happy hump day...congrats your halfway to friday!
i've written a some posts on tastes & tips, so i suppose it's time to offer a little tale from some of my whirl wind travels.
i travel to asia quite a bit and almost always there is a stop in japan while i'm making the trek. i personally enjoy japan and i can recall on my first trip there i had the pleasure of visiting a few cities including tokyo, hiroshima, & a small ocean side village called iwakuni city.
after spending a couple of days in the bustling metropolis of tokyo i boarded an early morning shinkansen, also known as the bullet train headed from tokyo to hiroshima. for those of you that haven't been to japan travel by train is extremely common. if you ever have the opportunity i most certainly recommend hopping a ride on the shinkansen. these trains travel at top speeds of 149~186 miles per hour (240~300 kilometers per hour) but rides softly as a cloud.
on my way to hiroshima i enjoyed some picturesque views of japanese country side and after a 4 hour ride we arrived in hiroshima and quickly hopped another train to iwakuni city a few minutes away.
upon pulling into iwakuni city i exited the train station to find a beautiful quiet ocean side village. a short walk from the train station there is an amazing historical wooden arch bridge called the kintai-kyo, located at the base of mt. yokohama on top of which rests iwakuni castle.
the original kintai-kyo was constructed in 1673 spanning the nishiki river in a series of 5 wooden arches and there it stayed for 276 years, until 1950 when it was washed away by flooding from a typhoon. a treasure almost lost. however in 1953 the bridge was reconstructed similarly to the original and remains there today for the world to enjoy.
i was able to enjoy a nice stroll over this amazing bridge to visit kikkou park (which includes the bridge and iwakuni castle). while strolling around the area i was able to enjoy some kikkou park and some wonderful view of traditional japanese landscape and architecture.
after crossing the bridge i had the chance to take in a quick traditional iwakuni style lunch, which included iwakuni style sushi (one of this town's claims to japanese culinary fame) and udon. iwakuni style sushi is made with a square mold and has some very special seasoning. and of course you can't have a nice lunch with out dessert so we visited a little soft cream (ice cream) shop which had over 100 different flavors....i went with the melon!
if you ever have a chance to visit this wonderful little seaside village i highly recommend it. and even better if you can make it during cherry blossom season i hear you will not be disappointed taking in views of the kintai-kyo & iwakuni castle surrounded in a beautiful array of delicate cherry blossoms. one day i hope to make it back to see how beautiful it must be.
happy travels wherever the road may take you...
stay tuned for the next viewfromtheair....
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