Golden week!

Giant post ahead...

Friday we headed to Kobe.

Saturday, we got on the super hakuto and headed out to Tottori. Pretty scenery, lots of tunnels and ear popping >_<

After dropping off our stuff at the nice little hotel we were going to stay at, we headed out to catch the bus. 40 minutes later, we got to the bottom of the mountain and started climbing. This wasn't just a hike. This was a CLIMB. Like, half the time we were horizontal, clinging for dear life to branches and roots and rocks. It was mostly pretty fun in the beginning and the end, but about halfway through, I got stuck on the middle of a smooth rock face and panicked. Like, total panic attack. I started hyperventilating, my throat closed, I was crying and I totally froze up. Luckily Hannah and Bill were near me and they got me breathing again. When we got up to the first lookout post, I couldn't stand on it b/c my inner ear was all AHHHHHH and the panic was still there.

I did better at the second post, and fine at the bell. We got to the top, saw the temple build into the rocks, then climbed back down. All the downhill jumping and landing hard busted up my knees, so I had a hard time going down things for the next few days.

At the bottom we got omiyage (souvenirs) and DANGO!!!! Delicious dango. I frikken love dango. MMMMM.

While waiting for the bust to come, we saw these kids who had spoken to us while we were climbing (they tried to use English on us ^_^ ) On the way out they were all "Bye! Goodbye! Bye!!" like 60 times. It was really cute.

We got back to the hotel and there were really nice rooms waiting for us. (amazing heated toilet seats! I MUST get myself one when I get back to the states). After a giant debate, we ended up going to yakininku and it was DELISH. After that, we went to BOWLING! There was this really funny moment when the screen on the floor in our area showing the scores went nuts and wigged out. It was all wigging, and zig-zaggy, when this alley worker came up, smacked it, and walked off. And it worked. It was the first time seeing the smacking of electronics actually WORK. It was pretty hilarious. The scoring seemed to be set on Elementary school scoring, or something, since the ball would totally miss and it would be all, still, "HOORAAAY! YOU KNOCKED DOWN THE MIDDLE PIN! THAT YOU CAN'T SEE FROM HERE! WAY TO GO!" and we were all "…but I gutter-balled that"

Next morning (Sunday) we got a tasty buffet breakfast and hopped back on the train. Took the train to Tsuwano. Got off, dropped bags off at our ryokan and headed out again. Grabbed lunch, then climbed a path with 1,000 torii gates on it. Saw the shrine at the top, bought more things, then went to go see the castle ruins. We took a chair lift up (and when I say chair, I mean, a single chair for each of us). Hiked some more, got to the top, looked around, it was nice. On the way down Brad realized that he'd left our bag of snacks at the top. Oooooh boy ^_^;;; No time to go back up and get it.

We then headed to the section of town with the Koi fish in the gutters. Apparently, back in olden times, the townspeople kept the fish there in case of siege. Then, they could lock down the city and live off these fish. I could see them doing that, as these fish were GIANT, like, the size of a small child. They were SO overfed. Usually, koi fish will eat and eat and eat, even if they aren't hungry. THESE fish, were SO past not hungry, that they were ignoring the food. It was really surprising. I'd never seen koi fish NOT want food.

We went back to our ryokan and met the lady responsible for us. She asked us to teach her English, as EVERYONE does in Japan, and then asked us all our ages. The funniest was when Brad said he was 27, and she was all "EHHHHHH??? MITANAI YO!!" ( Whaaaaaat? You don't look it!)

Went to the onsen, and all the old ladies stared, smile and gestured at us, as usual. Nice onsen, overlooking everything.

At dinner, we had a bunch of ladies serving us, as though they all wanted a chance to talk to us, like we were an attraction ^_^ Being a foreigner in Japan is a lot like being a celebrity. If you want to know what it's like to be stared at all the time and admired all the time, and talked to (or shied away from) Japan is the place to try it out. Speaking of which, during dinner, we had this little boy and girl peeping over at us from the next section, and every time we looked, they hid. So cute ^_^

Dinner was like, a billion courses long. Started at 7pm and didn't finish until 8:45. I ate about half of what I got… perhaps a little more. It wasn't so much that it was weird traditional food, it was that I was SO FULL after eating SO SLOWLY that it was nearly impossible to finish everything. The servers spent the whole night trying to get us to teach them the names of things in English. And each lady that came through said "Nihongo, jouzu desu ne!" (you're so good at Japanese, huh!), which I denied vehemently each time b/c my spoken Japanese SUUUCKS.

After diner, there was MOCHI POUNDING! YUUUUUM! Delicious green mochi! They wanted all of us to pound, which was really cute. The counting guy wanted Hannah to pound a little more, so he kept counting "three. Three. Three" to her, and on the third "three" she realized what he was up to and started laughing. When we all got our mochi, all the guests wanted to know if it was tasty! (as though we'd never eaten it before) and we were all "of course it's tasty!" Got back to our rooms, and our futons were put out and made up for us! So awesome ^_^

Monday morning, we woke up, had a Japanese style breakfast (fishies for breakfast! Great miso tho) but I didn't eat much b/c I wasn't that hungry (too early). We got on the train that took us to the Shinkansen station. When we got on the shink, we weren't sure we were on the right one, but every time I tried to check on my phone, we hit a tunnel. And there were lots of tunnels. So tons of ear popping >_<>

We got to the hostel, dropped our bags off. Grabbed lunch, then went to the Genbaku dome (A-bomb dome) which is the only building they left from the bombing. We saw the hypocenter, where the bomb went off, and then headed over to the museum where were were inundated with SAD T_T I never thought I'd ever see this stuff in person, so it was very shocking and moving. I think I was the most moved when I realized I was actually there.

We got home and discovered a TERMITE INVASION!!! I was able to identify them, as my family had termite issues when I was young. We went out to dinner. While riding on the streetcars, a ton of kids giggled at us, were surprised when we spoke Japanese (they kept saying "sorry" for being in the way, and when we replied with "iiyo" and "daijoubu" they were all "EHHHHHHHHH???" So the spent the whole rest of the ride recalling all the English they knew and giggling wildly.

Went to dinner in the okonomiyaki town at a place that made it into "lonely planet." Hiroshimayaki is YUM YUM YUM. Too bad I couldn't eat it all. I really must learn to MAKE okonomiyaki ^_^ We found an ice cream place after that was a lot like cold stone. I had chocolate, coconut and almonds. I must try that again sometime. Rode the streetcar back, went to bed.

Tuesday, up early! Got on streetcar, took a ferry across to Miyajima. Got to the island, walked some more, took trams and gondolas to the top-ish, then hiked to the real top. Saw the fire that hasn't been put out in 1200 years (which also lit the peace park fire). Nearly died from smoke inhalation in the 15 seconds we were in there. Saw tons of little cute deer, but no monkeys. Bought things, and then hiked to the real top. Looked all around. Went back down, ate some yummy faire food (French fries and ice cone things), saw some cats. Then we hit up the floating shrine. Very cool. Bought more things (I think I spent most my money at shrines. Good thing I love Shintoism ^_^ ). I have a ton of good luck charms and such. I had to pick up a health one too ^_^;;;

Walked back, headed all the way back to the hostel, grabbed our things, headed to the train station and headed home. Then we died of tired.

And that was golden week.