Ferry Ride with Mr Good Smoking

Saturday 10 April 2010

We got going early today so we could fit in a trip to Awaji-shima before heading for Kobe. John has fond memories of Awaji-shima as he spent his 22nd birthday there (back in the old days), staying at a little inn right on the coast.
We took the scooters over on the ferry and rode along the coast until we found the right place. It is now a private residence, but we were able to get a few photographs without getting sprung by the householders. It was a very pleasant way to spend the morning, especially as the weather has been making an excellent effort to make up for its bad behaviour on Wednesday. Mr Good Smoking is an ashtray on the ferry.

When we got back to the mainland, we set off to Kobe where we had arranged to meet Tomoko, one of my email penfriends, at the Sannomiya Station. We arrived early, so we used the spare time to visit the Japan Rail ticket office to swap our Japan Rail Exchange Orders, which we had bought in Australia before we left, for JR passes. These passes will enable us to use any Japan Rail transport (except for one particular type of shinkansen) for the rest of our trip. Although rather expensive, the passes really are good value for money for overseas visitors who will do one or two long train trips, as we intend to do. Tomoko spotted us easily, as we do tend to stand out in the crowd somewhat! We went to a little cafe and had tea and a good chat. She speaks very good English as she lived in the US for a year when she was a student. It was so nice to meet her and it will make our emails more meaningful now I know who I am writing to. I hope that she will be able to come to visit us one day in Australia.

After leaving Tomoko, we rode the trusty steeds over the bridge to Port Island. There's not much to recommend about Port Island. It's a man-made island and therefore doesn't have the lovely old streets which we like to stroll down in search of noodle shops, so we did the pre-packaged 7-11 convenience store option. John had a chicken salad and custard pudding and I had sushi, salad and a small cake. After adding a carton of strawberry milk to share, the grand total came to 1193 yen (about AUS$14.00). The hotel looks from the front like something you would expect to see Angelina and Brad swanning through, but the inside is a bit tacky with threadbare carpets. We are on the 12th floor, and there are no screens on the windows and no barriers on the balcony. Not the place to bring a young child!
After a few phone calls via Skype and a bit of planning for tomorrow's ride to Osaka, we called it a night.