Tottori sand dunes

Took the limited express super Inaba train all the way from Okayama to Tottori which was included in our JR pass and took about 1.5-2 hrs to reach. 

After dropping off our luggages at Morris Green hotel Tottori which was next to the station, we went back to the station and took a bus that goes to the sand dune. We can’t use the IC card for the bus so we have to pay by cash when getting off.

Unfortunately, the sand museum was not opened when we were there and we did not see any camels around, guess we arrived during the off peak season?

We decided to walk to the edge of the sea passing by this pool of water called the Oasis which seemed quite dried up. 

View from the top.

The wind was quite strong and blowing sand everywhere. The sand dunes was not v big and can be easily finished walking in less than half a day. 

For me, I like the desolate landscape of the sand dunes. I had been to several sand dunes before such as the ones in Death Valley, Wadi Rum in Jordan and the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. 

View from the Oasis as the wind caused ripples through the water.

Back at the visitor center playing with this drink machine. It had interesting drinks such as banana chocolate latte and hoji cha latte. So cool~ think I spent some time trying out the several different drinks as it’s quite cheap at 100 yen each. Besides this interesting drink machine, we also managed to watch a documentary show of the sand dunes(in Japanese of course) inside the visitor center. 

For lunch, we went to the large souvenir store directly opposite the visitor center. There was a shop selling food such as chirashi don, kaisen don, etc. You just need to order the food at the entrance (where the cashier is) and then with the ticket, just pass to the server. Water and tea were self serviced and you are free to chose to sit anywhere. Feels like a canteen area more than a restaurant actually. We ordered the salmon don which was their recommended. My god! It’s the freshest salmon I ever taste. I can’t even describe the taste. Best salmon ikura don ever eaten!

Hubby was also very stunned at how fresh and good the salmon was. Haha...

After that, we went snacking around the souvenir stalls as there were many free samples put out for tourists to try. We ended up buying a lot of food....oh dear...

Directly just outside this souvenir shop was the bus stop to go back to Tottori Station. It was the same bus stop which we got off also as it was a loop bus. Think it cost about 460 yen for a single trip. 

The strong wind by then had turned into a even stronger wind and causing a sandstorm. Everyone was hiding inside the store waiting for the bus to come instead of waiting at the bus stop. 

Good bye Tottori Sand Dune~!

Himeji Castle

We have always wanted to visit Himeji Castle and finally we got the chance to visit this National Treasure and world heritage site. What makes this so unique is that this castle was never destroyed by the war, earthquake or fire and survive for hundreds of years till now and was one of the original 12 castles of Japan. 

We took the Shinkansen and arrived at Himeji

Statio from Okayama in less than 30mins. From the station, we took a bus from the entrance of the station to the entrance of the castle. There were several buses departing for Himeji Castle and they accept IC cards like Suica. 

The man hole is so beautiful!

View of cherry blossom and Himeji Castle. Think this castle is one of the most visited of all. The crowd was crazy....luckily we went early so it’s still ok.

Think the entrance fee was about 1000 yen and you can buy from machine. There was a human jam when we were approaching the castle...and staffs even have to direct the human traffic. 

Seriously, this castle was the biggest I ever seen. We have to take off our shoes and put them inside the plastic bags provided and carry them around inside the castle as the floors were all made of wood. Besides the many steep narrow wooden staircases, we also need to maneuver low beams and people at the same time. Felt like some obstacle course inside the castle, which was quite fun and interesting although my feet does hurt a bit after walking after a while.

For lunch, we decided to have it at this restaurant called Kassui-Ken inside the garden next to the castle as I heard some good reviews online about it. However, to have lunch there, u need to buy an entrance ticket to the garden and we ended up waiting 45mins before being seated as there were many ppl. 

For sure, the food was mediocre and not worth waiting  for 45mins as i feel they served microwave food. Coz the food was served too quickly and it’s not possible to  grill eel within 5mins. Suspect they just heat up the food. I was disappointed with my grilled eels but then the view was excellent. Suspect the long queue was for the view of eating next to the garden with a koi pond next to it.

So beware, if u are only interested in the scenery, go for it. If you are interested in food, can just give this place a miss.

Okayama castle & Korakuen and kurashiki bikan historical quarter

After leaving our luggages at Mitsui Garden Hotel, we set out to explore Okayama Castle and Korakuen.

Okayama is famous for its fruits and Momotaro legend. Statue of Momotaro standing out Okayama station.

From Okayama station, we took the tram and got off at shiroshita station. From that, it’s about 10mins walk to the castle. We bought the combination tickets to the castle including the garden as it’s cheaper. 

The castle was quite small with a souvenir store, a pottery making workshop and some photo taking areas where U can dressed up as historical ppl. 

Hubby watching some shows about the castle’s history inside the castle. 

I’m not really into castle stuffs but I can tell the castle is quite new looking. 

After that, we went to the garden and was surprised to see many Japanese couples taking wedding photos. 

Loved the bride’s clothing! Think we saw about 4 couple that day taking wedding shots.

View of the garden from a hill top.

There were many ppl sitting under the Sakura tree enjoying their hanami. 

We din join in as it was quite crowded. Besides, we already had our hanami at previously at Hakata. 

From Okayama, we took the local Sanyo train to kurashiki station. From that, it’s was about 10mins walk to the historical quarter. The place was a scenic and relaxing place to stroll about, admiring the weeping willow trees along the canal.

