyway, after resting and showering, we went looking for somewhere to eat, but as we couldn’t find anything that seemed like something we wanted, we ate at the hostel instead.

They had pizzas and we found them to be satisfying.

I also had a cassis and orange as my drink.

I had never had it before. It was quite satisfying.

Soon after, due to my being tired, I went to sleep.

Posted in Life | Tagged garden, Hiroshima, hostel, island, Japan, muntain, observatory, pizza, shrine, Temple, view | 2 Comments

Pictures From the Third day in Kyoto to the First day in Miyajimaguchi

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Stupidity Hole

Yet even more photos from Japan.

This time, there’s a few decent ones included.

I forgot to mention that there’s deer on 厳島 Itsukushima.

You’re not meant to feed them or pet the ones in town as there’s a desire to have the deer return back to the wilderness and be less domestic so they don’t have to rely on the people in the town to look after them.

I do have a fondness for the image of the rhinoceros.
I think it looks quite bold and fierce.

The small island is located in 瀬戸内海 (Seto Inland Sea).
It has a name, but I can’t remember it.

I like how these images come together.
They might not be the most cohesive collection, but I do think they come together nicely.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged crab, deer, fish, island, Japan, koi, Kyoto, Miyajima, rhino, spider, town, Train | Leave a comment

Japan Trip: From the Third day in Kyoto to the First day in Miyajimaguchi

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Stupidity Hole

In the morning I headed off to the Nintendo offices.

Having enjoyed a number of the things they’ve been part of, I wanted to see their building.
If I didn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered to me, but as I had time to spare, I decided the best course of action would be to see it.

It reminded me of a building made of tiles.

It was fairly plain in appearance.
Quite frankly, I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe something far beyond reasoning.

Instead it reminds me of bathroom tiles.

Still, it was a nice building.

Once I was done with viewing the Nintendo offices, I headed back to Gojō Station as Gabe and I had to check out soon.

I still had some time to spare when I got there, so I decided to see 東本願寺 (Higashi Hongan-ji).

I did plan for this as it was only a few minutes from where Gabe and I were staying,

Unfortunately there was some construction work, but what was visible at the time was very impressive.

Apparently 東本願寺 is the largest wooden structure in Kyoto.

It certainly was impressively large.

It felt somewhat understated in its design and a bit more humble than expected.

I didn’t spend too much time there though as unfortunately I managed to waste a bit too much getting to the entrance.

After about ten minutes of seeing what I could, I made my way back to the guest house and subsequently managed to not find it for about fifteen minutes, despite knowing where it was.

Once I was back, I saw Gabe downstairs. He said that he was ready and that he had cleaned the room.

He was ready.

He had not cleaned the room.

This annoyed me as, instead of making for a quick departure, I spent about ten minutes cleaning.

I’ll admit that it’s not much time to spend doing a lot of things.
I’ll also admit that the room only needed to be tidy and not perfectly presentable.

The problem was that there was still rubbish lying about and Gabe had only put some stuff on a table and folded up the futon he slept on.

If someone says they have cleaned, you expect that they actually have.

Complaining aside, we checked out and then made our way to 京都駅 (Kyōto Station).
Our next destination was 宮島口 (Miyajimaguchi).
We chose to go there as it was easy to get to 厳島 (Itsukushima, also known as 宮島 [Miyajima]) and Hiroshima from there.

We arrived at 京都駅 pretty quickly and managed to find our way to the 新幹線 (Shinkansen) office to get our tickets to Osaka Station in a short amount of time.

The line, however, was not short.

A few minutes beforehand, I suggested catching the 新快速 (special rapid service) as it wasn’t going to make much of a difference in time (about ten minutes) in getting back to Osaka.
Gabe was insistent on catching the 新幹線 to get back though.
Once we saw the line, I advised that it would be quicker to go for the 新快速 as we wouldn’t have to line up.
Gabe said that the line would go quickly.
It did not.

I went up to one of the ticket machines but it didn’t seem to have an option for JR Pass holders, so I went back to Gabe.

The line moved occasionally, taking slight steps forward when it did.

