2 Dec  2015 – Miyajima

Thu: sweet farewells to Yoshime with exchange of contacts and thank you for her gracious hospitality at her lovely farm-house.

Ayabe train station on a grey wet day to catch our trains to connect us to the ferry to Miyajima=Shrine Island in Japanese. Had to back-track to a few stations before we got to Miyajima.

10mins on a car ferry ride in calm waters across with the clearing weathers to the island of Miyajima. The famous Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社) became a reality in the low tides.

Checked into the Miyajima Seaside Hotel, a room with a view and a private dinner served. Explored the area to discover that the oyster and scallop shells are seemingly used for land-fill.

A full-moon evening walk and was glad for my new Brynje meshed Norwegian base layer!

1night at the Seaside Hotel with dinner and breakfast JPY15,600 S$182

Ropeway (cable-car) and 1k+ walk down & up to Mt Misen (IPY1,800 S$21) on this lovely blue-sky day. Yes there was a fine thin layer of snow on top of the ropeway.

Are we there yet??

Finally on the top of Mount Misen (弥山), the sacred mountain on the sacred island Itsukushima in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima, situated within the World Heritage area of Itsukushima Shrine.

Senjokaku (千畳閣). The name means ‘1000 Mat Pavilion’ and Gojuto (五重塔), the 5-story pagoda.

Pix no matter at what angles are never enough for Miyajima! Deers here are too tame for my liking…

It is oyster season and usually would just eat them raw. Was told that the raw ones are for Jan and now it is for cooked ones, either fried, grilled. Tried a few and was pleased with the taste.

2nd night at another accommodation, Momiji-so ryokan – another lovely experience with gracious and hospitable owners at their guest house. (JPY17,280 S$196 1night including dinner and breakfast).

We started the day with the lost of a wallet and ended the day with PP & I discovering that our train tickets are not on the correct dates. Thank goodness someone found the wallet and brought it to the police station with everything in tact.

Fri: PP & I skipped breakfast and went early to catch the first ferry out to the train station and got our tickets changed. Good with our JR Rail Pass, no extra cost. Got off a coupe of stations too early and after a few hiccups we finally managed to be on track to meet at Hiroshima station. The 3monkees happily continued to Kanazawa together 🙂

The universe hiccups, and we poor fools try to figure out why – Matthew Quick

14 Happy Bdays Ingrid HUSTAD & LAM Cheng Chwab

16 Happy Bday Andy LAM

23 Happy Bday Minos LAM

24 Happy 14th Anniversary Patricia LAM & Albert CHUA

25 Merry Christmas

27 Happy Bday Lisa XIAO

28 Happy Bday Peggy LEUNG

13 Dec 2015: edited…