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For the New Year I was in Indonesia at Tuk Tuk on Samosir Island in Lake Toba, Sumatra. Shortly after the New Year I traveled back to Medan and then caught an over night bus up to Banda Aceh on the extreme northern coast of Sumatra. The Aceh province had a more extreme form of Islam than the rest of Indonesia and generally wanted its independence from the rule of Jakarta. Banda Aceh had a beautiful central mosque and a colorful central market, however, I had really traveled up to the province to go out to the island called Pulau Weh. From Banda Aceh's port of Krueng Raja it was a 2.5 hour sailing out to the idyllic tropical island which was famous for it's marine national park and diving.
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1996 Travel Diary (Part 1)

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2005-12-23 14:40:13

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is destroyed. I also spent several hours in the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb museum which was again totally fascinating.

My next stop was the nearby island of Miyajima. The island was quintessential Japanese with shrines, temples, ornate gardens, parks, wild dear, mountains and the sea. I spent a very pleasant day strolling around the island and visiting the various attractions including the famous Itsukushima-jinja shrine (Floating Torri). Although there were many domestic tourists on the island, when I did the hike up to the Mt. Misen peak (530m) I only saw a handful of people.

After Miyajima I left the Hiroshima area and traveled east along Honshu to the town of Kurashiki. On the way I did a side trip over to Shikoku, Japan's 4th largest island. The train took me across the new 15km long Seto-ohashi bridge, which spans one of the prettiest sections of Japan's Inland Sea. Kurashiki's main attraction was a quaint old area of black tiled warehouses set along an old canal. The canal was flanked my Willow trees and most of the older buildings had been converted to little restaurants and shops. When I arrived at the Kurashiki youth hostel I discovered that I was the only guest staying at the 60 bed hostel and that they had opened it up just for me!

Next I traveled to Himeji, where I visited the famous Himeji-jo castle. The castle is regarded as the most splendid original castle in the whole of Japan and dates back to 1333, with the current construction dating from 1580. The structure had a 5 story main donjon with three satellite donjons. The castle was steeped in history, and as I walked around the dimly lit wooden corridors I could only imagine what it must have been like to live in ancient Japan. The castle gardens were equally impressive and served well for me little siesta that I had after my tour!

From Himeji I caught the Shinkansen to Osaka from where I traveled to the holy town of Koya-san. ...