Japan Road Trip: Okayama to Hiroshima

We set off from our Michi no eki in Kayou and onto a day of nature adventuring with some spots in mind that we found off the map the day before :) We definitely got super lost this day and despite writing down the kanji and trying to follow signs, we kind of just fluked our nature adventures :p We ended up at Makido caves, a limestone cave system and also a beautiful nature walk that left us breathless. I wrote in my notes we visited Maniwa, Kamba falls and rashamon, which includes a 40m limestone arch! 

We also went to Niimi Chiya hot springs and it was the first time we had tattoo issues. It all got a little lost in translation but the girls at the desk (although kind of horrified about us having tattoos) were super helpful and ended us giving us keys to a private disability onsen, so it worked out in the end.

Afterwards, we said goodbye to Okayama and drove to Hiroshima prefecture, where we would do something super fun the next day! The town we ended up in was called Takehara and they had their own historical town so it was fun to roam the small but pretty and ghost like streets :)

I found out those balls (above left) are made with cedar and called, sugidama

Sake makers would hang up a fresh green sugidama in November or December, right after they pressed sake made from the new rice harvest. Customers knew that a few months later, when the sugidama turned completely brown, the sake was ready to drink - source

Japan Observations from my scribbled notes

         - iconic white cranes, flying among rice patties  
                             #sojapanese
         - people in cars pull up anywhere even if unsafe to do so
         - a michi no eki can be almost empty yet a car will always pull up beside us