The Hendersons in Himeji: Wakayama

This weekend we had another wonderful Japanese adventure. On Saturday morning we loaded a bus with a bunch of our friends and headed towards Wakayama. We had never been on a bus tour before, so we didn't exactly know what to expect. Our first stop was Shirasaki Ocean Park along the Kii peninsula in Wakayama. We got out and stretched our legs a little bit and enjoyed the beautiful ocean views. Audrey and I were starving so we snacked on some pastries and then loaded back on the bus. Our next stop was the Sandan-Peki cliffs. These cliffs were famous for housing Japanese war ships in its hidden caves but more recently for being a hot spot for suicide jumpers. YIKES. We are pleased to say that we saw none of that while we were there and getting close to the edge was enough for my stomach to do flips. So along the theme of staying away from the edge, Audrey and I had some Ume (plum) ice cream that really hit the spot and enjoyed browsing a few souvenir shops. Then it was back to the bus... pressing on toward the final destination. We were about 7 hours into our trip by this point and were getting a little restless on the bus. So in true Japanese fashion, they busted out the karaoke machine. A giant screen folded down from the ceiling of the bus and we were rockin and rollin toward our next stop, Hashikuiiwa, or "bridge stake" rocks along the Kii peninsula. It was a beautiful sight as the sun was setting and the waves were rolling in between the rocks. After some leg stretching and a few pictures we were back on the bus... next stop Urashima Hotel. Now this hotel was named after a boy named Urashima Taro. A story that dates back to the 8th century explains how a young fisherman named Urashima Tarō was fishing when he noticed a small turtle being tormented by some children. Urashima Taro rushed over and saved the turtle and let it go back into the sea. The day after a huge turtle approached him and told him that the small turtle he had saved was the daughter of the Emperor of the Sea, who wanted to see him to thank him. The turtle magically gave Tarō gills and brought him to the bottom of the sea. There he met the Emperor and the small turtle, who was now a lovely princess, Otohime. Tarō stayed there with her for a few days, then he was caught by the desire to go back to his village and see his aging mother, so he asked her permission to leave. The princess said she was sorry to see him go, but wished him well and gave him a mysterious box which she told him never to open, for whatever reason. Tarō grabbed the box, jumped on the back of the same turtle that had brought him to the Palace, and soon was home. But everything had changed. His home was gone, his mother had vanished, the people he knew were nowhere to be seen. He asked if anybody knew a man called Urashima Tarō. They answered that they had heard someone of that name had vanished at sea long ago. He discovered that 300 years had passed since the day he had left for the bottom of the sea. Struck by grief, he absent-mindedly opened the box the princess had given him. Out of it came a cloud of white smoke. He suddenly aged, his beard grew long and white, and his back bent. He was now a very old man. And from the sea came the sad, sweet voice of the princess: "I told you not to open that box. In it was your old age ..." I guess the story didn't have much of a happy ending, but it was entertaining none the less. When our bus arrived at the hotel, we had to load onto a ferry boat to take us to the island that our hotel was on. Now this wasn't just any hotel. Yes it has a cool name based upon a popular Japanese story, but even better than that it has seven onsens. Now if you are just tuning into our blog you need to know that I have been absolutely obsessed with onsen since we got here. So the idea of having seven different hot baths to choose from was pretty exciting for me. On top of that, two of the onsens were in caves that over looked the the ocean. Needless to say once I set foot in that hotel I had only two things in mind... Onsen and Dinner. There was an all you can eat buffet with everything from sushi to fried chicken, tempura to french fries. It was awesome. Once we were stuffed we headed back to our hotel room to put on our turtle yukatas and then headed for the first onsen to begin our stamp rally. The stamp rally consists of taking a map to every onsen you go to and getting a stamp for each of them. If you got all seven stamps you could turn in your map and get a prize. By 8:00 we had begun our whirlwind tour of the onsen. Audrey went with the girls and I went with a couple of guys from Shirasagi. I was on a roll and ended up soaking in six of the seven onsens that night. It was probably the most relaxing 4 hours I have ever spent. The cave onsens were amazing. The water was warm and the cool ocean breeze was perfect. That coupled with the waves crashing against the rocks created the perfect combination for relaxation. Audrey ended up only going to three onsens but her and her friend decided to get all of the stamps anyway. We met back in the room around midnight and curled up on our traditional Japanese futons for the night. The next morning we headed back to the cave onsen, I got my last stamp and one last soak before the long bus ride home. We boarded the bus again at 9:00 am and headed back towards Himeji. Much like the bus ride to Wakayama we made many stops. The first stop was the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage path a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The scenery was incredible. We were surrounded by trees and natural beauty. At the top of the path was a shrine and many beautiful Japanese buildings. After walking around for a bit we jumped back on the bus and headed just around the corner to Nachi Falls, known as one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Japan. After loading back on the bus we stopped for a bit at a pickled plum factory and a soy sauce factory. Both were very interesting as we could learn a bit more about the Japanese culture, through food. We ended up back in Himeji around 9:00 Sunday evening needing another weekend to recover from this exciting weekend.