Previously on Lenka’s diary: Falling in love with vases and wandering around the “little Kyoto”
The final day, so one has to make the most of it… ideally by stuffing yourself for breakfast again. Have I mentioned they had curry there? Curry for breakfast! And I’ve actually seen someone get it, so I guess it was there for a reason, but surprising nonetheless.
This morning was very similar to the one before, this time, though, including packing my bags and leaving as late as possible (the checkout was at 12!). Also, I was able to leave my luggage at the hotel, luckily, I can’t imagine dragging it around at the beach. Yes, you heard it right, we’re going to the beach!
After frantically running around the bus station, asking anyone and everyone about my bus stop (in Japanese and getting all of the answers in English), I finally got on the bus. It was an hour journey and when I got off, little did I know that I put the wrong place in the Google Maps. Fml. Well, not completely, I meant to visit that place as well, but it wasn’t the main destination. So I had to get on another bus, but in the end, with a small delay, I got where I wanted and boy, was it worth it!
As a person from a landlock country, going to the seaside has been always a very special thing. The first time I went, I was around 13 and we had a family vacation to Bulgaria planned for the summer. I couldn’t wait! I would listen to this song (I don’t think I should even admit to this, but it was “Mambochiwambo”, a special Winx song), which had immaculate beachy vibes and it gave me this incredible feeling of being warm, relaxed, enjoying my time with people I love without a single worry. Long story short, it set my expectations high. And when we finally got there, it wasn’t what I’d imagined. I mean, it wasn’t bad, but instead of “Mambochiwambo” it was “Žijeme len raz”, the summer party. And I accepted that beach, sea and summer would always feel like this. But then…
BUT THEN I arrived to Itoshima! I can’t tell you how surprised I was when this feeling of “Mambochiwambo” returned! 10 years later I was living the dream, living something that had been only existing in my imagination! Guys, it’s real!! (I’m still not over it if you can’t tell.) Maybe I should be talking about the cool white torii gate that in reality is the attraction, but for me the best feeling was just sitting on a rock (and I do love me a good pebble), watching the sea, the waves, enjoying the breeze, the lovely temperature, reading a book (and getting sunburnt without realising)… what a life! And then the tide started to get high and it was crashing against the rocks and that reminded me of my favourite scene in The little mermaid and “Part of your world” started to play in my mind and I just felt fulfilled. It was almost perfect. This was the only time during my solo trip when I thought to myself it would’ve been nice to be able to share this moment with someone. But again, maybe the other person/ people wouldn’t feel the same…
Then I decided to take a stroll, up the hill, obviously, we’ve just talked about this paradox of mine, to get a photo of a heart-shaped tree and then to a little shrine that was supposed to be a 20-minute walk from there. What I did not know was that the shrine was in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. I was walking through a forest to get there. To be honest, it felt nice, as I didn’t know where I was going. It was a little adventure. Then I got to the place. If you imagine a little village buzzing with life, you’d be totally wrong. I think I saw one person there, and they looked at least 100 years old. Frankly, it was a bit scary. No one anywhere, a real-life ghost town and I’ve heard a fair share of scary stories from Japan. My imagination was starting to get to me and I started to feel a little bit uneasy. After accomplishing my objective, I quickly turned around to get back to the beach. That’s when I met someone. We both were quite surprised to see someone else, I’m sure I looked a bit out of place. A foreign girl in the middle of Japanese forest. But you know, while there’s no doubt the man was really nice and everything, he must’ve been a local. But he had a hand scythe. And you know what I’d been just imagining. I absolutely freaked out inside. This was another moment when I realised that there are some disadvantages to travelling by yourself.
Lesson learnt: don’t go to the woods by yourself, or at least without anyone knowing where you are.
Soon after this, I returned to the city, being genuinely sad about leaving this precious place and swearing that I will come back again to this little paradise. I must admit though, I was quite excited to be back in Hiroshima, hopping on the way from the station (which is unbelievably impractical with a suitcase). Can’t fight feelings though, can you?
