This weekend the four of us were invited to join a group going to Shiraishi Island. Shiraishi Island is a 25 minute ferry ride away from Okayama and is an oasis, a world away from the hustle and bustle of city life in Japan.
We caught the train to Okayama, which took about 1.5 hours. On the way I whipped out the Uno cards and Jess, Liam, Jono and I played a few hands. It certainly kept us entertained.
We felt a little like refugees as we rode the ferry to the Island. As we approached the ferry from the front we saw the cushioned, velour seats, but as we boarded the vessel that was not where we sat. We sat on the back half of the ferry which consisted of a few wooden benches, rusted walls and no glass windows (ahh, the beautiful fresh sea breeze). Tina was delighted to see a cockroach scuttle past her feet. It was allegedly wearing sunglasses, bathroom boots and a life jacket (it was THAT big)!!!!!
We were all greeted as our feet touched the new land by Amy, who took Jono and I to our accommodation. We got to ride on a beam of wood in the back of the "Moooooo" ute (more about that later). The others made their way to the International Villas and got settled in. Amy had organised our accommodation for us, because the villas were full. Our accommodation was at a traditional Japanese home, of which we were the first foreigners the owner had rented the house to. We felt privileged and we were keen to make a good impression. The rooms which we stayed in had wall to wall tatami floors, the family shrine, rice paper sliding doors with intricate wood carvings and was right on the beach front. Amy helped us settle in and showed us around, as well as acting as an interpreter for Jono and I. Later in the night the Japanese lady set out our futons on the floor in the middle of the room. It was very traditional and a first for both of us.
Once we were organised we made our way up to the villas to meet up with the rest of the group. It was only a 5 minute walk away, winding our way through various vegie gardens and Japanese houses. Grabbing our beach towels, we all headed down to the beach to catch some rays and go for a dip. The sand was pebbly and started to hurt my feet after a while. The water was quite cold, but refreshing. Many of the group dove straight in but I chose to inch my way in to waist depth. Jono and Julian decided they wanted to swim to a small island in the close distance but, after swimming about 50 metres, gave up and headed for a closer island which had a small shrine on it. Tina and Marie had already swam there and looked like ants when they climbed the rocks and stood next to the shrine. Liam, Jess, Chelsea, Taube, Karen and I watched them from the shallows.
We ate lunch at the only restaurant/shop on the island. Jono and I enjoyed out yakisoba with pickled ginger. A Japanese guy came into the shop and asked if we liked card tricks. He had a small purple bag of 'tricks' which he blew our minds with. He would perform different tricks that left us scratching our heads and even feeling a little creeped out. Witchcraft???? He was incredible.
Next we enjoyed some kayaking. In pairs we all chose our favourite coloured kayak and headed for the water. Jono and I made a good team and soon we had paddled to a small island with a huge rock mass. We all parked our kayaks on the shore and inspected the island. Jono discovered a jellyfish, which just sat like a big clear blob of jelly on the sand. You could see it's purple tentacles tucked up inside. Soon we boarded our kayaks again and paddled around the little island to the other side.Marie told us all to 'raft up', so we all managed to paddle close to each other and join together. All, except for Lauren and Chelsea!! They did a couple of laps around the whole group before, with a little coaching, they joined the line. Marie's challenge set for us was to all swap kayaks. Being slightly petrified of deep water, I happily stayed put! I had a shock when Jono stood up on the front of our kayak and it was tipping violently from side to side. He was doing his Titanic impression, "I'm king of the world". I was happy when he sat down again. Almost everyone else found a new kayak and as a result, a new paddling partner. Off we went to explore the island that Tina, Marie, Julian and Jono swam to earlier.
Paddling was hard work. I have discovered that Jono's left arm is stronger than his right because he kept making the kayak turn to the right!! So I would then take a rest while he corrected our path! Once again we all parked our kayaks on the shore and did some exploring. There were marble steps leading up to the little shrine, on which we had to be careful because a few of them were broken.
Once showered and changed into dry clothes it was time for tea. We had booked into a BBQ on the beach which cost ￥2000 each. It was a pretty interesting concept. Once we got done to the beach we made our way over to the marquee under which was a long table and benches, 2 hot coal BBQs and 2 trays full of raw meat and vegies. Little did we know that it was a self-serve/self cook event and we were the only group there. It was great. Julian and Liam took over at the BBQs and others helped from time to time. We had fish, beef, rice balls, corn, carrot, pumpkin and cabbage. It was very yummy and we ate it Japanese style (pretty much straight off the grill!).
