2015-07-09-japan-korea-day-5-miyajima

Japan-Korea Day 5 - Miyajima

Miyajima

Ok here we go. Itsukushima island (yes I know I just said Itsuku-island Island).

The home of the killer deer apparently. They will go through your bags and stuff. I better bring a baseball bat...

Oh. Never mind.

This is all future tense of course. We're currently on a rocket ship on rails known as the Shinkansen!

I always get a kick out of going in one. This is the first time I've been on the Nozomi, which is the express Shinkansen. So the fast version of a very fast train.

Got one of these again to eat on the Shinkansen. Like I mentioned before, it's waaaay more comfortable and luxurious being on the Shinkansen than on the plane.

Today actually has thunderstorms forecasted, so we shall see what its like kayaking in a thunderstorm.

Kayaking

Surprisingly enough we made it in time for kayaking! Google Weather, you mock me. First you lied about the fine day in Nara and Kobe, now you lied about the thunderstorm. Anyway, it was a pretty short affair on the sea, as Steph doesn't handle motion sickness very well. At least we got some sweet photos.

We got some paddling lessons then set sail into the torii gates! We went through a few times.

The guy was shouting rapid fire Japanese instructions to us so it was a little hard to know what we were actually meant to do.

All these tourists were staring and taking pictures of us from the shore, probably jealous. Well, it was troublesome to find and book considering the website is in pure Japanese.

Whoo! Feeling somewhat accomplished.

The instructor fellow didn't speak any English, but we managed. He accidentally took a photo of himself while taking a photo of us. Not sure how that's possible but here he is for fame:

Mikuniya Minshuku

The accommodation this time was great, although not as impressive as the Ryokan in Hakone 2010. The living room was spacious though, immaculately clean, tastefully decorated, and most importantly air-conned! (We were approaching Ghanain level heat and humidity outside).

It also had a Japanese arts & crafts corner where you can fold origami, traditional Japanese toys section, free drinks (and cup noodles!), and even a piano and guitar. Of course Steph bee-lined for the piano first.

This is our room, before we laid out the futons.

Our room this time had a nice view, overlooking the garden.

Dinner and sunset

After a much-needed shower and rest, we headed out again. The Minshuku staff were helpful in informing us of the tide times as well as restaurant recommendations.

I tried out the timelapse function on the iPhone and it turned out pretty good! It was a lot of work. Mostly just sitting around waiting for the sun to set and watching the phone making sure no one was about to take a swipe at it. We also tried catching mini crabs on the beach, but failed.

Oh yeah, we enjoyed the sunset too. Here is the great result of the timelapse video:

Here's an image of the 5-tiered Pagoda that we took at night to help relax you.

This island is famous for its giant oysters and eel.

¥1200 "Kaki furai Teishoku", a crumbed, deep-fried oysters set meal. We always try to have this dish at least once on every Japan Trip.

Meanwhile I had eel. Anago, would you believe, is an type of eel. As opposed to the unagi we always get in Australia, anago is something that I've never seen until this time around in Japan. Unfortunately I wasn't impressed. Unagi tastes better. But it's less pricey, so I'm not complaining!

Killer deer

We were hoping to get some exciting deer stories to tell today but alas no killer deer were found. We saw a few walking around eating the grass. I think they're basically the stray dogs of Japan.

This deer nonchalantly walked up to Steph and started chomping on moss.

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