Throwback Thursday: Megijima and Ogijima 2022 Itinerary

Just a day after coming back from Hyogo, we spent an entire day strolling along Megijima and Ogijima, two islands that belong to Kagawa Prefecture. It’s Setouchi Triannale, an art festival held every three years on the Seto islands. These islands are mostly part of Kagawa prefecture, so it’s quite easy to get to these islands.

Here’s our itinerary:

Highlights

• We had our trip in spring, so the weather was pleasant throughout the day. We still had to wear either a heattech or a cardigan because it sometimes became chilly especially during our ferry rides,
• The oni (demon) cave was our main reason for going to Megijima. However, we didn’t do any prior research, so we were unaware that there’s a bus that would take us from the port to the mountain. We hiked for more than 30 minutes before reaching the entrance to the cave. The old caretakers of the cave were amused when they learned of our impromptu hike. Then they showed us the bus schedule and helped us buy our tickets in advanced. Though tiring, we immensely enjoyed our hiking because we got to see the beautiful scenery as we went up the mountain.
• We had the cave pretty much to ourselves, so that’s a huge plus. I am guessing that we went there at an odd time when the bus wasn’t scheduled yet to bring visitors up the mountain.
• After exiting the cave, we hiked further up the mountain to the observatory deck. It was on top of the mountain where one could see the various towns and cities in Kagawa and a glimpse of Okayama.
• The artworks and statues in Megijima were nice. They’re found throughout the island, and I have nothing more to say except that they’re nice,

Not-so-highlights

• There was a serious lack of restaurants in the islands. A lot of the restaurants seemed houses to me. Also, the food price-serving size ratio was ridiculous. I recommend eating a heavy meal before going to these islands.
• There was nothing really going on with Ogijima. It was almost empty. Based on what I’ve read, there are less than 200 actual residents on that island, and most of the houses there had been abandoned over the years.
• It was tagged as the cat island of Kagawa, and yet, we only saw a handful of cats.

Throwback Thursday: Hyogo 2022 Itinerary

Going to Hyogo was one of the places we had planned to visit for the Golden Week. Despite it being an overnight trip, we had fun and got to visit a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well.

Here’s our itinerary:

Highlights

• Himeji Castle was gorgeous, but it’s a shame that pictures don’t do it justice.
• Food, food, food! You can just buy various street foods while strolling along Nankichi Chinatown and never be hungry! However, the only food I ate here was tanghulu, fruits coated in hard sugar, because I found it such a hassle to eat street food with a mask on. Moreover, it greatly reminded me of the tanghulu that I had in Taiwan back in 2018.
• I saw one of the three real-life bronze statues of Elvis Presly in the world. To reflect the current pandemic, the statue was wearing a mask on his face.
• Kobe Port looked a bit like Clark Quay in Singapore. It’s quite nostalgic if you ask me.

Not-so-highlights

• Himeji Castle was gorgeous outside, but the inside was disappointing. There was nothing inside the castle. However, given how old it was, I could understand that they wanted to protect the castle and its contents.
• I didn’t like the restaurant where we had our dinner in Nankichi Chinatown. Everything was acceptable – not bad but not good. It was a shame since I also didn’t enjoy the spring rolls with peking duck as its main ingredient. It was my first time eating peking duck, but meh…
• Anpanman Museum in Kobe Harborland was originally in our itinerary. We ended up dropping it after realizing how expensive the ticket price was for us who had no interest in Anpanman.