UWAAAH!!!~
Has it really been OVER 1 (O.N.E.!) month since my last travel entry???

I'm really sorry about that, but most of you know why!
I'm still working on my new blog project and it's finally going into a good direction and I'm slowly getting there (still lots of work involved from now on, though!)
Also, in less than 2 weeks (HOMG!) I'm off to Germany!
Anyways, doing all that coding, changing/improving my LJ design seems like a piece of cake now (but I'm too lazy and still quite content with the layout anways XD)...

Enough of my blabbering let's get started, there's a lot to show and explain, so get ready!~

Bitchu Takahashi (Okayama) (April 3rd 2011):



On my way to Okayama Station in the morning. There are a lot of bicycles all around the station. I really liked the colors of those. Why is mine not as cute? :/

My goal for the day was Bitchu Takahashi City in Okayama Prefecture.
It takes about 55min. (~820yen) by local train, so it's totally worth a day trip!! All the more if you're interested in Japanese castles, but more about that later.



Bitchu Takahashi station is super tiny! However, there's a very small tourist information ... ahr "booth" next to it, so that's where you could start.
After talking to them I decided to visit the castle later (there's a cheaper taxi service organized by the tourist information center, but limited to certain times and shared with other people *highly recommended if you don't have your own car*).

Left: First I took a walk to another tourist attraction, but on my way there, I stopped several times to take random photos like of this really small, but cute chapel!
Right: That's pretty much what Takahashi City looks like. Totally inaka, but I enjoyed it!



Finally arrived at my first destination: Raikyuu Temple.

Raikyuji Temple (頼久寺, Raikyūji) is a temple of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen Buddhism in Takahashi's old town.
The temple once served as the residence of Kobori Enshu, a local feudal lord who was also active as a renowned architect, garden designer and tea ceremony master. (source: japan-guide.com)

Left: Those stairs were quite impressive!
Right: And there we are. The outer temple facility.





As it was really small (and I expected more to be honest) I went chasing the cute stone statues that were everywhere!



Always with a different animal!





You've probably figured out by now that those are all animals of the Chinese zodiac!



There were also other statues!



Then it was time to have a look at the "famous" garden. You don't have to pay entrance for the temple facility (= everything you've seen so far), but you do for the garden.
Again, I was kind of disappointed because it was an extreeeemely small garden (maybe I've just seen too many amazing things already?!), but it was still nice!





You've probably already noticed by now, but it was a rather cloudy day.
It was still quite early in the morning (I arrived there before 9am), so I was the only one around! XD





*lol* So cute!





Just too random XD



I left again and here you can see what else is around. There were also a few samurai residences around, but as I've been to quite a few already, I didn't feel like going.
Really, if you don't have much time, you can skip those and the temple and just drive straight to the castle.
On the sign it says ~3km. Not so far, but it's all up a hill and no path for pedestrians at all, so I was told that you can't walk up there ;__; ....



I still had some time until my taxi reservation and I was very lucky that day! I already saw it on TV by coincidence: there was a special (and quite huge) Hina Matsuri exhibition.
All the inhabitants presented there own and partly really old (Edo era!) doll collection!! And all for free!!!!! Sooo lucky!



It was a narrow, old-style Japanese road with old houses, but all very colorful as they had decorated them and everywhere were dolls!!!
Absolutely awesome! I couldn't stop taking photos! XD Be prepared to be spammed!







A looooot of people were there. Mostly people who lived there or close by. I was the only foreigner and stared at like WOAH!! I also bought something handmade and had some nice conversation with the people there.
I got some food as present, later some hot tea, and was really surprised at how nice they treated me (after all that staring).
I also felt bad entering ther houses. It felt kind of awkward.
One especially, there was only a really old grandma in front of the house and I thought she must be scared if there's a foreigner who suddenly enters their house, but she silently mumbled something in Japanese to me and when I answered, she seemed relieved and started blabbering about her doll collection! XDD



Some houses were still closed as the festival just started (remember, it was still early in the morning).



