Archive for August, 2009
Today is a transfer day. We made reservations on the Hikari Railstar to Hakata , the limited express to Kumamoto and another limited express to Aso a total of 400 Km. About halfway on the Hikari the train suddenly stopped, the lights went out, the doors between cars opened and the air conditioning stopped working. As the announcements were only in Japanese we could only guess what went wrong. Fact was that the 15 minute stop was enough to mess up our schedule. We would miss the 2 limited express trains we booked. In Hakata we quickly found another train to Kumamoto but from here we had to wait for an hour for the next train to Aso. Not only was this not a limited express it was a local train that stopped at every station and took 1 hour 45 minutes to cover the 45 Km to Aso. At Aso station we took a taxi for the last 5 Km to our hotel.
The next few days we wont have internet in the hotel so no more updates unless there’s a hotspot I can use.
We didn’t have a lot scheduled today so we started the day a little later. We walked to the Shukkeien gardens with it’s pond and bridges modeled after Xi hu lake in China in 1620. Closeby is Hiroshima castle, originally built in the 16th century but rebuild a few times, the last time in the 1950′s. Near the A-bomb Dome we went on a 40 minute river cruise along a few points of interest of Hiroshima. We still had some time left and went on to the Museum of Meteorology near the southern terminus of tram 6.
A short trainride and a trip on the ferry brought us to Miyajima Island, 20 km southwest of Hiroshima. This island is famous for it’s “Great gate” and Itsukushima Shrine. When we arrived we were greeted by dozens of deer that freely roam the streets. They are seen as messengers from the gods and can not be disturbed. We took the ropeway up the mountain where we found many monkeys living near the upper station of the cable car. We then hiked up Mount Misen expecting to have a great view of Hiroshima and the surrounding islands. Unfortunately is was so hot that the haze prevented us from getting a good view. We took the path down from 529m to sea level which in hindsight may not have been the best of ideas in this weather. As we arrived at the Daisho-in temple we had walked over an hour and drank about 6 half-liter bottles. On the grounds of this temple is a garden where 500 statues of Buddhas are lined next to a short path. We continued further downhill to the “great gate” that was now accessible by foot as it was low tide. After this it was time to get the ferry and train back to Hiroshima for dinner and a well deserved rest.
After walking to Kyoto station we boarded the Hikari high speed train for a 15 minute ride to Osaka. Here we transfered to another high speed train. Less than 2 hours after leaving Kyoto we arrived in Hiroshima, 380 Km away. Our hotel was only 300 meter from the train station so we put our luggage in storage and went to Hiroshima’s main point of interest, the Peace park. On August 6th 1945 at 8:15 in the morning the first atomic bomb was dropped on this city and the Japanese made sure no one could ever forget. The A-bomb dome is the main landmark, once a government building it remains exactly as it was 64 years ago. On the other site of the river is the Peace park with the Childrens Peace monument and museum. There’s a straight line from the fountain through the park to the A-bomb dome that depicts the path of the Enola Gay, the US bomber that dropped the world’s first A-bomb.
In the morning we took the subway to Nijo Castle for a visit to the old Shogun residence. This place is on the Unesco World Heritage list. During our visit a thunderstorm made us run for shelter but fortunately it didn’t last long. There was a side effect however, as we noticed earlier in warm and humid conditions the video as well as the photo camera behaved erratically. One flashed power warnings and switched off , the other had to be switched off after every picture. In the Hakone area it was the PDA that failed and needed a total reset resulting in a reboot in default settings so all software needed to be reinstalled. After a quick stop at the hotel als electronics were OK again and we made our way to the nearby Kyoto tower where we had a view of the city from the 100 meter high viewing platform. Next it was back to Gion again for visit to the Kyomizu Temple which is build against the sloping hill to have a view over the city below.
A few weeks ago we booked a tour of the old Imperial Palace. Via the website we applied for a ticket and a little later we got a mail with a barcoded permission. There’s only a part of the property that can be visited, mainly the exterior of the buildings and part of the gardens. After the tour we took a bus to the Golden Pavillion of Kinkaku-ji. This temple is famous for it’s golden exterior and the refection in the Kyoko pond. Via the shopping district with it’s covered streets where we had lunch, we made our way to Gion where we booked a photo session as Maiko and Samurai. After this it was time to go to Gion Corner where we went to see a typical Japanese theater performance.
Brussels, BELGIUM