Farewell Kyoto, Hello Hiroshima and Hakone!

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After two busy days in Kyoto, we were fully focused on packing everything up again as we prepared to make the train trip onwards to Hiroshima. We knew we still had a 'tea ceremony' on the itinerary, but with our attention focused on cramming all the clothes, teddies and newly acquired tat into the same -- already overloaded - bags we had arrived with, we sort of missed getting excited about the remaining prearranged programme.

After requesting a later check out, we set out into a now quite comfortably familiar Kyoto. Despite the heat we decided to walk the 20 minutes or so the map said it would take to get to WAK. As if to prove the general sentiment of helpfulness here, we were approached by an older Japanese man offering assistance while we were paused to get our bearings at a street map. It made us realise that we haven't once gotten hassled by touts or otherwise during our meanderings around Kyoto (or since!)

Once we were at WAK we remembered that this was actually quite a cool, albeit touristy, thing that we had planned... Dressed in full Japanese attire, we would be learning how to undertake a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. We arrived sweaty and a few minutes late and were quickly escorted through a traditional Japanese machiya (wooden townhouse) to the back room by three lovely Japanese ladies, who politely requested of Philippe that he strip. As we both got a fit of the giggles at the clothes we were being dressed in, the ladies turned their attention to Senan, and decided to Kimono him up too. He just stood there, like the little prince he is, allowing his servants to dress him!!

After the obligatory photo shoot (the cutest photo opp for me being the one with the play samurai sword that Senan was given to keep him entertained!) we moved to another rooom where our host explained the tea ritual. Senan had lost the will to be attentive at this point, and instead took to running around the room at speed, giving us multiple heart attacks as we tried to stop him from running headlong through their paper thin walls! The tea ceremony lesson continued nonetheless - all credit to our host who showed remarkable patience as we peppered her explanation with 'Not there', 'Don't touch that', "HOT!!!!'. It was quiet fascinating to learn about it. The attendees of a tea ceremony usually spend about 4 hours on drinking tea, and prior to drinking a sip, offer their excuses to the other attendees for drinking before them etc.. . After both Philippe and I had made tea for each other, and offered and accepted it in not-quite-fluent Japanese, we removed our Japanese garb and were brought to the front room for a quick lesson in origami. Again, Senan was not quite as intrigued as us, but we persisted - determined to learn how to make the damn paper frog! We pushed our luck with Senan by taking the extra 10minutes to make a crane, but by the end he was mightily unimpressed, cranky and in desperate need of a nap. So much so that he would barely say goodbye to the ladies. We bowed repeatedly and apologized for his grumpiness as we quickly pulled on our boots and made a fast exit (1 minute later Senan was conked out in his buggy!). We made our way back to the hotel, settled up and baled all our various bags/suitcases etc into the bag of a cab to bring us to Kyoto main train station. After finding our way amongst the multiple lines and tracks, it didn't take too long before we were settled in on a very comfortable, if slightly old fashioned, bullet train destined for Hiroshima.

We had only two nights booked in Hiroshima but our Trailfinders itinerary implied that we could get a good flavour of the place in a day and a half. After checking in to the Hotel Vista Hiroshima we decided to quickly head out to find a place that serves Okonomi, a speciality of the region, made from pancake, cabbage, spring onion, fried egg and some special local sauces and herbs. It turned out to be delicious.

What struck me most about Hiroshima as seen by night, was the height of the buildings (after Kyoto, where everything couldn't be more than 40 metres high). Apparently Hiroshima has been voted a very easy place to live in, and I can well imagine that. We took a brief wander through the 'entertainment' area near our hotel - got a distinct red light vibe off certain streets, although nothing was that overt - but overall it was a good vibe, walking down busy streets with a colourful backdrop.

We had considered altering our plan to allow a visit to the Mazda factory (given that Senan is in a car-crazy phase), however a recommendation not to visit with young children due to an outbreak of measles amongst their staff put paid to that idea. Instead we decided to skick to the proposed itinerary. The next day we rose in time to grab breakfast at the hotel and hit the ground running on seeing all things A-bomb related. Another thing I love about Japan is that the emphasis is always on the positive. The site around beneath where the Atomic bomb was detonated, is now called the 'Peace Memorial Park'. The focus is on ensuring humanity learns from history so that nothing like that ever happens again. It was a poignant sight - seeing the remains of the Atomic bomb dome, carefully preserved in the midst of a bustling city, surrounded by modern buildings. After paying our respects there, we walked onwards beside the river to explore the rest of the Peace Memorial park. We quickly stumbled upon the Childrens Peace Monument, which is a statue devoted to Sadako Sasaski, a little girl who was ill from radiation poisoning and was told she would get better if she could fold 1000 origami birds. She made many, but fell short of her total before passing away, but now the statue to the little girl is home to many many origami offerings to help her make up the total. While we were there a group of school children visited and played out a whole ceremony, being led by one child, with the rest of the group responding in chant. It was spine tingling to witness. What a powerful way to teach the next generation about the perils of war!

