Blogs from Hiroshima, Japan, Asia - page 11

After a well earned sleep in our futon we went down stairs for a western breaky . Then packed our backpack for a hike around Miyajima island. The weather was brilliant, we had 27 degrees with slight humidity and clear blue skies. We walked along the beach and took photos with the deer infront of the giant tori gate. Then up the ropeway to the top of Mount Misen. It was great to see Hiroshima and the many surrounding islands, we could also see the clear blue water lapping on the sandy beaches...we just wanted to go for a swim! We took the 2.5km walk down through the forest and came across many waterfalls and a large wild monkey, a Japanese Macaque. He didn't stay long enough for a photo and blended in well with the ... read more

Donc comme je le présentais, pas de wifi à Miyajima, j'écris donc ce poste de l’hôtel d'okayama. Nous sommes donc aller de kyoto à Miyajima en faisant un bref arrêt à Hiroshima. Miyajima est vraiment magnifique, chose étonnante, des biches et des cerfs se promènent dans le village sans avoir aucunement peur des touristes ou des habitants, assez incroyable. Nous avons fait une balade de 5 ou 6 kms dans la montagne, 530 m de dénivelés quand même et surtout un nombre incalculable de marches, éprouvant pour les mollets et les cuisses, surtout dans la chaleur et l'humidité, mais très jolie balade. Nous n'avons malheureusement pas vue de singe, mais j'ai tout de même aperçu un serpent, de petite taille mais quand même. Quelques photos, cette ile est le paradis des photographes ! Demain des photos ... read more

The sad memorial of where the bomb fell.... read more

Despite planning an early departure from Kanazawa, we were grounded for lack of funds. Unlike in the UK, cash machines are always located inside the bank, so despite our best efforts searching high and low for a hole-in-the-wall at 6:30, we were forced to wait until the post office opened at 09:00 to withdraw some more yen to pay the Ryokan bill. I had read that Japan is a 'cash society' in my experience that seems to be true. It seems strange that in a country with computerised toilet seats, many restaurants, cafes and small hotels don't take plastic. Withdrawing cash can also be a problem as most Japanese banks don't accept international cards. There is however a post office in even the small towns and these always have ATMs which accept international cards. Given that ... read more

This will be my almost final Japanese blog – and actually written on the JR Beetle jetfoil from Hakata to Busan in Korea on 11 June. I left Kyoto on one shinkansen then had to change to the Sakura Kyoto shinkansen at Shin Osaka. Osaka is so close it is only about 18 mins, then the Sakura is pretty fast to Hakata as minimal stops and about 2 hours. Fortunately coming in (I knew where it was anyway) I saw from the train the green neon of the Green Hotel where I was staying in Hakata. In case you are confused, Fukuoka/Hakata are the same thing – originally two towns but the station is in Hakata so they call it that. Nice to have a hotel so close to the station – in fact the 11thfloor ... read more