Myajima island

When I researched where to go and what to do in Japan one of the most talked about places was Myajima Island, home of the famous Torii Gate. Myajima is an island off the coast of Hiroshima (famous for being the first city to have an atomic bomb dropped on) and many tourists go there for relaxation at the spas. I boarded the large boat that took us to the island, it was quite scary because it looked as if the hull was about to rust through.

We arrived on the island and all the passengers went their different ways. I myself went into the large market from which a delicious smell was lingering. I walked through it trying to find the source of the smell; I was amazed at the colourful scene around me. There were stores selling exotic fruits and flowers, bamboo pipes, wooden swords, scarves and pot plants. No two stalls were the same. Some were even selling monkeys as pets. I finally found the source of the delicious smell but I was slightly put off by the sight of it. A barbeque covered in sizzling scorpions lay in front of me, I thought about whether I should eat one or not and finally I decided to trust my nose and not my eyes and bought the biggest juiciest one that was there.

The only way I could describe the scorpion is that it tasted like, well, scorpion. Maybe this is just me but I assume that most people have looked at a bug and wondered what it would taste like, well if you looked at a scorpion and thought it would taste kind of crunchy and a bit sweet but gamey then you are correct.

After I walked through the market I found the place where you could catch a cable car up the mountain and over a billion year old sacred Forest. It was very beautiful to see a place that had been practically untouched by man. After the cable car went back down the mountain I decided to go and see the Torii Gate. The Torii Gate is a wooden structure that stands in the ocean, and marks the entrance to the shrine of Itsukushima.

It is a beautiful red colour and is constantly reflected off the water except at low tide when you can walk out and stand under it. I waited on the island for another hour, taking pictures of the wild deer, before the tide was out and I could walk to the Torii gate. Standing under it gave me a real impression of how big the thing actually was. If I stood on top of myself fifty times I would barely be able to touch the top of it.
I took about three hundred and fifty pictures of the gate before I left and even got a Japanese guy to take my picture before I left.

Myajima was a truly beautiful place.

Sam.