After the park we grabbed some food for the road and made our way to the fast boat dock, which would take us to Miyajima island. Funny how after seeing the deer at Nara Park we were now a little non-plussed by the few animals that were wandering about around the harbour area! We made our way along the promenade walk to the Itsukushima shrine, with a great view of 'one of the top three most photographed things in Japan' - the o
O-torii gate - which, of course was wrapped up in scaffolding for refurbishment today! Like good little tourists though we lined up to snap THE photo none-the-less and then made our way up the mountain through a lovely park area. Less lovely were the multiple steps to be negotiated with a buggy containing a sleeping Senan - but we got a good workout out of it and with very little time to spare, hopped in one of the the last cable cars of the day. We managed to transfer a still sleeping Senan to the sling and flung the buggy into the cable car with us. Cable cars are often a touchy subject on our travels, but all credit to Philippe he never so much mentioned his fear of heights, so after transitioning to a second cable car, we got to enjoy some beautiful views of Hiroshima from the top before making our way back to the harbour in time for the last fast boat of the evening.

Back in Hiroshima, we feasted on ramen at a restaurant near the hotel - where, upon learning we didn't have much cash on us - in a cash-only restaurant (you order at a touch screen by the door) the waiter accompanied Philippe all the way to a nearby ATM to ensure that we would be able to enjoy our dinner with them. When you consider that tipping is really not common, nor apparently expected, here, it is wonderful to see this for what it was - someone who simply wanted to help out so that Philippe wouldn't get lost! After Senan wolfed down yet another plate of noodles we retired to the room, kind of exhausted, but in a good way, after a day full of impressions, mixed emotions and plenty of exercise!


The next day we had thought we would have a morning to kill until our train trip to Hakone, but in reality, after a lazy breakfast at the hotel and taking the time to seperate out an overnight bag for Hakone before sending the rest of our luggage onwards to Tokyo using the Japanese luggage forwarding system, we really didn't have much time to spare before boarding our train. This train would take us back to Shin-Osaka, where we swapped onto another train to take us to Tokyo. Once there we hopped on a local train to take us to the town of Hakone - a small town on the outskirts of Tokyo, known for it's natural hot springs and fantastic views of Mt. Fuji - on a good day.

It was in Hakone that our good luck as regards weather finally ran out. It was noticeably muggier (but still pretty) when we hopped off the train. We decided to walk the 15minutes it would take to get to our hotel (neglecting to realise that it was all up-hill!). At the Pax Yoshino hotel the charming receptionist explained how the public onsen (hot spring baths) work, whereby the men and women are seperated and its all in the nip. Eh, pass. Instead we availed of the option to book a private hot bath for 60minutes after dinner. We giggled again at the prospect of wearing the (mandatory) yukata, especially to dinner, but decided to embrace it for our 'Japanese meal' and suited up accordingly.

Dinner was a delicious, if somewhat quick, affair. Executed swiftly (we had 7 courses in 51minutes) we felt like the groupon table! In retrospect, it was probably more a sign of the experience of the waiter. We were seated in the 'with-kids' section, and he probably realised that 3 hour multi-course dinners don't combine well with toddlers! Senan was indeed having an off-night, refusing most of what we offered him, but given the amount of raisin breadrolls he horsed into himself earlier on the train, we weren't worried that he would starve! After dinner we made our way to the 'hot swimming pools', and focused on trying to keep Senan entertained outside the pool and away from a perilously steep ledge, all the while realising that we are not hot-springs people - because the water is too bloody hot!! We lasted about 35minutes, dipping back in and out like deep fat fried humans, before giving up and calling it a night. Credit where credit is due though (and it may just be that the jet-lag has truly passed but) we all had our best night's sleep in ages after it, so there might be something to be said for deep fat frying yourself...

On our final morning in Hakone we awoke to drizzle and fog, but decided to do the standard things anyway to get a sense of the Japanese countryside. We doubled back to Odawara train station, stashed our big rucksack in a locker and then took the verrry slow local train up the mountain to Gora. At Gora it was confirmed to us that the ropeway train was closed due to volcanic fumes/activity, but we could take the cable car as far as Souzan and be bused the rest of the way around the lake if we wished. With nothing else on our to-do list for the day, we said why not, and jumped on board.

The roads around here are famous as drifting roads for Japanese race drivers and after the bus trip we could see why! With a sleeping Senan pasted to my chest, I held on tight as the bus meandered through many hairpin turns on super smooth tarmac. Although it was a shame that the thick fog meant we didn't get the desired view of Mt. Fuji, the roads were an experience in themselves. At Togenai we hopped on a sightseeing Pirate Ship which took us back across Lake Ashinoko, after which we boarded a local bus to took us back full loop to Hakone town, where we had started our day.

We shlepped back on the slow local train to Odawara to reclaim our rucksack after which we realised we were ready earlier than planned to make our way to Tokyo for the last leg of our Japanese trip. Fortunately the JR passes we have are very flexible, so we swapped our tickets and boarded our last Shinkansen, fast coming to the conclusion that we'd very much like to return to Japan again, as it is all so easy, so clean and generally just a very enjoyable country to travel in!

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