I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited until eventually I felt I could not wait any more, which lead to more and more waiting beyond what I thought I was able to do.
This lead me to realise that there was a very good chance that I would not see the end of the line and possible end up seeing the very real battle between the fitness of my buttocks and the burgeoning girth that was growing on the couch I would end up sitting on, never to return as the days would slowlyslipslipslipawayintoagreyingnothingnessthatwouldensurethatatleastoneburgerwouldslowlyslipitswayoutofmymouthandescapetofreedomasIleftthisworldforsomethingbeyondlifeandbeyonddeathexceptitwouldreallybeadeathofsorts.

I imagine the burger would be sad to see a soul so innocent perched on the corpse of avarice, but glad to know that it could finally follow its dream of being a door-to-door insurance salesman as it would be able to wear a snazzy suit and, as we all know, if you aren’t wearing a snazzy suit, you are doing yourself the greatest disservice known to reality.

We did actually wait a fair while with very little movement. At one point, I suggested that we go for the 新快速 again, but Gabe didn’t want to, suggesting that it would take less time to get our tickets and catch the 新幹線.

After about twenty minutes of standing in line (I’m pretty sure it was actually longer) and still not reaching the stanchions (which were only a few metres ahead of us the whole time we were waiting), I told Gabe I was going to catch the 新快速 and that I’d meet him in Miyajimaguchi.

So off I went, into a world not yet known to me or my very being.
At that time I didn’t realise just how important the journey to the other side of wherever I needed to get to was, for it seemed like immaterial extraneous excess at the time and I was merely trying to get along with the harmony in my mind as my baggage rode my coattails into the wide open future.

There could have been a moment that I could have realised, but whose to say what future would have awaited me had I heeded the sounds that were trying to draw me to a more open realisation?

But I digress.

After leaving Gabe and the line, I reached the platform I needed to be on pretty quickly.

There was a slight delay with the train arriving, and there were a lot of people around which lead to the 新快速 being fairly packed, but as the journey was short, it didn’t really matter.

Once at Osaka station, I went to get a ticket for the 新幹線 that would take me to Hiroshima.
When I reached the office, I saw something about tickets being for reserved seating only.
There was a very short wait to speak to someone. I asked if I needed to get a ticket seeing as I had a JR Pass.
I was told only if I wanted to sit in a reserved section.

I thanked the person and headed off.

I then got something to eat I was a bit hungry (I had the same thing when Gabe, Tim and I left Osaka) and once I was done, went straight to the platform I needed to be on.

The unreserved seating on the 新幹線 was much more packed than the reserved seating when heading to Osaka, but that probably had a lot to do with the time of day.

It was, once again, an enjoyable trip, although I didn’t spend too much time looking out the window.

Changing at Hiroshima Station was pretty quick and it wasn’t long before I reached 宮島口.

Soon after that, I reached Backpackers Miyajima (where Gabe and I were staying) and checked in for the both of us.

On a slight side note, they liked my shirt.

They thought it was cute.

That makes me happy.

But anyway…

Soon after checking in, I made my way to the ferry that would take me to 厳島.

Whilst on the ferry, I looked out to the island. It began to warp a slight bit.
Never had that happen to me before.
I imagine it had to do with being tired as my last sleep wasn’t as much as I probably should have had.

Oh well.

Once I was off the ferry, I made my way to 厳島神社 (Itsukushima Shrine) to see the torii gate so I could get it out of the way as quickly as possible.

It was low tide, but I didn’t walk through it.

Well, it certainly was tall and majestic as well as fairly sturdy in appearance.

I walked around the island for a little while until I came across a sign advising of a walk that lead to somewhere.

Yes, somewhere.
I shit you not.

That somewhere happened to be 弥山 (Mount Misen).
I think I was more interested in 紅葉谷公園 (Momijidani Park) at the time, but I can’t quite remember.

Anyway, I ended up going there and heading up the mountain.

It was a nice walk up, with much vegetation and a small stream on occasion.

It had a certain special feeling to it.
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but that’s what it felt like it had.

There were also a lot of stairs.

Eventually I reached and area containing the Misen-Hondo, Reikado and Sankido It was very quiet and calm.
I had a brief rest there before continuing on.

