June 2006

June 23
May Holiday #2
Our whirlwind trip landed us next in Miyajima, a small island close to Hiroshima. We spent two days visiting temples and shrines, including the famous floating tori. We climb through the tree-lined and monkey filled hills (though, sadly, we never saw one) and ate unappetizing food at our hotel (Mmmm...fish heads and squid).

The journey to our next destination was an accidental contender for the strangest day of my life...a personal attempt at a mini "Around the World in 80 Days". We began with a boat ride off of the island, followed by a short local train ride to Hiroshima - which proved to be as depressing as Nagasaki`s A-bomb museums...we sullenly marched in the rain to see the Peace Flame and the non-reconstructed A-bomb Dome.

Our next stop was a bit out of the way. We had to travel to Osaka via bullet train, take a subway across the city and venture through steep "mini mountains" on a painfully slow local train only to arrive at the base of one such mountain (Koyasan) to find that we must travel further yet...

Following a cable car ride to the top and a bus ride we finally arrived at our destination - a Buddhist monastary where we would be spending the night. We only had time to set our bags down before we were whisked away to meditate with the chief priest of the temple. What a day.

The meditation sessions that I participated in taught me a lot about myself...most importantly, that I am terrible at meditation. Focusing is not something I seem to be capable of...each moment I was struck with useless thoughts - "My foot`s itchy", "How are they doing this so long?", "That woman`s shirt is funny", "What`s that smell?", etc. etc. A good Buddhist I am not.

Our ridiculous trip to the top of this obscure mountain was well worth it...staying in the temple was a great experience. We were also awarded with a surreal walk through an old graveyard that was scattered throughout a forest and is thought to house over 500,000 tombs. This was probably one of my favourite moments in Japan thusfar...it was like a movie. Words and pictures cannot describe the atmosphere of that forest. Unbelievable.

We ended our adventure with the usual tourist glimpse of Kyoto (Philosopher`s Path, Silver Temple, Golden Temple and Kiyomizudera)....us and thousands of our closest friends. Another great trip.



June 16
May Holiday #1
The promised pics have been added to the net...hope you like them.
Alex and I are in the midst of a gruelling month filled with overtime and summer humidity...but, I suppose it`s the price you pay for almost a month of play.

Alex`s parents arrived early May and, happy to have time away from work and the company of familiarity, we set off for southern Japan. We arrived in Nagasaki after a speedy seven hour train ride on the infamous shinkansen (bullet train).

Nagasaki was a gorgeous town, with cute shopping areas and surrounding hills spotted with houses.
We wandered to find Sofukuji Temple - one of many along Oteramachi (temple street). It had a distinct Chinese influence, easily noted by the array of bright colours used in the entrance gate and throughout the compound. In fact, the whole town had a different `foreigner` feel to it. The Dutch/Portugese/Chinese influence was quite noticeable.
Our three days in Nagasaki included several other temple visits, a tour of the old Dutch trade quarters (where they were banished to in the 1600s) and several A-bomb memorial museums and parks....an expectedly depressing experience.

One incident was particularly upsetting. I was standing in a museum watching video footage of the A-bomb mushroom cloud and at my angle I could see the reflection of a small Japanese woman of about 80 or 90 watching the same video - an image that I will never forget.