【Day 3】【 Traveling While Working as a Web Engineer】Form Osaka to Hiroshima
Good morning. Today started with a ferry. We had a drink in Osaka and headed for Kobe. Then we arrived at Kobe port a little after midnight, and the ferry to Takamatsu left at 1:00.
But actually Hiroshima was the destination. If I wanted to go to Hiroshima, it would be most convenient to take the Sanyo Line from Kobe. I had no plan in Shikoku. But this was July 26, and around noon on July 25, I suddenly thought of a plan to take the ferry and immediately made a reservation. There were two reasons why I booked the ferry.
The first was because I wanted to stop in Okayama, but I wanted to go along the Seto Inland Sea. From Takamatsu, you can get there in 30 minutes. But from Osaka, it takes more than 3 hours to get to Okayama and another 30 minutes from Okayama. So I knew it was better to stay in Takamatsu. That’s the direction I should go. So I decided to go to Takamatsu.
Secondly, it was a little cheaper than staying at an Internet cafe. The ferry includes a place to sleep and a hot spring bath for about 2,500 yen. We can move and stay together. There is nothing better than that.
In other words, you can stay overnight and travel together. I chose the ferry because I wanted to stop in Okayama or something like that.
Besides, you can sleep surprisingly well on a ferry; I slept only one and a half hours, but I felt like I slept for four and a half hours. I woke up feeling better, even though I slept less than on the overnight bus. Probably a big part of it was being able to lie down.
So, you might think it was a smooth ferry trip, but actually it was not.
I went to the hot springs. You would think there would be all kinds of things. But to my surprise, there was no shampoo or body soap. Of course, I did not bring any.
So I decided to just take a shower. But the person next to me had them. I asked him about it. He said yes. He didn’t say “OK,” but he smiled at me. I am grateful. I felt I needed to be better prepared. Thank you so much for that time!
Then I took a bath and got out. Then, to my surprise, there was a washing machine. It was in the changing room. And a dryer. So I decided to use it, and since it was only 100 yen, I decided to use it while I was sleeping.
I used the washer and dryer. The result was…my clothes didn’t dry. Everything was soaking wet. I put all my clothes in the washing machine except for the ones for sleeping, so they were all soaking wet. I arrived in Takamatsu thinking, “What am I going to do, what am I going to wear? Short-sleeved shirt and shorts. No socks. I will walk around Shikoku in this outfit.
First, I wanted to do something about my clothes, so I looked for a laundromat. But they were all far from the station. What? Isn’t Takamatsu the most urban area in Kagawa Prefecture? Strange, isn’t it? But my friends in Kagawa might get mad at me, so I’ll leave it at that.
But I did find a laundromat, and it’s 100 yen for 8 minutes. At the ferry place, 60 minutes was free. Only the laundry machine costs money. Frankly speaking, it is expensive. But I can’t help it. I also used the dryer.
In the end, it only cost 200 yen for the whole thing. I’m glad it all dried. It looks good!
With peace of mind, we went to eat udon noodles. It was delicious. I added shiitake mushrooms even though I didn’t have the money. But I didn’t need it. I would have preferred to buy vegetable juice or protein at a convenience store.
The money mainly disappears into travel expenses and good food. We moved a lot this month.
From here, we will head for Okayama. It is hot even at 8 o’clock. It is hot even at 8:00 a.m. and we are sweating a lot. But there are no steep hills. We arrived there.
Next, we went to Okayama Castle. But it was different. It was different from what I expected. It was just due to my lack of research.
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There was not much sightseeing in Okayama and I had some time before I had to catch the train. I thought about having lunch. Then I found a poster. It was Kurashiki.
When I saw the poster, I thought, “This is it! I realized that this was the place I wanted to go. I realized that this was the place I wanted to go. Only 5 minutes to the train to Kurashiki. Three minutes to the station. I would make it in time. I decided to get on the train. The only time I was lost was the 30 seconds I spent checking the station search app. I was able to make a decision immediately.
Thinking about it again, this might be the good thing about traveling alone. I can be flexible, and I might not have been able to do this if there had been other people there. I was able to do this because it saved me the time of consulting and checking with others. Traveling alone is not bad. In fact, there are many good aspects.
Then I moved on to Kurashiki. It would take a long time to go into details, so I’ll be brief. I love Kurashiki. If you ask me, “Where is your favorite place in Japan? If you ask me where is my favorite place in Japan, it is Kurashiki. I am truly enchanted.
From Kurashiki, I am heading to Hiroshima. Hiroshima is the goal. The goal is to see a game of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.
As we get closer to Hiroshima, we see more and more people dressed in red. They are fans of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Somehow, the more red clothes I see, the more excited I feel. I think to myself, “I’m going to be one of them.
Then we arrive at Yokogawa Station, two stops past Hiroshima, to check in at our lodgings. The inn is a guesthouse. The manager listened to many of my travel stories. How did you get here? What did you ride? Where did you go?
What can I say, I like people who enjoy talking about their trips. I am sure we will have a fun evening when we get back from the baseball game.
From here, we will head back to Hiroshima Station and on to Mazda Stadium. Cans and plastic bottles are not allowed in Mazda Stadium. What? No PET bottles either? You’ll get heat stroke!
But in fact, many people had paper-pack drinks. There were no regulations on paper packs. So people were buying those. Sure, they might cost more than plastic bottles, but the price was different compared to drinks at the ballpark. So I bought two bottles too.
I also bought some prepared foods. Yakisoba and yam. The total price was 450 yen. It was quite a bargain. I usually eat and drink beer at the ballpark, but this time I held back. I think it is good to have a day like this.
Finally, we arrived at Mazda Stadium.
Mazda Stadium was a lot of fun. Especially, the Japanese culture of blowing up balloons during the game was revived. It was very powerful. I really wanted to see a baseball game in Japan.
After the game, I returned to the guesthouse. I met a university professor and we talked about travel and artificial intelligence. I could hardly talk about artificial intelligence because I traveled a lot as a student and did not study much. I thought I need to study more. But it was fun. I would like to meet more people.
The third day is over. Thank you very much.
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