Diary Entry #6

July 19^th

Mitaki

When I look back into my diary at the entry for this day, there is one word - scrawled rather than written – and a full stop. Seedy.

I don’t mean that I decided, in light of the beautiful allotments outside the window, to indulge in a spot of gardening. Rather I was feeling a little under the weather on account of a late night and the number of drinks required to remain alert into the wee hours.

But we did not let this little hindrance waylay our plans. Miss E and I stalwartly headed to Hiroshima Train station for a trip to Mitaki. After a quick coffee to revive our lagging senses we boarded a local train and headed two stops outside of the city.

Mitaki is a lovely area, being older and possibly more expensive than the areas I had seen. But this is not why we had come! Mitaki also has an incredibly beautiful Buddhist temple and gardens built into the side of a hill (and when I say hill, I mean a mountain that forgot to grow up). These gardens stretched over about a kilometre (upwards) and the staggering beauty of the place is difficult to do justice with photographs. There was not another soul about so we were able to explore at our leisure (and thankfully so – I dropped my umbrella into the wishing pond and had to climb down to retrieve it). There were pagodas, statues, waterfalls, contemplation gardens and temple cats aplenty (who, like temple cats the world around have managed to master the art of Zen meditation).

With Mitaki conquered we headed back into town (and should I mention that in train stations in Hiroshima they have a high pitched alarm that sounds when your train is about 5 minutes away and does not relent until the train arrives at the platform – not good for headaches I’m afraid) where Miss E introduced me to the amazing restorative properties of the hangover okonomiyaki (this time with udon noodles). This fabulous dish comes with copious amounts of melted cheese making it the best hangover cure yet (next to KFC of course – thank you Brian).

A quick fly by the shops for a few items and then back to Miss E’s apartment for dinner and a quick viewing of Shaun of the Dead. This nights entertainment was far more subdued than the previous nights with just a few very well made martinis at a small bar (with olives) before walking back for an early night. Tomorrow was to be a big day of travel.