Hiroshima and Miyajima

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So after rushing through the multitudes of Onsens in Beppu, a "relaxing" stop in the trip left me more tired than before. We left Amit in Beppu left by 11AM, heading for Hiroshima.
Our ultimate destination is Miyajima, the sacred island off the coast of Hiroshima in the Japan Inland Sea and said to be one of the top 3 scenic sights in Japan.
Hiroshima was basically what I thought it would be, a depressing memorial park beautifully built. The A-Bomb dome is the remnant of the building closest to where the bomb exploded. The Bomb was aimed at a t-shaped bridge, which remarkably survived the blast. There was also a memorial for a little girl who got Leukemia after the bomb. Story goes that after diagnosed with Leukemia she started to fold paper cranes, hoping to fold 1000 paper cranes so that her wish for recovery will come true. She died before completing the 1000 cranes. So her classmates started folding paper cranes for her, and soon kids from all over the nation started folding paper cranes. At the memorial, there were kiosks filled with thousands upon thousands of paper cranes, and in fact while I was there, apparently another group of japanese students were presenting their batch of paper cranes to the collection, years after the girl has passed away. Quite a touching story.
The claim to fame of Miyajima is the floating Torii gate of the island. A Torri gate is the gate that marks the entrance to a shrine or a holy place. And Miyajima is considered a holy island, there is a huge gate built into the sea between the island and the mainland, and supposedly in the old days visitors would have the pass through the gate by boat to reach the island. Our ferry was way too big and our port was 15 minutes walk from the gate. (supposedly the old and the sick were not allowed to die on this island and women were not allowed to give birth on this island in the old days because it's sacred, and therefore there are no graves on this island)
Upon arrival on the island were were immediately greeted by deers. Yes, deers are just walking around the city, up to people, following toursits around, playing with each other, everywhere. Deers are considered to be sacred guardians of the island and enjoy a special status here. This made the walk from the port to our ryokan a rather out of this world kind of experience, as we walked in the dusk, our path lit by dim street lamps on stone pedestals, and deers walking in and out of the shadows around us, one of them quietly followed us for some distance.
After we dropped off our stuff we asked where we could find some food, and the owner of the ryokan offered to drive us to a restaurant closer to the port, where they served a great Okonomyaki (fried noodle omelet). Except the dude drove like a mad man (actually he drove like any cab driver in China or Vietnam, I'm just not used to it here in Japan.)
The next day we took the cable car up to the summit of the Holy Mountain of Miyajima: Mount Misen. The hike back down was quite a pleasant walk (around 2 hours), again amongst deers and hidden shrines along the path, a very spiritual hike indeed. And I realized how out of shape I am (this was nothing compared to the Incan Trail, yet my legs are sore after the hike).
We left the island around noon, grabbed a quick lunch (Unagi, a specialty of the region), and headed out for Kurashiki, the town known for warehouses-turned-museums.

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Photos

Atomic Bomb Dome
The building closest to the Hiroshima Atomic Blast

The Gates of Peace
A row of ten gates at Hiroshima covered with the word "peace" in 40 some languages.

Paper Crane Memorial
The memorial for the little girl who got Leukemia as a result of radiation from the a-bomb blast. She set out to fold 1000 paper cranes but dies before succeeding. Kids from all over Japan are still folding paper cranes for her today.

The Floating Torii
Susan taking a picture of the Floating Torii as the tide comes up.

Susan at Miyajima
At a templet at Mount Misen

Mount Misen
Peak

Susan and Deer
Sharing a secret