Day 1The next part of Obon vacation was spent at Shiraishi-Jima island. A small hidden secret island in Okayama prefecture. Makensie had heard about the island while on a bus trip to the airport for our Okinawa vacation. She traveled there with her parents and decided it was a must for our Obon adventure!
We booked ourselves a Ryokan (Sans Chans) for two nights and met up with Makensie's friends Spencer and Spencer. We took the express train from Hiroshima and arrived at the port to take the small ferry out to the island. The ride was about twenty minutes. When we arrived we were not disappointed! We went straight out to the beach and spent the afternoon lazing in the sun and relaxing. The two Spencers bought a kite and amused themselves by swimming out the small island nearby. Unfortunately, they managed to get themselves pretty sunburned! We also managed to get really burned. We spend so little time in the sun here in Japan, that when we do get out, we get fried! It was worth it though :)
In the afternoon we ventured down to the local store and bought a few groceries and some water and returned to an empty beach! Everyone left when it started sprinkling! It was just an afternoon shower though. Most people seem to travel to the beach for the day so many of them went home.
That evening we all hung out and enjoyed the beach and the sunset (we missed the first bit due to primping of course)! Only Makensie can look absolutely fabulous and chic on a beach in the middle of no where! We spent the evening playing cards and hanging out in the common room of the Ryokan.
The port!
On our way.
Ferry ride!
Walking from the port to the beach.
Beach, Ryokan and eating area.
Glorious, glorious beach!
Sarong clad!
Moooo Bar area during the afternoon
shower! Cleared out!
On day two Makensie and I woke up early to go kayaking! We were so proud that we made it to the small island without having to swim there! There was a small shrine there and we looked around a bit, paddled around the bay a bit, and that was that! We ended up going back and renting inner tubes and soaking up the sun. We scoffed at the boys who were spending the morning inside due to too much sun! Unfortunately, I managed to get myself sick from too much sun but as I emphasized before, it was worth it! In the afternoon we enjoyed a Shiatsu massage arranged by the fabulous Amy (
visit her blog here)! It was extremely painful and we were saying Itaii! (OUCH!) most of the time but we were incredibly loose and calm afterwards. We went to the store again for snacks in the evening, had dinner and that was pretty much all for the second day!
In the mornings we ordered the traditional Japanese breakfast. In my eight months in Japan I had never tried it. It consisted of rice, miso soup, fish (fresh) and egg. It was delicious but definitely different!
It was an amazing adventure and I hope to go back there again and visit the
MOOOO bar run by Amy and her husband. They split their year between Bali and Japan and have traveled all over the world. They have a great store on the beach behind their famous
MOOOO bar full of treasures from Bali! I bought a beautiful sarong that you can see in the images (above and below). I wore it for most of the trip and it was one of the best items I have ever purchased.
Don't worry there are still two more posts coming your way about the rest of the vacation. Part four is about our adventure to Shikoku for white water rafting! Stay tuned..
Makensie and I on our kayaking adventure!
Sarong clad with inner tube!
Notice it's tied a different way.
Who would have thought you could
do so much with a piece of fabric!
Moooo Bar!
Amy had all kinds of great deserts as well
as almost any drink you could imagine,
including delicious margheritas or MOOOOgheritas!
Enjoying the afternoon.
Sunset
We were so lucky we had such great weather.
That week there was a serious earthquake in Japan
a Tsunami and a Tsunami warning.
Someone else trying to capture the sunset!
I decided we needed to make a memory of our adventure!
We drew a hanamaru. It is a flower symbol that we write
on all of our students homework.
Hanamaru with all of our names.
Obon 2009 Makensie, Spencer, Spencer and Anthea!
The island we kayaked out to earlier that day.
The boys swam there ! FAR!
Amy drove us back to the port in her cool
Moooo truck!
On our way back.
So sad but off on another adventure!
Definitely a futuristic approach
