Hiroshima

DAY ONE

Off we went to Hiroshima on the bullet train. It was fast, and insanely luxurious, having a set up and feeling more of a plane flight than a train journey. We ran to get our 9:52 train, arriving at 9:48 to find it wasn't there yet! The train didn't arrive until 9:51. Everyone walked on. It left at 9:52:00 exactly.

Hiroshima's main sites are the bomb museum and the city hall, the latter of which was one of the only buildings left standing after the atomic bomb exploded in 1945. It's a very harrowing place, and the museum captures well the scale of the utter destruction, and the reminents in the immediate aftermath.

In the evening we tried a new Japanese speciality; a noodle pancake with seafood inside and an egg on top.

It was suprisingly tasty!

DAY TWO

On our second day we headed off to an island in the inland sea, called Miyajima. It has a famous Tori gate in the sea, and so the small town was flooded with thousands of Japanese tourists on sightseeing trips. 

We skipped the main temple in the water, due to the sheer number queuing, and opted for another temple on a slight hill. It was another 5 storey pagoda.... I'm starting to get 'templed-out'.

The town had losts of tasty snacks though, including more noodle pancakes, and these huge oysters! 

On our return journey we decided to stop off at Saijo; one of the main Sake brewing towns in Japan. We had about 90 minutes before they all closed so we dashed into the first and coincidentally, biggest in town, Kamotsuru. There were around 15 different sakes to try, and once we established that it was free to 'taste', we set about a 90 minute sake binge. They were all good, but my favourite was the one with little bits of gold in. 

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur, but this guy made us some awesome sushi. 

While Hiroshima doesn't have much to do, the surrounding area is great, and the two combined were well worth a visit.

Chris