Cannot resist getting a strawberry whipped cream and chocolate crepe at the entrance. I love crepes especially these kind of hand rolled fruit and cream type. It’s like a must eat thing whenever I go Japan. Seems like I only get to eat this when I’m there. It’s not c common in Singapore...strangely....

Spotted this cute deer dressed up as a strawberry mascot walking around. 

There was a Momotaro museum but we din go in.

Spotted several swans swimming in the canal.

After that, we decided to go back to kurashiki station as there was an outlet mall and a shopping Mall behind the station.

Did managed to buy some clothes from Beam outlet but the prices aren’t cheap.

There was also a Can do 100 yen store in the shopping mall. Loved shopping for Sanrio stuffs in Can do stores as it’s only 100 yen! 

By then our legs were almost breaking from all these walking and we just called it a day and went back to our hotel at Okayama.

After that, we can check in Mitsui Garden. It’s a v nice and comfortable 2 nights stay. The room was clean and modern and also quite spacious for 2 person.

Just across our hotel was a big Aeon Mall. Happened to find out there’s also a Pokémon center there.

So cute! The mascot for this Pokémon Centre was Pikachu wearing Momotaro costume!

For dinner, we decide to eat at the food court in Aeon Mall. Ordered a pizza with salad and drink from one of the stall for only 800 yen while hubby ordered a mapo tofu hot stone set with fried rice etc. The food was cheap and delicious to me. It was a good meal as I was craving for something non rice and noodle. Get kinda sick of eating rice and noodle every day....

That’s all for day 1 at Okayama. The next day we will be going Himeji Castle!

Hello kitty Shinkansen and Hiroshima

Departed from Hakata to Hiroshima very early in the morning taking the hello kitty Shinkansen at around 6.40am. 


The whole train was decorated in hello kitty theme. Although I was not a fan of hello kitty, I still find it cute. Why can’t it be a Pompompurim train? 

As this was a very early train, there were v few ppl around. Turned out the non-reserved section of the train was the nicest of all.

Above was the non-reserved section of the train. If u booked seats, you won’t be able to get these nice looking seats. You will just get the normal looking seats.

The washroom was decked out in pink.

A telephone room?? Who still use that nowadays?

A place to store luggage and bicycle.



At the end of the non reserved section of the train are some photo taking spots.




We got the whole place to ourselves as there are hardly anyone around.



Finally reached Hiroshima around 8-9am. We deposited our luggage at our hotel first before going out to Miyajima. 

From Hiroshima, we took the San-yo local train to Miyajimaguchi station which is about 30mins ride away. From Miyajimaguchi station, just follow everyone on the train and walked towards the pier to take the ferry. Since we were covered under the Sanyo-Sanin JR pass, we do not need to pay for the ferry. Just go straight and board the ferry and then upon arriving, just show the pass when exiting the ferry pier.

View of the JR ferry.

Our first stop was lunch at Kakiya which specializes in cooking oysters.

It’s one of the best oysters I ever eaten. The grilled oysters in the shells are so big, plump and sweet! Beside grilled oysters on the shell, there are different ways of cooking such as croquet oysters, stewed oyster with rice, miso oysters etc...yum yum..

Spotted many deers wandering around the island. Their fur looks bald in patches...guess they have been eating too much junk food from tourists.

Entrance to the itsukushima shrine, also known as the floating shrine coz it appears to be floating on water during high tide. Entrance was 1000 yen per person. Quite costly in my opinion just to enter a shrine.

As it was high tide, we could not walk to the tori gate.

After that, we walked around the stalls selling souvenir and food and bought some maple cakes and curry oyster bun. 
The oyster curry bun was really good. Quite a few pieces of oysters inside.

After that, we left around 2pm and took the San-yo line to Yokogawa station. Directly in front of the station was the tram and we took tram line 7 to go to the Hiroshima Atomic bomb dome. The tram accepted IC cards so we were able to use our Suica to tap in and out of the tram.

This iconic building was one of the few remaining building left intact after the bomb. 

We went to the Hiroshima peace memorial museum. Entrance fee was 200 yen. You can also rent an audio kit for 150 yen but we din not see the need as there were English descriptions on almost all the displays. 

Taking a break from the with a Sakura shio ice cream with a paddle shaped biscuit.

The ice cream was surprisingly yummy and I love the paddle shaped biscuit. Seems like there a lot of souvenir shops selling these big rice paddles in Hiroshima. Not sure what it signifies but probably means abundance coz it’s used for scooping rice. After that, we walked to Sogo mall which is nearby as there was a Pokémon Centre upstairs.

Every Pokémon Centre has its mascot Pokémon. For Hiroshima, it’s Pikachu riding a shiny Gyarados. 

For Singapore Pokémon Centre, it’s Pikachu riding Lapras. So cool.

For dinner, we had Hiroshima okonomiyaki at Hiroshima station second floor. There were several good stalls at that level. We tried Yochan.

The place was quite small, only can seat about 10ppl. We were seated at the counter....not choice as there were no other seats available.

The good thing is you can watch up close and personal at how they cooked your okonomiyaki and have the option to eat from the hot plate in front of you instead of on a plate. But the bad thing is you smell of cooking as the smoke and fumes are all going to go towards your face.

However, despite the strong fumes and smell, the okonomiyaki was awesome! The noodles was slightly crispy and the cabbage was soft and melts in your mouth. Definitely the best okonomiyaki I ever eaten. 

After that, we went back to our hotel APA Hiroshima-Ekimae which was only 5 mins walk away from the station.