4. Japanese Gardens
On the way from our Hiroshima hotel to the garden, we found a message board outside a middle school. It displayed writings from students in an English class, with recommendations of what to do in Hiroshima.
Hiroshima Gardens
We arrived at the park shortly after opening, and it was quiet to begin with. Noticing carp at the surface of the lake following us, we decided to purchase fish food to feed them and the occasional turtle. Then all of a sudden we were swapped by a bus load of old Canadian tourists.
The gardens were pretty and tranquil. It featured huts, a bamboo forest and flowers. Cherry blossoms as well. There was a bridge in the middle of the lake where the steps themselves were curved and it felt too steep to climb on. The zen garden was peaceful and put our minds at ease.
We returned to the hotel to collect our massive luggage which we wheeled to the train station. We dropped off our luggage at our hotel in Okayama, which had a really nice lobby, but as it would later turn out a box room which smelled of smoke. There hotel was directly across from the station which had a mall and a lot of eateries.
We decided to walk to Okayama’s garden from here. The street was quite, and along the way we found a cafe with such a vibe and a kind barista. The coffees took 5 minutes but were delicious. I got a cold drip and Isabel an iced late. He also used milk made in Okayama. We sat inside on the stools, and ate a matcha fox biscuit as it was the cafe mascot.
Okayama Gardens
The gardens were huge. They were built as an illusion so that the mountains looked like an extension of their garden. A lady who worked at the gardens introduced herself, thanked us for visiting and explained a bit about its history.
She told us that they would live in the castle a few hundred metres away, but would use the houses in the garden as their summer home.
The garden felt like Hobbiton in some parts. It also grew tea leaves in sections.
Another section had the remains of a stone dock, where they used to ship things to the castle.
We found a little rest area and removed shoes. Two people there exchanged languages, having a conversation where the Japanese person spoke English and the South American guy responded in Japanese. I ripped my pants here badly – from crotch to crack – as I was squatting to take photos. Luckily no one seemed to notice and Isabel had a white shirt to cover me until our taxi home.
Later that night...
At 11:36 we were violently woken up by a siren coming from both of our phones. It stated in an emergency tone “warning warning an earthquake is about to hit. And then within a few seconds we were experiencing and earthquake in our hotel. It was light, just a small wobble for 10 seconds. But the tone had shocked us. We were still waiting in anticipation, and it took us a while to realise that it had passed. The earthquake was a 5.6 originating a while away.