Ive just had a fun week cruising around the eastern side of Shikoku island. I found a few beautiful beaches, a temple in the clouds, friendly locals to give me rides around and a couple of other travellers too :)
My first stop was a little bay just outside of Tokushima city. There was a youth hostel there, separated from the beach by a few trees and not much else. Unfortunately though the water in the bay was pretty brown - almost like the waikato river at home. It was hot enough that i had to go for a swim anyway, and i didnt get sick so the water obviously wasnt too bad! There were a few tracks through the forest on the north side of the bay too and i spent the last couple of hours of daylight exploring around & watching the sun slip down through the leaves and eventually behind the distant hills, signalling time for me to head back for dinner.
Later in the evening i walked to the beach with Josh & we found a group of Japanese musicians playing some very cool traditional music. They invited us to join them & later taught us a little local dance. I think we were really lucky to stumble across this group & see a taste of old Japan still alive today :)
The next day in Tokushima city we found another, more organised, performance of traditional music & dancing. A small stage had been set up floating on the river in the city centre and adorned with red carpet & golden railings. For over an hour, different acts were performed from periods of history reaching back centuries. One star performer was dressed as a sort of devil & stomped around the stage, accompanied by drums, chanting & softer tones from wooden flutes.
From Tokushima i headed to the south-east corner of Shikoku, where i expected to find a hostel near a famous temple. I had a tough hike up a stone-staired hillside through the mist and rain, to finally reach the temple. But i soon discovered that the hostel was closed, which left me to chose between the hotel or heading back out into the rain? The comfort of the hotel won me over pretty quickly & i soon met another traveller caught in the same situation.
The coastline here was all rocks & wind-blown waves - not very inviting really. So i spent a while walking around with Sue, checking out the temple and the paths through the ancient forest. I found a nice big leaf to improvise as an umbrella, although i still got kinda drenched. Maybe the leaf wasnt big enough??
A few lazy hours after the sun had risen, i was on my way again. This time heading back north, with Sue, aiming for a nice sandy beach to camp at. It didnt take too long to get a ride hitch-hiking and after a couple more, we turned up at Shishikui beach. Sishikui is a cool little town with a white-sand beach, tree-clad skylines and clear blue skies :) We found a bit of beach above the high tide line to set up camp with tent & drift-wood fire. The full moon joined the party too and slowly slid across the sky, spying on the sleeping surfers below.
Our day in Shishikui was spent between the beach & the local surf shop where we'd hired a board from. I had a couple of fun hours surfing the small waves on the longboard and Sue had her first ever surf session & was riding like a natural in no time!
We enjoyed this spot so much that we had to stay a 2nd night there too :)
During dinner at a local restaurant there was a bit of commotion & someone got a few english words together to explain it to us - a whale was swimming by! It surfaced lazily about 1km from shore, in the path of the moonlight reflected off the sea. A very special moment for all of us :)
After more hitch-hiking through the heat of the day we arrived at dusk on another beach near the highway linking Shikoku to the mainland. The wind forced us to be a bit inventive & gather rocks & an old drum to make a windbreak for our fire place to cook dinner. We were successful though. Hooray!! I felt that we were much luckier than the people safely isolated from nature in the nearby luxury hotel. A few hundred metres away physically, but a world away in experiences.