There was an observatory that was not far from there, with it being my goal (as I wanted to get to the top and that is, I imagine, the highest accessible point on the mountain).

The view was one of the best I’ve seen.
It was overcast, which gave a great intensity to the view without reducing visibility.

I spent somewhere around twenty minutes up there, soaking it in and taking photos of the surrounds.

Once I was done and had gotten back to the path I used to get up, I decided to jog/run back down.
It took me about an hour to go up.
It was about nineteen minutes to get down.

I did it partly because I wanted to and also because I thought it would be easier on the knees.

Once I was in the town on the island, I made my way back to the ferry.
On the way, I saw the torii gate again. This time it was high tide, which provided a better and more interesting view, so I took some more picture of it before continuing on.

When I got back to the hostel, the staff asked me about what I got up to, so I told them.

There was a person who was staying there that I started talking to before I headed off to the island.
It may have actually been after, but I can’t quite remember.
Actually, I’m pretty sure it was after.
Anyway, I offered to show my pictures to them when I came back, but unfortunately this did not eventuate.

Gabe was there. I found out that it took him a little while to get there, but he arrived in one piece.

We were in a shared dorm again, but I wasn’t bothered by it at this point.

I told him about my adventure and, after resting for a little bit, headed downstairs to write before going back up to sleep.

Posted in Life | Tagged burger, ferry, gate, island, Japan, Kyoto, Miyajima, mountain, Temple, Train, view | Leave a comment

Pictures from the Second day in Kyoto

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Stupidity Hole

Here are yet even more pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Included are pictures involving the progress of a bike around a mountain.

I hope you enjoy.

Posted in Photography | Tagged bike, cycle, forest, Japan, Kyoto, mountain, shrine, stairs, Temple, trip, water | Leave a comment

Japan trip: The Second Day in Kyoto

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Stupidity Hole

Shortly after waking, I spent time wandering again.

During the previous day (and early in my cycle) I passed by a long canal-like area that I thought would be worth checking out.

I asked Gabe if he wanted to come along.

He told me that, in his experience (I think), he found wandering around whilst traveling was not a good way to see a place.
I reminded him that I had come across many interesting things at that point.

As he decided not to join me, I said that if he headed out before I got back, to send me a message so I’d know when I returned.

Once I left, I first headed to the road that the canal-like area was on and headed in the opposite direction. I saw 西本願寺 (Nishi Honganji), so I checked to see if it was accessible yet. It wasn’t.

After that, I headed to the canal-like area (堀川 [Hori-Kawa river, or at least part of it]).

Once I reached it, I headed down the stairs that lead to its beginning and followed it the whole way.

Kyoto already felt like a city removed from a city, but this was something else.

It was undeniably a part of the area it was in, but being beneath ground level, passing under bridges but not being covered, not being able to see anything beyond the walls, with various plants and a stream to follow, left it feeling as though it was part of a city removed from a city that felt as though it was removed from a city.

It was very relaxing and beautiful whilst still being, to an extent, incredibly plain and unremarkable.

That is the best way I can describe it at this moment.

Eventually I ended up in a fairly open area. To my right I spied a fallen iron horse; a bike that had sadly fallen to the wayside, having lived a life and bound to watch as the rest of the world continued to move beyond it, unless someone brought it to a good home to care for it and restore it to a grand glory.

Shortly after this, the area became more forest-like as the path went back to ground level.

Whilst it was still relaxing, the feel had certainly changed to one much closer to nature.

Having enjoyed my walk, I made my way back to the guest house as quickly as I could.

I had to catch a train part of the way back as it was going to take too much time to walk the whole way back if I didn’t.

There had been communication with Tim and the guy.
Before I left for my walk, I sent out a message about meeting up during the day to do something (like cycling around or heading to 金閣寺 [Kinkaku-ji]).

When I got back, I saw that Gabe was there. I checked the conversation and as I was scrolling through, I saw that Gabe had said at one point in it, “Just waiting on __ to get back (story of my life)”, during a serious discussion about meeting up.

It was not appreciated.

After a very, very brief respite, I told Gabe that if he ever used me as an excuse for his laziness again, I would not talk to him.

