Miyako, Iwate Day 2
Breakfast was buffet, but we were too full from the previous night's dinner to eat much. So I got all the healthy and light food for breakfast.
The weather forecast for this day was rain again, but lo and behold it wasn't raining! It was cloudy though. So we thought that we better get out and around before the rain started coming down again. So off to our first stop, and also one of the closest tourist spot that we wanted to go, Sannoiwa. It was like 10 to 15mins walking distance from our hotel so we set off on foot.
We climbed up the wall that the town built to contain tsunami disasters. This is a picture from the top of the wall, overlooking the town. You can see our hotel in the background, which is also one of the tallest building in the area.
View of the fishing port from the top of the wall.
There were painted emblems on the wall. I guess they symbolize something?
Sannoiwa（三王岩） consists of 3 rocks. The 'male' rock（男岩）at 50m, 'female' rock（女岩）at 23m and the drum（太鼓岩）at 17m. The rocks were apparently around since 140 million years to 70 million years ago. There is a sea hole in the 'male' rock and it is said that if you go through the hole, you will be blessed with good luck.
We walked up to get another view of the rocks.
Someone canoed past the rocks!
While we were up there looking at the view, we saw a group of guys climbing the rocks. One crossed over to Sannoiwa, went one round and came back. After looking at them, we decided to try it too! We thought of going through the cave in the 'male' rock. And so we climbed, in inappropriate shoes (seems like I'm always doing stuff with inappropriate shoes), bags and all. We got all the way to the tip of where we were.
View from the end of where we went.
Pei Yen said this photo makes it look easy. But it really wasn't. The rocks were huge and there were small ones too. But some were unstable. So you had to test it first before putting your weight on it.
We got till here, and although it doesn't look like it, the water was about knee-deep. Then we decided not to go further coz we didn't want to get wet. Lol.
After Sannoiwa, we stopped at a small temple which we passed by on the way. It is a temple to pray for their livelihood - fishing. But it was really remote, and looked unused.
Guanyin is actually holding a fish.
View from the top of the temple.
After that, we went back to the hotel. The sky didn't look great, and we couldn't travel far. We asked the front desk about the distance of the places we wanted to go and they said it wasn't walkable. So we called a cab. Yes, a cab. Can you believe it?? I actually took a cab in Japan for touring.
We first went to Sawajiri Kaikan（沢尻海岸）. The coast along Iwate Prefecture, also known as the Sanriku Kaikan（三陸海岸）, have plenty of small hidden beaches amongst the rocks/cliffs. Sawajiri Kaikan is one of them.
That's Pei Yen.
Next, we went to Masaki Kaikan（真崎海岸）further up the coastline.
The water is so emerald and clear!
There was a lighthouse there but we would have to climb up. And since the cab meter was running, we didn't go.
On our way back to the hotel. It was drizzling already. Look at the clouds!
The cab driver was really nice. He stopped by the road, picked 2 'fruits' from a bush and asked us to nibble it. He said that it was edible and it grows near the sea. He said that when he was a kid, he used to pick them from the bushes to nibble on them coz they were sweet. But there were lots of seeds too.
Back at the hotel, our dinner. Another feast!
We found out that foreigners in the area are few if not none. Everyone in the hotel were all excited coz they were expecting blonde hair blue eyes. So the staff actually asked us if we were mixed blood. The previous night when the hotel staff served us dinner in our room, the door to our room was open, and the people staying on the same floor all kept peering into our room. The hotel staff told us that that's coz my name is written on a paper outside the room, and everyone is excited coz they rarely if ever get foreign visitors, so they were just checking us out. It was quite funny, especially when you see their bewildered faces and when they ask why on earth would we choose to go there, when even Japanese do not go or some do not even know of the place. But it was a good experience...minus the rain. =)
