Whose idea was this??

Wednesday 7/4/10
Before checking out of the hostel, we walked over to the chair lift which takes visitors up the side of the hill for a spectacular view of Amanohashidate.

As we were quite early, there were only a few people out and about, so we were able to have a relaxing visit which included the traditional activity of viewing Amanohashidate by bending over and looking through our legs at the sand bar, which then appears to float in the air. John also had a go at throwing little clay 'frisbees' through a metal ring (100 yen for 3 discs). His score was 0/3. Better luck next time??

We made our way back through the alley of street vendors selling some tentacled things and roasted chestnuts.

One guy had a rather amazing cannon contraption which he used for cooking the chesnuts! [Nick, don't read the next bit!] Back at the hostel, we were about to check out when I caught some movement on the floor out the corner of my eye and there was a huge centipede heading towards me. It was a good thing that we saw it as we were leaving, as last night was a 'futon on the floor' arrangement and I might have had a bit of trouble getting off to sleep if I'd spied the monster last night.

We kitted up and left in drizzly rain for our ride around the top of the Tango Peninsula. The roadside weather stations told us that it was between 5 and 8 degrees. We were so very very cold. At one stage we sat on the scooters by the side of the road huddled under our umbrellas. At home we don't get the motorbikes out of the shed unless it's at least 18 degrees. 5 degrees is unbearably cold on a motorbike and we had to be very cautious on the wet roads (yes, Mums, we are very cautious anyway!) When the cold had penetrated to our souls, we stopped at a supermarket and bought cans of hot tea and coffee from the vending maching to thaw out our fingers. How they manage to have cans of hot tea and coffee on the go all the time, I don't know, but we sure blessed them for it! Despite the discomfort of the ride, we were really impressed by the coastal views along the way. There were some sheltered beaches with calm water and sandy beaches, and others with huge rolling breakers. We stopped for a photo shoot at one point and were completely stunned when we saw some people surfing! They must have had some pretty heavy duty wetsuits!! Either that or they were completely insane. By the time we arrived in Toyo-oka, we were thoroughly chilled to the bone and went to the hotel with teeth chattering, only to find that we were in the wrong #%@* hotel! We shivered our way back on to the scooters and arrived at the right one which was around the corner. My Japanese classes paid off once again, as the name of the hotel was written only in Japanese, and I was able to read it! The angel behind the counter gave us some warm flannels to help us thaw out, and then we dumped everything and jumped into the bath. I think the bath was a bit hot for my body and I felt very tired and wobbly, so John walked to the convenience store to pick up something for dinner. He found some sort of pasta bolognese for himself (they heat them up in the store if required)and a sandwich for me. Much revived, we then spent all of the evening trying to book accommodation for the next few days. This proved to be easier said than done, and we were getting a bit beyond it, when we finally found places, two nights in Himeji and one in Kobe. We had hoped to spend one night between Toyo-oka and Himeji, but we were not able to stick to that plan as it seems that there isn't any accommodation on the way - at least none that can be easily found on the Internet. This means that our trip tomorrow will be very long and tiring, but we have no choice. The positive is that we can have a bit of a rest day in Himeji. Looking forward to long warm sleep.

We passed this sign today. Don't ask!