He told me that I misunderstood, was taking it the wrong way, and was taking it out of context (the context being working out what time to meet up), but he refused to explain how I was taking it the wrong way.

Anyway, the guy was heading to the Manga Museum before leaving Kyoto that afternoon for his next destination, whilst Tim was heading to 金閣寺.

Gabe and I rented bikes (with me renting the same one as the previous day) and began to make our way to hopefully meet with Tim and, if we had enough time, meet with the guy.

The bath I had paid off far more than I expected, as I was not feeling any pain that day.

It helped that Kyoto was fairly flat, which made cycling much easier, but I do believe it was mostly the bath that helped.

On the way, we stopped for breakfast at a place called Komeda’s Coffee.

I had suggested eating light whilst we were cycling, so we didn’t.

Decent food, but not something I’d normally have for breakfast, although it did come with a boiled egg and bread.

We continued on afterwards but after about fifteen minutes, Gabe decided he wanted to do his own thing.
He said he felt he was holding me back a bit and because it was good weather (the sun was out and very little clouds, if any at that particular point in time, could be seen), he wanted to dawdle a bit.

We went our separate ways. After another fifteen minutes (approximately), I reached 金閣寺.

I thought it was pretty nice.
It’s not often you get to see structures that golden, or important.
The area it was in was pretty pretty.

At this point I found myself disdainful towards other tourists.

Almost everyone I saw was taking pictures of themselves in front of 金閣寺.

Normally I am not bothered by this.

However, when it appears as though it’s what most people came to do and not actually appreciate the beauty and significance of what they’re seeing, then the action defeats the purpose of being there and they only cheat themselves of the experience.

I cannot stress enough that I’m aware of how stupid that line of thought is and how ridiculously judgmental it was as well.

I think I was still in a bit of a sour mood from the message Gabe sent and his lack of explaining it, but that doesn’t justify what I was thinking.

Anyway, once I was done there, I headed off and cycled around a bit more.

It was a short time before I reached 鴨川 (Kamo River). I followed it for a few minutes before crossing over. Soon after I discovered 下鴨神社 (Shimogamo Shrine).

It was a very beautiful and peaceful area. Most of it felt like being in a large forest.

The area was large and had a number of things to see. The air felt fresh and light and the temperature seemed to be cooler.

I spent a bit of time there walking around and seeing the sights it offered.

Eventually I headed further east to see what else was there.

Shortly after crossing another part of 鴨川 and heading uphill, I reached 鷺森神社 (Saginomori Shrine).
It was in another forest-like area.

It was, in some ways, much older in feel than the previous one and also more humble.

There was a small pathway that diverged from one of the pathways that connected to 鷺森神社.

I followed it, with it taking me to two things.

One was a small statue at the base of a tree.

The other was what seemed to be a very small shrine..

I think that part of the fun of traveling is coming across these kinds of things.

Soon I was off cycling again, gradually making my way around. I came across a pathway that I thought would lead up to another shrine. A few seconds on that path and I saw a snake… snaking its way down a gutter that ran alongside the path.

Deciding that the path might not be a good idea for me, I continued along.

Eventually I came across a map of the area and saw that there was a shrine partway up a mountain (Uryu-yama).

Seeing as it was reachable by road, I decided to go there as it seemed like something interesting to check out.

I reached the road that lead up to the shrine quickly enough.
I had to walk up though as it was a little too steep for me to go up (I could have been a bit fitter).

I soon reached a flight of stairs. Not willing to leave the bike there (whose name was Carrot [I found this out when I found 鷺森神社, as I finally noticed the inconspicuous sticker on the front of the bike]), I decided to carry it up the stairs.

As I was going up I saw three other people.

When they saw me carrying my bike, one of them asked “Do you know what you’re doing?”

The correct answer would have been “Yes”, without stopping my walking.

Instead, the answer I gave was “I’ve cycled ninety kilometres in forty degrees heat. This is nothing”.

I can verify that I’ve cycled that distance when I did the Sydney to Wollongong cycle.
That was in 2013.

I believe it was a bit cooler than forty degrees though.

