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Japanese Honeymoon - Hiroshima Part 1
Feb. 19th, 2012 01:30 amThe next morning we awoke with angry badger heads ready for a train journey to Hiroshima. We packed up our belongings, left the hotel and went to Mos Burger next door. I had been looking forward to a teriyaki and egg burger for years, so we had one each. Unfortunately they weren't half as nice as I remembered. After that we got on the bus into town, to the train station where we boarded a local train for Hiroshima.
One of the reasons we chose Hiroshima was that we got engaged there in 2007. We had been out to Universal Studios, taken the Shinkansen down to Hiroshima and we went to a Sushi bar. We had an amazing time at this sushi bar and Richard proposed when we got home. We really wanted to go back to the sushi bar, but several searches on Google Maps hadn't really shown anything we could identify. We knew we'd been extremely tired when we got there and had had more than a few drinks, so we weren't even sure which street it was down. Nevertheless, we were off!
We opted not to take the Shinkansen, as we weren't in any rush, and boy were we glad we did! We took a local train that changed at every stop and wound round the countryside instead of blasting straight through it. We passed down giant valleys and through rolling hills, each corner bringing a new pocket of life; a new village that jumped out at us with ornate roof tiles and allotments. In Osaka, the predominant colour of roof tiles is black or blue, in Hiroshima it's brown! Loads of the houses had shiny brown roofs, the sun dancing as it hit the rows of tiles as we sped past. I took loads of photos, unsure if they would come out due to the speed, but I had to take them anyway. The ridge tiles at the top had different family crests and dragons intertwined in them. Even with a hangover, there wasn't a place I wanted to be more.
We pulled up in the local station and arranged our luggage for the walk; the hotel we had chosen was the same one we stayed at in 2007 where Richard proposed, so we wanted to stay again, but it was quite a walk away! Thankfully, while we researched Hiroshima we had thoroughly planned how to get there, so it was plain sailing. When we got there, we found we had been put in a smoking room, but with a quick chat, they moved us and we paid the extra.
We wandered into town down the roads of Tankamachi, the area we were staying in and we found it! The Sushi bar was definitely where we had left it 4 years previous - it wasn't open but it was still there! We happily skipped off to go shopping, finding the covered shopping street, and stopping to eat somewhere that looked like Milf could eat. Only once we'd chosen from the menu did we realise that it was Bikkuri Donkey! (lit. surprise, donkey!) which was way more amusing than it should've been, not least because it reminded me of being in Japan in 2002/2003.
After a long hard afternoon of shopping, we popped back to the hotel and watched the Man Utd v. Man City game that had happened on the Sunday before we left! They showed the whole match which was a bit weird, not helped by the fact that the callled Manchester City "Manchestaa Shitty". Once we thought it was an acceptable time to go have Sushi, we wandered down and to our surprise, the chap in there recognised us and we had a lovely chat and sit while we ate everything he put in front of us.. This included some shrimp that he beheaded right in front of us, and then after we ate the raw tails, he grilled the shells and head and we ate those too!
We did mention that we wanted to do some Karaoke, so the Sushi bar owner suggested that we went over to a bar his friend owned. It turned out to be a very swanky bar, where 2 young girls and the owner's wife entertain salary men. I do kinda regret going, we spent a ton of money, but she did do the Tea Ceremony with us, which I hadn't experienced before. I ended up drinking Tanqueray 10 and several Asahi, and singing karaoke with old men, one of whom mocked me and called me a "New Half" (Transsexual), so I called him a stupid old man.
We were way more drunk that night than we ever ever have been, and when we woke up at 4pm we definitely had to decide to waste the whole day.
One of the reasons we chose Hiroshima was that we got engaged there in 2007. We had been out to Universal Studios, taken the Shinkansen down to Hiroshima and we went to a Sushi bar. We had an amazing time at this sushi bar and Richard proposed when we got home. We really wanted to go back to the sushi bar, but several searches on Google Maps hadn't really shown anything we could identify. We knew we'd been extremely tired when we got there and had had more than a few drinks, so we weren't even sure which street it was down. Nevertheless, we were off!
We opted not to take the Shinkansen, as we weren't in any rush, and boy were we glad we did! We took a local train that changed at every stop and wound round the countryside instead of blasting straight through it. We passed down giant valleys and through rolling hills, each corner bringing a new pocket of life; a new village that jumped out at us with ornate roof tiles and allotments. In Osaka, the predominant colour of roof tiles is black or blue, in Hiroshima it's brown! Loads of the houses had shiny brown roofs, the sun dancing as it hit the rows of tiles as we sped past. I took loads of photos, unsure if they would come out due to the speed, but I had to take them anyway. The ridge tiles at the top had different family crests and dragons intertwined in them. Even with a hangover, there wasn't a place I wanted to be more.
We pulled up in the local station and arranged our luggage for the walk; the hotel we had chosen was the same one we stayed at in 2007 where Richard proposed, so we wanted to stay again, but it was quite a walk away! Thankfully, while we researched Hiroshima we had thoroughly planned how to get there, so it was plain sailing. When we got there, we found we had been put in a smoking room, but with a quick chat, they moved us and we paid the extra.
We wandered into town down the roads of Tankamachi, the area we were staying in and we found it! The Sushi bar was definitely where we had left it 4 years previous - it wasn't open but it was still there! We happily skipped off to go shopping, finding the covered shopping street, and stopping to eat somewhere that looked like Milf could eat. Only once we'd chosen from the menu did we realise that it was Bikkuri Donkey! (lit. surprise, donkey!) which was way more amusing than it should've been, not least because it reminded me of being in Japan in 2002/2003.
After a long hard afternoon of shopping, we popped back to the hotel and watched the Man Utd v. Man City game that had happened on the Sunday before we left! They showed the whole match which was a bit weird, not helped by the fact that the callled Manchester City "Manchestaa Shitty". Once we thought it was an acceptable time to go have Sushi, we wandered down and to our surprise, the chap in there recognised us and we had a lovely chat and sit while we ate everything he put in front of us.. This included some shrimp that he beheaded right in front of us, and then after we ate the raw tails, he grilled the shells and head and we ate those too!
We did mention that we wanted to do some Karaoke, so the Sushi bar owner suggested that we went over to a bar his friend owned. It turned out to be a very swanky bar, where 2 young girls and the owner's wife entertain salary men. I do kinda regret going, we spent a ton of money, but she did do the Tea Ceremony with us, which I hadn't experienced before. I ended up drinking Tanqueray 10 and several Asahi, and singing karaoke with old men, one of whom mocked me and called me a "New Half" (Transsexual), so I called him a stupid old man.
We were way more drunk that night than we ever ever have been, and when we woke up at 4pm we definitely had to decide to waste the whole day.
