Ammanno....Amona...Amah..What?

see all photos »

The greatest part about meeting up with Rika (in addition to having fun friends to hang out with) was all of the changes it inspired in my travel plans.  There were quite a few stops, some not exactly on the normal tourist route, that got added to the trip after talking to her.   This trip to Amonohashidate was one of them.  We stayed about a day, including the night, and about 2 weeks later I finally mastered the pronunciation.  Not bad, huh?

Japan is supposed to have three great scenic views (this seems to be more of a local list than one for the international tourists).  One of these is the 3.6 km long, pine tree covered sand bar, spanning across Miyazu Bay on the Tango Peninsula.  It's about an hour north of Kyoto and Rika and Belinda had decided they wanted to go see it so we joined them.

see all photos »

The really entertaining part of this famous site is that you view the sand bar from the hils on the side of the bay by turning your back towards the bay, bending over and looking at it from between your legs.  Apparently, people have been doing this for more than a millenium and I'm pretty sure it was just as funny then as it is now to watch your friends partake in the "viewing."  Supposedly, looking at it this way makes the sand bridge appear to float in the air, but Nick and I agreed that it just made it look like you were looking at the sand bridge upside down.   Still it was fun, the area is beautiful and we added a little hike up the mountain as well.

see all photos »

We also stayed in one of our best rooms in Japan and it happened to be in a youth hostel.  We got a huge tatami room with a little enclosed balcony that looked out over the Sea of Japan.  People would pay good money for a view like this but it happened to be one of the cheapest places we stayed in Japan.  Pretty sweet.