I couldn't think of a better place to be waking up on my birthday than Shodoshima!
It was time to check out of Sen Guesthouse and the heavens had opened. It was sad to be leaving as Matt and Nori had been such amazing hosts and made us feel so welcome. It was also lovely chatting with the other guests about their travel adventures and time on Shodoshima. If you ever visit Shodoshima I highly recommend staying here for a slice of paradise. Matt kindly offered to give us a lift to the other side of the bay where we could catch a bus across to Tonosho Port. From there we could catch a ferry to Takamatsu for our next leg of the trip.
First though we wanted to visit Yokai Art Museum which was closed when we were here the other day. 2000 yen bought us a wristband which gave us access to the different museum spaces housed within some buildings nearby. The first part of the museum started here inside a restored drapers warehouse.
The second and third floors displayed a selection of unusual pieces from the Yokai Sculpture Contest.
Everything on display here was fascinating and some were quite creepy.
Outside towers a dynamic metal cylinder called Heisei Maze Spiral.
The second part of the museum could be found in a large building that was once used to store soy sauce and rice. This yokai is the incarnation of a Japanese kotatsu.
Saddened by the fact that it was no longer needed by anyone and simply
discarded, this yokai apparently entices visitors to come up close and
then promptly gobbles them up. You can enter through a small door on the other side of the yokai and look out of it's nostril.
The third museum is entered through a dagashi shop where you can buy a selection of retro Japanese sweets and snacks. Head up to the 2nd floor and you're greeted by a whole host of unusual exhibits.
This was one of my favourites.
There was lots more to be found up on the third floor too. Next we visited the forth museum which is a meditation space but it was too dark to take photos inside. Within the dimly lit room, you could just about make out the faint outline of a yokai ceiling mural.
Yokai Art Museum number five features art work that was done in collaboration with students from Taiwan Art University. For me though the most fascinating part was the building itself which was a former restaurant downstairs with living quarters upstairs. All the cabinets, fixtures and fittings were original and as you opened doors to explore the artwork was exposed.
After exploring all five museums we returned to the dagashi shop.
I bought a selection of sweets and snacks to eat later.
Our time on Shodoshima had sadly come to an end, it was time to board the 13.53 ferry bound for Takamatsu.
I bought a sausage rice snack and pork katsu sando for the journey which took an hour and a half.
I didn't really need anything else to eat on the ferry but just had to try the udon noodles which cost just 300 yen. The thick udon noodles were served in a broth and topped with deep fried tofu, kamaboko and scallions. So glad I decided to try these, they were so good!
I also decided to try the pink fish I'd bought in the dagashi shop.
The centre reminded me of strawberry Nesquik.
We'd visited Takamatsu on our previous trip to Japan and I love this city so it was good to be back here again. It was going to be an ideal hub to visit other nearby islands and shrines.
We would be spending the next four nights at Kinco Hostel costing us £45 per night. The cafe area on the ground floor was spacious and available for guests to use. You could bring your own food to eat in this area and there were lots of books to look at too.
This time we were staying in a dormitory, each bed had a lockable space for luggage and there was a curtain to pull across. Inside each space was a shelf, a lamp and plug sockets. During the time we spent here we only saw a few other guests so we pretty much had the dorm to ourselves.
We were feeling quite exhausted today but walked to the port area for a mooch around.
Takamatsu has such a happy train station!
Back at the Hostel we chilled out with some food and researched what we'd be doing over the coming days here.
I tried some more of the snacks I'd bought earlier. This was pretty much a giant chocolate covered wotsit textured stick, thankfully not cheesy though!
I'd had these before and love them, really juicy squid sheets.
Click here for Day 16
Teshima
No comments:
Post a Comment