Maybe it's good that I couldn't enter all of them, I would have spent the whole day there otherwise! XD



Aww, that's really cute! Me wants!! (*__*)b



Extremely huge and partly old collection O___O;



Crappy photo is crappy, sorry, but the dolls are cute, aren't they? ^-^;





Lucky!! There was another old-style Japanese house and the Japanese text says that entrance is free today! LUCKY!!!~



Small, but nice garden and this time for free ;)



Having a look at some of the exhibits.



Such beautiful "hagoita"!! I especially like the one in the middle! ^-^



Uhm ... I wouldn't even know how to use that! XD


Soooo adorable!



You know with all the ume/sakura + (year of the) rabbit decoration they really got me!!! ^-^



Totally random, but I liked the colors of it! Too bad it was not up for sale! ;o;



The left one, please, thank you! XD



So many things to discover and not enough time. Yet I took photos of EVERYTHING!! Every 2 seconds, I guess XD
And be warned, we're not even half through yet! (^-^')



Close-up: Must have been a loooot of work (O__O')





Cute rabbit family! (*__*)
It's a good thing that most of the things you see in my photos weren't up for sale or otherwise I would have spent a fortune, I swear!







And everything is so colorful!



Tihi. Simple, but cute.



UWOAH!!!! I don't wanna know how much that all costs!!! (x___X'')





Hello Kitty!!! And cute rabbits.



So they held the exhibition on 2 days and "today" was already the second day. Looking back, that was Saturday and Sunday - plus spring vacation for most people anyways ^-^





These are not that old: beginning of Showa era (1926/27++).



Those look quite old.



For some reason the photo on the left is one of my favorite photos!





Students were playing a nice melody using bells.



Oooold!!







So cute! There were some exhibits made by students.



Colorful hair! That's what I call modern! XD





They also had some other interesting things. Hello, Anpanman XD



Wow, the first time I saw something Momotaro related that day.
I already mentioned in one of my previous posts that Okayama is famous for the Momotaro legend.



Woah!!
As much as I enjoyed this, I had to hurry up as I had to catch my taxi.
On my way back to the station a lot of people crossed my way, walking into the opposite direction, namely to the Hina Matsuri, of course.
It's gotten quite lively, but I was satisfied and I've seen enough.



Uhh, old sign is old. My next destination - and the reason for this whole trip - was the Bitchu Takahashi Matsuyama castle.



I was back at the station on time and my taxi wasn't here yet, so I took some more photos.



The small station. Random child staring at the alien (aka me XD).



It's quite a steep hill up to the castle and the cars that want to go up have to wait until the vehicles that want to come down are gone. Quite complicated and so we had to wait for quite a while. They manage this via walkie-talkie. So there are people working there on the street doing nothing else. They had a nice chat with the taxi driver, though.
The parking lot is not close to the castle. You still have to climb up quite a bit on foot!
The photo above was taken when I was about half the way up.



Whaat??!! I went up all the way and that's the castle? You must be kidding me!!! ... XDDDD



First thing you'll see are the impressive stone walls. The main tower is still somewhat far from there.
Bitchu Matsuyama Castle is great not only because it's one of the few "original" castles, but also because it's the castle with the highest elevation above sea level in Japan.
Don't confuse this castle with the Matsuyama Castle in Matsuyama City (Ehime Prefecture, Shikoku) where I went in spring 2008.



Some details for the castle fans among you ^-^



Quite impressive, right?!



After climbing for quite some time and seeing nothing but stone walls, I was worried that there just was no castle after all! XD



But then I finally reached the top and the main tower!





As you can see, the main tower isn't really big at all.



Only if you want to enter the main tower, you have to pay an entrance fee. (Needless to say that I did!)



View from the entrance of the main tower.
You'd think that you have an awesome view from up there, but there's too much other stuff around that blocks the way (trees etc.)



There were only a few exhibits in the castle. Nothing too special. I didn't expect much anyways. And all in Japanese only, of course.
I bet they don't get many foreign visitors there.



Once I was finished inside, I went all around the castle tower.





That's how it looks "behind" the castle tower.



Left: There's this smaller tower right behind it.
Right: And that's the other side of the smaller tower.



That's what it looks like from farther away. There's enough space to take a rest.



And that's exactly what I did. By that time it was probably 1 or 2pm.
Boring conbini bento, but yummie!



