Day 18

There was a bunch of really nice people having a lovely conversation this morning,  roughly 3am. It was such a joy to hear their laughter ringing through the camp. It didn't interrupt my sleep in the slightest. Tebbs' alarm was set for 4.50 so I got up with her anyway, even though I wasn't meeting until 6.30.
 
I said goodbye to Dylan and headed to breakfast with my bag, it would save walking back and forth. I met Sally on the way and we ate together. I enjoyed a bowl of cereal, salad and a jam roll. It was clear they'd been saving the best lunch until last - we had croissants, Ritz biscuits and lemon cookies!!!
 
Just as I was walking over to our meeting spot I bumped into Maggie. We had a quick catch up and said our goodbyes. We're all off on our own adventures now! There was just under 100 of us on the Adventure Tour, but with all our massive holdalls spread about it looked like more. 
 
We had a good half hour before we were leaving so I filled up my water bottles and settled on the tarmac for a kip. At 7am is we traipsed over to our coaches on the other side of the car park. We had three, the dietary requirement people had one all to themselves! Once my bag was in, I found a seat with Emily and we waved goodbye to the Jamboree site.
 
The coach came with air con and our own wonderful tour guide, Yoko. The first leg of our journey was to Miyajima Island, just off from Hiroshima. I slept on the coach for the good two hours it took for us to get there. We then hopped on board a ferry that took us over to the island. The sea was very calm, and it made a nice change to feel the wind through my hair.
 
When we reached the Island we had until 12.45 to explore. I was surprised to see lots of deer roaming free, they weren't fussed by humans at all and seemed very docile. We saw loads of them on the way down to look at the famous Shrine and Gateway. A priest had designed them so that they would appear to float on the water. Unfortunately for us, the tide was out. However, this did mean we could walk right up to both. 
 
From there we had a slow meander around the rest of the island. We walked through the park and were going to go up the cable car, but we weren't sure how long it would take. Instead, we went down Shopping Street and enjoyed the hustle and bustle of it all. A few shops were selling maple leaf cakes and you could actually watch their production through the window, very cool. We bought a chocolate one each to try, but I didn't really like it. 
 
Back at the ferry port, poor Yoko had a hard time trying to count us. Finally, once we'd established that we hadn't left anyone behind, we were back on board. The next part of the journey was the exciting one - two bullet trains!
 
On our way to the station, Yoko passed down a lunch box for everyone. It looked incredible, six finger sandwiches, broccoli, a potato cake, bbq chicken and then real fruit - an orange segment and a slice of kiwi!!! It all tasted amazing. 
 
Our first train left Hiroshima Station at 12.52. However when I nipped to the loo and came back at 12.40, it was already there! Luckily we didn't have to worry too much about rushing for this one. I stayed awake for a while and ate my lemon cookies, it didn't last long though and I was soon asleep again. 
 
Getting off the train was much more stressful than getting on, we were ready 10mins before our stop, raring to go. 11mins 30secs later, all people and bags were off - success. Now to do it all again. Our struggle with the next train was the Japanese getting off. This gave us even less time to get ourselves on! However we managed it and I sat with two lovely Guides. This was a shorter journey, so I didn't sleep.
 
As we were already by the door we got the ball rolling a good 15mins before our stop. We all squished up against the door to allow the others to file down the aisles. We were off easy, but the others took a bit longer and apparently we did hold the train up. Oops. 
 
We had three new coaches waiting for us at the station and we piled our bags and ourselves on in no time. We were all eager to get to the hotel now. The sun set quickly and we reached Hotel Kagetsuen in darkness at about 7.45. We were meeting for dinner at 8pm so it was a case of dump the bags and get back downstairs. I'm sharing with Sarah and Natalie in a western room. I would have liked to have tried the futons, but any bed will do!
 
I don't like to think of myself as a fussy eater, but it turns out I really am. I was disgusted by half of the stuff laid out for us all tonight. There were so many dishes I struggled with where to start. I ate all the things that I could recognise and tried a few other weird and wonderful things. I started to feel a bit odd after the raw fish though, I don't think Japanese food is for me.
  
Back at the room, I pretty much passed out on top of the bed. It's so nice to know I won't wake up sandy and sweaty, and we're not meeting until 9am tomorrow! I'll try for a lie in...

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