Day 15 - Shimonoseki

I couldn't believe I actually managed a lie-in this morning! I didn't get to breakfast until after 7, which did mean there was a slight queue. It was a BLT again today and I found out that if you ask for more, they will give it to you.. win!
 
I couldn't remember what time me and Rebecca had agreed to meet, I thought it was 9am, and as I didn't get out of breakfast until 8.15, I had a quick shower. Rebecca had been there since 8.. woops. I didn't feel so bad though as she had her kindle to keep her amused.
 
We walked into Ajisu to get the train as there weren't any shuttles until later on in the day. I think I took a wrong turning somewhere, as it took us much longer than it should have! Regardless, we got to the station in plenty of time and waited on the platform with loads of other IST.
 
It didn't take long for us to get to Shin-Yamaguchi and we ran into Daryl at the ticket machine. The ticket was probably the most expensive thing I've bought since Tokyo! I have been wanting to go for days though so I don't mind.
 
The journey was just over an hour, but I was asleep for most of it. We reached Shin-Shimonoseki and I prepped to get off at the next station. There was an extra stop that I wasn't aware of until we got off the train, bit awkward. Now we had no idea where we were.
 
Luckily Rebecca is of the same mentality as me and we decided to just walk into the city. We tried to follow the train line, but after a while it got too built up and we couldn't see it very well. Rebecca has an excellent sense of direction and we only had one major mistake, that we rectified pretty quickly.
We must have walked for about an hour when I could see boats. Boats meant sea. And sure enough, there it was! I was so excited to see the coast, the sea looked lush. We wanted to find somewhere to sit and eat as we were quite warm by now.
 
I recognised the logo of the supermarket so we headed there to have a nice sit down. The air con felt lush! We found a nice seat opposite an ice cream shop and ate our cheese rolls and crisps. We thought there might be a map in there but there wasn't - we'd just have to wing it.
 
We had a nice wander around the city and saw a few shrines but, try as we may, could not find a park we'd noticed on a street map. The main reason I'd wanted to go was to see the bridge across the Kanmon Straight and walk under the sea. Could we find this bridge...?
 
We stopped for a doughnut break at Mister Doughnut. We tried a strawberry glazed ring and a dipped chocolate "cronut" with cream in the middle. They were as good as they sound! From there, it was only 2mins to the train station. We met a wonderful lady in tourist information that told us to get on the next bus.
 
The bridge was very impressive, and we had a great view of the whole port from where we stood. I was a bit annoyed that both my camera and my phone had died, but Rebecca did take some pictures for us both. All we then had to do was cross over the road to walk the Kanmon Pedestrian Tunnel for Humans.
 
We went into a lift that descended about 300m below sea level.. at least it did if you remembered to press the button! It was then 400m to the borderline that separated Shimonoseki from its neighbouring city. We were going to walk all the way along but, when there was no viewing point to see the fishes, decided against it.
 
From there we started to walk back to a bus stop to get to the train station. We missed one bus but did get the next one. The ticket machine was very confusing, but I think I cracked it, at least the driver seemed happy. We were soon back at the train station, tickets in hand, ready to board for the journey home.
 
Surprise surprise I slept the majority of the journey. We decided to get the shuttle bus from Shin-Yamaguchi rather than walk. This meant waiting half an hour and we had a lovely chat with the other scouts in the queue.
 
There was all sorts going on when we made it back. Apparently a band had been booked and were playing in the car park - there was fire and pyrotechnics galore! It was packed out with day visitors, but at least it's their last night.
 
Food was next, pork chop again so I finally went veggie! I had a very nice vegetable curry with rice and a bowl of mandarins. I then dropped my bag at the tent, changed my top and grabbed my head torch.. time to party!
 
There were more people there than we'd anticipated and we were all buzzing. The Brits organised the area so we had a dance floor and a seating area. We then had a few head torches swinging from the marquee for effect and, once the tunes were blaring, things kicked off. We even played musical chairs!!
 
Me, Rhiannon and Fiona joined forces with a few guys from WOSM and we decided to check out the party by the dome. First though we were told that Rainbow Cafe were "on form". They really were, we sang and danced to ABBA, Madonna and more! They played the jamboree song and I taught the others the dance, to much hilarity.
 
At the dome, it was the Germans this time and I have to say, they do know how to party! I even took my shoes off and let my hair down. I was over the moon when they finished on the jamboree song again, and we really went for it!
 
It was then time to head back, but first Paul wanted us to sign his paddling pool so we visited "Mini Cornwall". Another late night for me, I made my farewells and collapsed into bed.

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