The Perfect Island, Weather, Noodles N Olives
Trip Start
Dec 01, 1999
1
60
103
Trip End
Aug 31, 2000
Shodoshima,
Japan
Thursday, March 2, 2000
I rose early to watch the sunrise from the hostel and then went for a short walk before getting a lift back to the train station by the Hostel Guy. I then boarded the train bound for Takamatsu. I sat memorized for the next few hours as my train took me onwards through the stunning Oboke and Koboke Gorges.
The journey was just as beautiful as my journey to Awa Ikeda from Kochie.
I sat thinking how lucky I am to be able to do what I have just done. Not only have I been away for many months pakkin around Asia but I can at whim take a journey to a beautiful Hostel on a hill for no other reason than the train journey there, the views once I got there and then the train journey the following day.
I ask you, how wonderful is life for a lot of us?
It's only once you've been away for a time and begun to live with the understanding of how lucky you really are to have been born in the country you were born in. I could easily have been born in Africa or North Korea, that is if I had African or North Korean parents, which I don't so that means I really couldn't have easily born in Africa or North Korea.
....um....um....um...
Ok, let's just say I was born in North Korea or Africa ok...um...do you think I would have been on the train yesterday taking a train journey for no other reason than the promised splendid views on the way or at the hostel and...
...um....um....um....
Bugger, I can't run with it any more.
Let's just say I feel like I'm a real lucky Bugger!
OK, chug chug...choo choo...chug chug...choo choo...whistle blows...etc etc!
So, there I was eating a bowl of my favourite noodles at a little noodle bar near the Takamatsu station with an old Japanese man who could speak English. Whilst chatting I was wondering what I was going to do next. My JR Pass will run out very soon and then I'd be hit with local trains and astronomical train prices.
Do I continue onto Nara and rest my wounded feet readying them for South Korea?
Do I continue onto Kyoto and rest my wounded feet readying them for South Korea?
Do I spend a night or two here in Takamatsu and promise myself 'only little day trips?
Do I.......
.....hey! Thre you are! Really! That sounds like a great I idea! I told him...
.....Really, just a ferry ride away?
.....I even paid for his noodles!
.....We then headed to the ferry terminal where he helped me buy my ferry ticket.
.....I couldn't thank him enough.
You see what happens when you share a bowl of noodles with the right person!
You see, there really are some noodle moments that are meant to happen!
So I'll repeat the list again for you.
Do I continue onto Nara and rest my wounded feet readying them for South Korea?
Do I continue onto Kyoto and rest my wounded feet readying them for South Korea?
Do I spend a night or two here in Takamatsu and promise myself 'only little day trips?
Are you bloody crazy!
Why in the world are you asking such stupid questions?
Why in the world would you want to go to Nara, Kyoto or stay here in Takamatsu when you can go to Shodoshima Island? Mate, it's only an hour's ferry ride away. The sky is blue, the sun is warm and it is supposedly where the Udon Noodle comes from.
Soon I was on board and waving good bye to my Noodle Saviour.
The journey was glorious and they even had a noodle bar onboard where I got myself another bowl of Udon Noodles and grabbed a seat on the sun deck. An hour or so later I was stepping foot onto the Kasakabe Port area.
Beautiful, just beautiful!
I then followed my free map and slowly made my way to the Olive Youth Hostel which was set across from the water. As I was checking in I met two Japanese guys who were riding their bikes around Shikoku. They were off on a bike ride and would be back later in the late afternoon so we planned a few beers over noodles for dinner.
I spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing.
I didn't even go near one of the islands eighty or so temples.
I made my way across to the water, found a place to park my self and sat looking at the bay. There was a little boat that I spent hours watching as it bobbed up and down with the tiny ripples that couldn't be called waves. I didn't read and I barely even thought. I found a little bucket type thing and sat with my feet in it.
Now they are turning white and the wounds are beginning to smell like road kill.
Maybe it is time for a professional to have a look at them.
But not today nor tonight!
After many hours of boat bobbing watching I met the two guys and they took me to eat the local special dish called Somen Noodles. These are long fine handstretched noodles made from wheat flour, sesame oil and salt. They are an awesomely tasty dish. During dinner I asked the guys why everything has the word Olive in its name.
This was one of their answers and this is what I have become used to in Asia. It would have to be part of their schooling and the fact that to learn English they do a lot of Repeat Repeat Repeat. What happens is a lot of what they say sounds like it is taken directly from a text book. Here is the answer;
'Shodoshima is set in Japan's western archipelago and is a very special place to us Japanese. In 1908 Japan began trying to grow olives but they had no luck for many years until someone tried to grow them on this island'.
There ya go, not a bad answer hey!
So I guess it was Bingo! The islands olives are now very famous in Japan and this is why everything has the word Olive in it here on Shodoshima Island.
Hey how's this, not only is Shodoshima Island known for its olives it is also special as it was here that the movie 'Twenty-Four Eyes' was set. This is the movie I was watching during dinner at the Hostel in Awa Ikeda. During dinner I told them where I had just come from and about the movie I watched during dinner. They began laughing and told me they had somewhere special to take me to tomorrow. From what they told me there was a remake of the movie and the movie set was kept and has become a huge attraction for the many Japanese tourists.
So far I haven't been given an answer to the question 'is this were Udon Noodles began?'
Beers N Cheers toya.....shane
Accommodation: &nbs p; Shodoshima - Olive Youth Hostel
Olive-mura, Uchinomi-cho, Shoz
Kagawa 761-4434 Japan
Ph: 81-879826161
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The soundtrack to this entry was actually a friend's band from Melbourne.
I haven't seen him for many years now but being the talented bugger that he is I'm sure he is still painting and creating. In fact his entire family are talented artists. I met him on the train one night on the way home to Pakenham where we were both living at the time.
He was in an awesome band called Freshly Squeezed.
Janes Addiction/Living Colour type stuff.
The album I listened to this evening was a band from many years later called 'Tree House'
The album is called 'We're All Here'.
Folky type stuff.
Lovit!
