7:30 am: The plan was to have breakfast and catch a tram back to the Hiroshima JR station and head to Miyajima. Mother nature had other plans, we emerged from Comfort Hotel to be greeted by heavy rain. Still lugging my suitcase which by now had become a burden (if only I had a backpack) I was not at all looking forward to getting onto a crowded tram. The tram stop was literally across the road. It was too far too be carrying luggage over in torrential rain. Several trams passed us, each looking extremely overcrowded with people commuting to work. We boycotted our initial plan to grab the tram and jumped in the first cab of many lined up outside our hotel. The trip wasn't too long, nor was it too heavy on the wallet.
Our plan was to dump our luggage into the ¥600 lockers at Hiroshima Station and prepared ourselves for a day trip to the floating Torii, Miyajima. The train ride wasn't particularly long and we were soon at the station. The rain was still coming down so we each invested in a ¥450 umbrella. This was by far the worse day yet for sightseeing. The weather was absolutely miserable, there was a minor temperature drop and the heavens had opened up. A quick stroll across the road to the Ferry port and we caught a ferry to Miyajima Island. Thankfully the JR pass covered this ferry ride. The ride felt so surreal once the port was out of sight it felt like we were moving back into a primitive time. The rain must have kept away majority of the tourists as the ferry trip over was empty (much to my approval).
Rain was lightly spitting down as the ferry teared through the calm, foggy sea. Soon enough we approached the mountainous island. Steam rose from the dense forests and it felt so pure and untouched as we came closer. Through the fog stood a bright orange Torii, the loudspeaker on the boat confirmed that it was the famous Itsukushima Torri. People were rushing to the sides of the boat trying to get a snap of the famous landmark (I, one of them).
We grabbed a Momiji Manju which was a toasted maple leave shaped biscuit with red bean filling inside and walked along the shore to the temple. Deers! They were everywhere, un-phased by humans they went about searching for food or somewhere to sleep. Lonely Planet claims to watch out for these Deers in particular after multiple cases of deers eating JR passes. No deer was going to ingest my JR pass. Not on my watch. The temple was lovely, bold orange structs, wooden passage ways while rain fell around it. Such a perfect atmosphere. The main hall was conducting some ceremony which we suspect was a traditional wedding. Music filled the hallways with peaceful song. Definitely a nice place to bring a chick, it reminded me in a way of my year 8 trip to Old Sydney Town. Wet, miserable yet still providing a view of what life would have been back in the day. Snapping some scenic shots and soaking (literally) in the atmosphere we were on our merry way.
We had only been on our feet for no longer than 2 hours and my feet were completely drenched. It didn't help that I had planted my foot into a puddle completely submerging my foot. Wet socks, could anything be worse. Squish, squish, squish. Grabbed some local lunch, Chicken Karage. Headed to another temple, Daishoin. Starting to see a trend with the Temples and Shrines, they all each had similiar moulds but had their own redeeming trait. The plus side of this was we were able to go upstairs to the top of one of the shrines. Majority of all the previous areas had cordoned off the upper sections. The wet weather had taken its toll on the Lonely Planet as well, pages were creased and half of it was soaked. What a sorry sight. As if you wouldn't make Lonely Planet more durable, at least water proof!
Soaked to the bone, physically drained and quite over the wet weather but despite all of it Miyajima was such a nice side trip. Hopping back on a train we headed back to Hiroshima station to retrieve the main luggage. I immediately changed out of my wet shoes into the more airy thongs that is Havaianas. I threw out my damp socks and left my now white feet to air. Oh sweet mother of... air, my feet, so good. We jumped on a train and were on our way to Osaka.
Osaka was more of a impromptu destination, our initial plans did not have Osaka pencilled in for overnight stay. Thanks to the wonders of the internet we made bookings at a place called New Osaka Hotel. The destination was Shin Osaka station (we would later find out we were in the middle of nowhere). New Osaka is conveniently situated next to the station and it wasn't very difficult to find our lodging. We walked in and were greeted by warmth, why was this blasted foyer so hot? Hotter than the outside temperature! Argh, those maniacs. It would also be the first time we would have separate rooms, we unpacked and explored Osaka downtown, Umeda.
Rest of the evening we just walked about exploring what Umeda had to offer. Still no Yube, was this some wild goosechase my sister had sent me on? I just want to buy some cream! Osaka is what we more expected a major Japanese city to look like. Bright lights, large shopping distrcits and people running around. We stopped by the Umeda Sky Building. The top level was closed due to high winds so we only made it as far as the observatory level. View was quite impressive, the building was only semi-impressive. People had left many messages and attached them to the trees. Shamelessly we also left messages, unfortunately they were supposed to be wishes. Such as "Peace and Prosperity on Earth" etc. Due to our under assessment of the situation we (embarrassingly) had left mini Getaway sentiments "Japan Rocks!". Had some McDonalds for a late night snack, they're right, even Mickey Ds tastes better in Japan. I'm over day 5, at least I can walk around my room naked ...