On my way back down I had to take another photo of those impressive walls.
As you can see the sky was now clear! Yay!~



Back down at the station I saw that I still had around 40 minutes until my train back to Okayama would come.
I walked around a bit and took some random photos.



I really liked this house. It stands out. Style, shape, color!!
Anyways, didn't encounter anything too interesting and then my train came and I went back.



Well, that's not entirely true. In Okayama I changed trains and went to Kojima (on the way to Shikoku) - that's the third time I passed this city already during my trip!
From Okayama to Shikoku on my first day, then back the next day and that day again XD
This time I wanted to go there to get some nice photos of the Seto-Ohashi Bridge that connects the main island, Honshu, with Shikoku. As the weather suddenly became quite nice I thought it would be a great chance.
From Okayama it only takes about 20 minutes by Marine Liner (990yen) or 40min. by local train (480yen).



Kojima Station. Looks quite modern.
I was unlucky. I just missed the bus that goes all the way up to the observation deck from where you can see the bridge. I had to wait almost an hour for the next bus and there was NOTHING around!!!! NOTHING!
At times like that I really wished I had a car :( ......
Also, wasting another hour also meant, that I wouldn't have too much time up there until it gets dark and the last bus leaves. Again ... a rental car would have been great .... (I don't have a license for Japan, though ...).

In order to have a good view you'll have to get up Washu-zan, a hill in Kojima city right next to the ocean and Seto Ohashi Bridge.



Anyways, while waiting for the next bus I walked around a bit and tried to keep myself busy somehow, so I took photos of anything that seemed to be interesting XD
Those snakes remind me of Medusa somehow! ^^;



Some more.



Yeah ... I was really bored, now you can suffer with me! XD



I wasn't able to figure out the purpose of this thing o__O; .....



*lol* I was a bit worried because it was getting cloudier and I wanted to take a nice sunset shot! :(



Finally up there! I didn't have much time until the next and last bus would come and so I had to hurry up like crazy.
As you can see it really was kind of cloudy and I couldn't see all the way to Shikoku ... only a litte :(



Sunset also seemed to be difficult. It was supposed to be after my bus left ... no chance!!
Only other alternative ... stay until it gets dark and cold and go back down with a taxi (too expensive!!!) ..... or get some friends with a car! Haha .. -__-;



I guess the photos would have been much better with proper daylight ... they all look kind of dark and gloomy?!





On my way up to the hilltop I spotted a cherry blossom tree! Yay. Needless to mention that it wasn't in full bloom yet, huh?



At least I tried! XD



Yah, way too cloudy!







The other side (= no the bridge side was fine, no clouds! ;o; ...).



Close-up of the bridge. Didn't bring my other lense, so that's as close as I could zoom.
What you see (or not?!) on the opposite side is Shikoku.



Superzoom. Below the cars is where the trains are running! ^-^





That's all the sunset I could get. Not even close yet and my bus was about to come.
As it was cloudy anyways I thought it's better not to risk it and waste a lot of money on a taxi.



And so I was back at the bus stop just on time.



When I arrived at the station in Kojima I checked train times and then decided that I was too hungry anyways.
Some trains were cancelled due to the Tohoku earthquake anyways...
I went into a nearby family restaurant and ate super yummie food!! ^-^
Sorry, I can't even remember what exactly it was! XD



And back in Okayama.
In the background you see "Big Camera". I actually spent almost all of my evenings there trying to find a good tripod ... and guess what? I still don't have one!! *slaps self*



And that was my busy day in 2 cities of Okayma Prefecture.
Mostly I was lucky I think, especially with the doll festival. No complaints
It looks like a busy day, but honestly, it wasn't! At least it didn't feel super busy to me!



I hope you enjoyed this post.
Next up: Tsuyama (and then back to Okayama because I suck! )
I don't know when I'll be able to write the next travel post. I'm pretty sure that I won't have time before I leave for Germany where I'll stay for 2 weeks, so you might have to wait another month, but after that I'll be properly back, I swear! ;o; .....

I couldn't even finish this entry in one day! That's how busy I am.
Thanks for reading and being patient!