Anyway, the person then advised me that it was two-hundred-and-fifty steps to the top.

I wasn’t aware of this and it didn’t bother me much as I was already a small part of the way up, but it certainly did make heading up a bit more difficult.

The stairs lead to a slightly more open area with two sets of stairs that, after setting Carrot down and walking up one, I found lead to the same area.

I went back down to grab Carrot and then went up again.

狸谷不動院 (Tanukidani-fudoin) had a stillness to it, almost preserved and unmoving.

It was incredibly quiet inside. Part of this was that there were only two other people inside (who were also visiting it), but it felt that most sound was also unmoving inside.

There was an information centre near it that I was able to buy water from.
I didn’t bring water with me as… I don’t know.

I noticed that there was a flight of stairs near the information centre.

After admiring the view, I took Carrot and continued upwards.

I wanted to go further up as I thought there might be a temple area somewhere closer to the top of Uryu-yama.

I also wanted to get a picture of Carrot at the top.

I thought that it would make for a good photo.

I came across a small shrine at one point, but no mountain top.

I was walking with Carrot for somewhere over an hour along narrow paths.

When the path didn’t go back up for a while, I realised I was not on the path I wanted to be.

Eventually I reached a creek. I followed it as I hoped it would lead me to a road.

I ended up coming across another shrine (one I cannot find the name for, unfortunately) that was wonderful to be around as it felt as though it belonged where it was.

That’s not to say that nothing else didn’t.

This one just felt very appropriate.

There was a road about a minute away from where I was.

I was glad to be off Uryu-yama and after about thirty minutes of cycling, I was back at the guest house.

Gabe went to the 二条城 (Nijō Castle) and slept there for about an hour.
After that, he went to the Manga museum.

Whilst we missed our chance for meeting up with the guy, Tim was happy to meet up for dinner, so after spending time getting ready (and having another bath), I headed out to eat with him.

Gabe decided to stay at the guest house and rest.

It wasn’t too long before Tim and I met up.

We headed to Chojiri to eat and shared our stories of what we had been doing in Kyoto.

I stuck mostly to having things that weren’t fish as I’m not good at eating it.

Well, not usually.

I did have some sushi that had been out of the fish for about two minutes.

It was almost without taste.
I found this interesting.

I also had some lightly battered tempura that was easy to consume.

Tim and I had, at one point, wasabi rolls with wasabi paste.

I know that I would do it again.

However, I wouldn’t recommend it.

It was… something else.

Tim and I were there for a while as the food was decent.

Once we left, we went on the hunt for a place to drink as we still had some time.

We found a really small bar that seemed alright.

We ordered sake.

Out came a plastic bottle and two glasses.

It was the first warning sign.

We sat outside and began to drink.
It was quite strong and poor in taste.
I’m fairly certain I’ve had off milk that has tasted better.

We were laughing a bit out of shock of how bad it was, drinking it slowly, when a guy came up to us and started asking us questions.

Tim offered his drink to this person. He took a sip, looked puzzled, drank some more, then said it was 焼酎 (Shōchū).
I thanked him.
He then told me he didn’t like me.
He asked how old we were.
I told him how old I was.
He gave me a fist-bump.
He asked Tim again.
Tim asked how old he was.
He said he was forty-three (I think).
Tim said he was thirty (I think).
Then the person noticed two women emerge from a building near us.
He tried to get their attention. When he failed, he grumbled and wandered off.

Tim and I weren’t able to finish our drinks as they were far too strong and poor in taste.

We returned our glasses and walked around a bit more before we said our goodbyes.

I had to catch a train part of the way to get back to the guest house.

When I got off and exited the station I needed to, the station agent thanked me.

This is something that I believe happens fairly often.

It had already happened to me a few times during the trip.

I responded in kind.

Now, I thought the way to say “thank you” formally was “arigato daiamas” as I misheard Gabe’s friend say it.

As I was close to being drunk at that stage of the evening, I said “arigato dumb ass”.

I didn’t realise until I thought about it.

After I was out of the station, I wondered if I should have gone back and apologised.

The problem is that it would have required explaining and I thought the agent wouldn’t have heard me say dumb ass.