Rise & Shine! I chat with my ryokan's Obachan & her daughter to see which attraction nearby is worth going for the morning. Her daughter suggested that I walked thru' the back lane of the ryokan towards the marketplace to see a beautiful blooming sakura tree. Before I stepped out, I took photo with Obachan for keepsake...
I explored their market & realised that it is pretty standard in the way Japanese markets & malls are layout. Be it the Nishiki Market in city centre or their neighbourhood market, all are constructed as a single lane market, with stalls on both sides. It's really easy to walk thru' to do your marketing! Along my way, I passed by Diaso & got myself my 1st souvenir ~ Doraemon mesh purses ~ kawaii ^o^ In the end, I didn't spot the sakura tree & decided to head to Kyoto Imperial Palace Garden (Kyoto Gyoen).
I'm so glad to get some nice warm weather this morning for me to take a stroll in the park & do some photography! Yeah! I entered by the back gate & realised this park is really big & I didn't have time to walk all the way to the front! I was pretty slow as I was observing the park goers & I like how the elderly folks cycle to the park with their pet dogs; while the moms will bring their kids to play! I wish time will pause longer here as it's so relaxing & air so fresh!
Of course, the weeping cherry trees really blow me off! So beautiful! I couldn't help but to get another photographer to help me take a shot. I also did some selfies with my hp at this huge cherry tree! I had not seen something like this in other parts of Kyoto! Time just seems to whiz past as I realised I gotta rush back to ryokan to pick up my luggage & head to Kyoto Station. I ran with my bags as I was too closed to my scheduled train timing! Thankfully, I got to the departure platform just in time.
I bought a beef bento set from the station for my 1st lunch on board the shinkansen! Oishii! The beef bento was really delicious! I will need to transfer train at Shin-Osaka Station & total travel time was 110 minutes. At around 3pm, upon arrival at Hiroshima Station, I enquired at the travel service which bus should I take to my hotel. I do not need to use the electric tram at all as there's a direct bus service right outside my hotel. Hiroshima City seems to be rather easy to navigate, also relatively lesser traffic.
Upon alighting from the bus, I couldn't locate my Hiroshima City Bunka Koryu. I went into a building which stated exhibition hall in Chinese & I was so surprised when the receptionist told me this is exactly the hotel! Haha! So this is a business hotel which shares the same premise as the exhibition hall! The hotel's service staff is good & lent me a mobile Wifi adaptor when I query if there is Wifi in the room. In Japan, most hotels uses LAN plug, more for people with laptops I guess.
I really love my hotel room which comes with a river view! The room was spacious & gave me a cosy feel, it even has a sofa area! A jug of ice-water was also prepared on the desk + a small paper crane (symbol of Hiroshima) folded by the hotel staff. Wow! I highly recommend this hotel for anyone planning to visit Hiroshima. The irony ~ this turned out to be my cheapest lodging (S$60) but with 5 star service!
After refresh, I headed to the Peace Park which was about 10 - 15min walk away. The Peace Park is beautiful as one could see nicely trimmed flora decorating the entrance. There were locals doing Hanami under the sakura trees along the river bank. This is the key Hanami area for Hiroshima folks. As I saw a long queue outside the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, I decided to tour the other areas first. Hence, I went to the Atomic Bomb Dome (also known as A-Bomb Dome), it felt like history text-book came to life. I could sympathise with the victims of the WWII, especially innocent children who had to carry the sufferings for a life-time. Today, there is still a small group of survivors who volunteered to share their war experience for a fee to tourists.
I returned to the Museum just an hour plus away from closing time. The museum was unbiased in laying out all the facts, supported with videos & explanations in various languages. It was easy for tourists to understand as we walked thru' the exhibits accordingly. I totally support Hiroshima in actively involving many countries to stand united in preventing another nuclear war.
When done with my history lesson, it's time for Mr. Sun to knock-off & I watched the sunset at the park's bench. It's so relaxing despite the plunge in temperature! I strolled to the nearby Hondori mall area for dinner. After walking around & wondering what I should eat, I chanced upon a fast-food udon eatery tucked away from the main street. I decided to try since I want to try different food each meal. Ah! The menu on the board were all in Japanese & I had to request for an English menu. I realised that I could also pick the piping hot tempura as side order. I had a big bowl of Pork with Egg Udon + an Ebi tempura. Guess I made the wrong order as I didn't realise my order was Cold Udon! (I tot will be hot!) As a result, I found the udon abit too hard/chewy, but the pork & tempura were good!
I shopped around the Hondori street & even went to check out their local Japanese bookstore, thou I couldn't read Japanese! Haha! But as a book lover, I like to immerse in bookstores. I also love to check out the drug stores to see all the fancy & interesting facial products they sell & I actually found a cheap & nice Kracie hand-cream! It's prefect for the dry & cold weather that had made my hands peel! Finally, a slow stroll back to my hotel & I discovered Shiseido toiletries in my bathroom! Woohoo!
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