Marvellous Miyajima

Greetings from the island of Miyajima. This is one of the three most photographed sights in Japan and features the "floating" torii (Shinto shrine gate). The island is also home to many extremely tame deer, who greet you from the boat in search of a nibble. Visiting the many shrines and temples of Daisho-in and the bright orange pagoda in the centre made for a tranquil day out. The scary cable-car ride up Mt. Misen was slightly less relaxing, but the views from the summit were worth the fear.

Wandering around the Buddhist statues (more than I have ever seen in one vacinity) was quite mystical...especially as most of them seemed to be wearing woolly hats and scarves. I have been assured this only happens in the winter months and is indeed, to keep them warm.

Anyway, enough of all this culture. I feel we need to revisit memories of the restaurant we visited the other night. I believe Andy posted a blog stating we had eaten pig's oesophagus. What he omitted to tell you was that the menu also offered "womb of young female sheep" and "cows rectum," amongst other random bits of organ and connective tissue. Apart from the oesophagus (very crunchy and just how you would imagine), we also had the tongue. Quite unlike the tongue served up by Nanna on a Sunday tea-time, this was actually quite tasty. The great part is, you get all of this raw and you sit round and bar-b-que to your liking at your table. Superb evening.

Last night we did our usual karaoke session. Rather than sing in a bar with other people, we hired our own private booth. For the tone-deaf amongst us this is a wonderful innovation! A vast improvement to karaoke down the Moorcock with Mrs. Wheeler. Andy was leaping about with excitement and tried to sing the same song twice. What had started out as "just an hour," turned into two and a half hours. Brilliant.

Myiajima slide show.