A stroll by the sea

The Wakayama train. A sign said something about
a design competition, so I guess this was a winner
 

Today I had my little side trip to the seaside.  The train took an hour to leave the massive concrete jungle behind, but I finally had nice views of hills, streams, vegetable plots and – best of all – the sea.



I dropped my bags off at the hotel in Wakayama, had lunch and then headed off to Kada for the afternoon.  I had seen Kada on Google Earth and saw it had a sandy beach and that was just what I needed.



Temple in Kada

 I managed to get myself rather confused about the tickets, as I had to transfer between JR and non-JR trains, but as usual the station staff were more than helpful and I managed to arrive at my destination.  Kada is a very small town which is apparently quite popular in the summer as it’s away from the crowds and the beach is really very nice.  There are also some onsens in the town, but I didn’t partake as I’m planning to go to Spaworld tomorrow with one of my Japanese classmates who (I hope) arrived in Japan yesterday.

Kada Beach



I did have a relaxing stroll around the town and sat on the sea wall gazing out to sea and drinking my vending machine coffee (which was quite disgusting, really), watched some folk hanging their crop of seaweed on the line (as you do) and took the walking route past a couple of shrines and temples.



 

 

I bumped into a friendly chatty Japanese lady who was quite unperturbed about the fact that I couldn’t keep up with her rapid-fire speech.  It was actually a very good Japanese listening lesson and although I had to get her to repeat a few things, we had a generally intelligible conversation.  She offered to take my photo at the temple and we got one photo in before the camera started playing up.  It’s been fine since, so maybe there was some sort of supernatural interference at the temple.  I did learn the word for ‘flat battery’, so I can’t complain about another opportunity for a Japanese lesson.  The lady has family in New Zealand, so is interested in this part of the world.  She was quite amazed that I am in Japan and my husband is in Australia!  I suppose it is amazing really.

The journey back to Wakayama was quite uneventful, except for the drunken ‘down-and-outer’ who got on the train along the way.  The smell of alcohol was foul and when he started hiccuping, I thought he was going to throw up – so I was ready to make a dash for the next carriage.  Happy to report that we arrived without mishap.



The first three words on this sign say
"mimi . hana . nodo" which mean "ears . nose . throat".

When we got back to Wakayama, the school kids were all around in their gorgeous uniforms.  I always want to take loads of photos of them, but I’m conscious of not looking like a foreign weirdo, so I try to be discreet.

Schoolgirls near Wakayama Station

I was a bit too pooped from my day out to go looking for dinner, so I bought a nice little rice and ‘something’ tray from the nearby supermarket and chinged it at the hotel.  Just to confirm - “ching”, meaning to heat in the microwave, has made its way into the Japanese language.  I just checked my favourite online dictionary and there it was.  Dinner was followed by camembert cheese – well that’s what it said on the package, but the description was debatable – and some seaweed flavoured potato chips.  Well, why not – I’m in Japan!

I’ve got an early start tomorrow to get back to Osaka in time to go frolicking in the spa.  So for now, it’s feet up, TV on and a nice cup of (English) tea.  (And I hope that while I’m asleep, I’ll lose 15 kilograms and do Australian women proud tomorrow).