Japan Day 9- Miyajima (Last Day with Nat Geo Tour Group)

 Started the morning with our final presentation from James our Nat Geo photographer. I really wish I would've taken more notes on these they were so fascinating but my memory is now failing me a bit. This entire trip feels like a dream at this point the details are starting to slip already! I want to say in today's lecture we saw these incredible pictures of the Japan countryside during winter as well as pictures of Antarctica. He described the Antarctica experience as basically visiting another planet. Also down there nationalities melt away you're all helping each other with survival needs whether you're Russian, Japanese, American, doesn't matter humanity and help is essential to survival. Great message there. A big takeaway from these is you can find so much human interest in developing countries and these people that take on the risks of visiting in person to share it to the world are incredible. 

We hopped on a short ferry just outside Hiroshima to an island called Miyajima and spent basically the entire day there. This island had one of the most stunning visuals of the trip with a large Torii Gate in the water leading up to the island that had the appearance with the tides of a "floating torii gate".  Behind the Torii Gate is the Itsukushima Shrine which was a Shinto Temple that was also cool to walk through. 

A unique thing getting off the ferry was they made this big announcement about deer and how you should keep a hold of your belongings because the deer would eat all your stuff. I didn't really register what they were saying it basically seemed like "oh some deer that are used to people will be somewhere on this island". No that is not what they meant. What they meant was a crap-ton of mini-deer are roaming around everywhere and they'll literally try to snatch crap out of your hand if you're not paying attention. They weren't really aggressive you could pet them (I didn't but plenty of people were petting them all over) but they'd certainly make a pass at trying to snag your food or even map/paper, etc. One of our group got snagged and had a tug of war with the deer on their map. They finally let the deer win. Our guide Junko-san proceeded to go after the deer and show that deer what's up! Haha she ripped it away. Understandably she commented it's bad for their stomachs. They were pretty small only a few feet tall. 

We had a couple hours of free time after the initial Torri Gate and Shrine so we walked up the hill which has several other shrines and temples. This Island in general was like a temple museum there were so many various temples and shrines. A couple in particular were pretty awesome. The one below was a room with rows of statues and a recording of monks chanting it was probably my favorite from this island. 

We walked down into the market along the beachfront and had lunch. The market had all types of offerings but we basically found some chicken nuggets on a kabob and a potato on a kabob and had that. We also found some little pastries that were like maple leaves but filled with custard. There was one flavored apple custard and it tasted like you were eating an apple flavored hi-chew. They were super delicious we bought a few rounds of those at lunch then in the afternoon before we left. 

We found a little store in the marketplace that sold chopsticks with engravings on them. We got these are one of our souvenirs for our kids they put their name on on stick and their Japanese character name on the other stick. Very cool! 

In the afternoon we walked back up the hill to a meeting point where we had a special Tea Ceremony. We entered into a tatami floor room and the presenter went through a very elaborate ritual it was quite impressive. Her partner went around the room saluting us all and we would bow. . .my understanding was this is based on old Samurai culture the men would bow with their hands on the floor as if they were clutching samurai sords and the women would place their hands in front of them flat as they bowed. You would accept the bowl of tea and turn the bowl a bit clockwise, hold it up and smell it and then sip it. You would then wipe off the front of the bowl to indicate you were finished when you placed it back on the mat and rotate the bowl back to its original position. It was very interesting and unique. The tea itself reminded me of terere in Paraguay here in Japan its called matcha. Basically pretend you've mashed up a bunch of grass and boiled it in water and that is what the tea tastes like to me. I bring up Paraguay because I recall down there I developed a taste for it and really liked it. Now not being used to it I admit it was basically dirt and grass tasting but I did love the ceremony and finished the tea. They had some Samurai warrior outfits and a nice 5-story pagoda tower right outside their window. Cool location. This was a beautiful island I really believe I'll be able to picture that huge red Torii Gate forever. 

We arrived back at our hotel. .  I wrote about this yesterday so insert my Gold's gym experience here! 😂. 

We then went to our final "Farewell Dinner" at a place called the Hanbe Garden Restaurant. The garden behind this restaurant felt like walking through a movie set or something. It was honestly incredible! There is a line in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves from Morgan Freeman where he says "In my dreams alone have I imagined such a place" and I'd say that about this garden. Pics unfortunately aren't doing it justice but it was immaculate. 

Fun evening and I think we all ate a little better knowing it was likely our final traditional Japanese style meal. The fish here was actually really good and the meal overall was great. We stayed a bit long taking pictures with everyone and saying our goodbyes. I think pretty much everyone on the group had either done Tokyo before the trip (most of the group) or were adding it on like our little group. 

Such an interesting experience you are thrown together with multiple strangers for 10 days straight and then suddenly say goodbye as well, quite possibly forever. Rachel and I have been on Truss trips before were we are getting to know people throughout the week and our little group of course got to know everybody else as well throughout this trip. Tons of fun people with distinct backgrounds from all across the US and even a couple from Australia. Sad to say goodbye at the end.