As the sun started to leave us for the day, a bon fire was lit for us. We all gathered around, chatted, drank beer and had a great time. A few Japanese men came to join us too.We were told we had to go home at 11 because that was when the school group of kids had to go to bed too! From there Jono and I headed back to our accommodation, while the others headed up to the villas to play Jenga. Aparently this was the tallest game of Jenga EVER, and poor Jess was the one who made it all come crashing down! What an action shot - well done Marie!
When we arrived at the house the futons had been made for us and there were two little electrical air fresheners filling the air with a beautiful scent. The lady had left a soft light on for us too, which was very handy. I got a surprise when my head hit the pillow, if that's what they call them here in Japan. It was 1/4 the size of a regular pillow and was tightly packed with beans. Not the most comfortable thing I've ever used but I managed to sleep on it all the same. The futon was surprisingly comfortable too, simply a soft layer of wadding on top of the tatami mats. Unfortunately we couldn't close the rice paper doors fully (and didn't want to break them by trying) so we knew we were in for an early rise! We were right.After a few games of Uno, we got dressed and headed up to the villa. It was 8:10am, no one was up and the doors were locked, so we dropped off our bags on the back decking and went for a walk along the beach to get some drinks. We were relieved to find Liam up and at em when we returned so we could go inside.
The menu for breakfast was scrambled eggs with tomato, bacon and cheese on toast! Very traditional Japanese? Jono was the master chef and kept the scrambled eggs coming. They were divine and everyone had a feast.
The first adventure for the day was a short walk up the mountain to get a beautiful view of the island, the hillside graveyard and the luminescent white temple that stands at the base of the cemetery. It was quite a steep climb but the view was worth it. After taking a few happy snaps the group split up...Julian, Taube, Marie and Tina continued to hike up the mountain, while the rest of us went for a bike ride...or at least that was our intention! The International Villa has a number of bikes for use by residents, but not all of them were ready to go. Jono and I scored a bike each which had brakes and inflated tyres. Liam tried to use the pump to pump up a tyre on his bike, but he accidentally pulled out the valve of the pump and also the rest of the tyre's air escaped! 2 other bikes has flat tyres and Lauren got the last bike. So, the 3 of us went for a short bike around the place.
We soon met up with the other non-hikers on the beach (after I almost went a croppa trying to ride through a small patch of sand) and we decided to check out the 'Moo Bar'. Amy owns and runs the 'Moo Bar' and had told us it would be open on Sunday at 9am. They are dedicated drinkers here in Japan! The Moo Bar consists of 2 small wooden huts which have a cow print painted on the rooves. The tiny bar has a few cow artifacts hanging around the place and even the stools and tables don't escape the theme. It made me affectionately think of Stirling North Primary School (our Learning 2 Learn project had a cow theme). The girls slurped on banana daqerees and the boys had a Heineken beer. We figured that if we were drinking, we should eat too, so we all ordered small pizzas from the only shop in town, right across the road. They even delivered them to us at the bar! It was a very cheezy pizza, but very delicious. The 'Moo Bar' also had a little merchandise hut where they were selling jewellery and clothing. Jess bought a t-shirt and earrings and I bought some earrings.
We all met up at the villas again and decided we needed to go pretty soon to catch an early ferry back home. The ferry ride back to Okayama was cockroach-free (that I saw) and I was sad to say goodbye to the ocean. We decided that we just wanted to go home, so bought tickets for the shinkansen. It took 20 minutes to get back to Himeji, which had taken an hour and a half the day before. It was Karen's first shinkansen experience so she was excited! We were happy to get home after such a relaxing, yet exhausting weekend.VISITORS COMMENTS:
This weekend really enforced how lucky we were to be holidaying with temporary residents in Japan. Liam and I were all too aware that we would have never have had this opportunity if it wasn't for Jono and Jodi (and the organizational skills of Taube and Julian). Apart from (Jess) feeling sick, all weekend it was almost a holiday from our holiday. Liam really loved the kyaking and cooking the barbeque "traditional style" while Jess enjoyed sleeping on the beach, losing at Jenga (it was 33 blocks high) and late night chats with Chelsea and Lauren. It was so quiet and peaceful, such a contrast from mainland Japan. The scenery and the sunset (especially with the beach barbeque set up) were memories we won't forget in a hurry.
