After bidding Kyoto goodbye, we headed to Ise, a home to Japan’s most sacred Shinto shrines. It is quite far from the big cities and less crowd. A small town. We used Kintetsu Railway Pass to go Ise from Kyoto. Remember we had 3 free Limited Express rides? We used one of it for this journey – Kyoto to Ujiyamada. We can use the same pass to use the bus service in Ise City – CAN Bus.
When we arrived Ise, we searched for the guest house which we would be staying the night – Tsumugi-ya Gust House. It was not easy nor difficult to find it. With Google, you could easily find the place. The place is really quiet with less traffic.
After dropping our luggage, we went into this small random restaurant we found for lunch. When we entered, there was a vending machine on our right – to place our orders. Yes, it was not our first time to place an order using the vending machine but, what made this time different was, there was no English menu at all! The worse part was, there was no picture for us to refer as well. In the end, we placed the orders based on the price shown next to the Japanese wordings.
And the food we ordered were surprisingly delicious!
After we filled our stomach, the first destination was The Outer Shrine (Geku). It is one of the two main shrines making up the Ise Shrines in Ise City. All signs are in Japanese only. Fortunately, I could recognise some of the Chinese words. Else, we monkey see, monkey do. I did read in one of the pamphlets that we have to bow before and after we enter through each Torii Gate to show respect. Also, before we entered the shrine, we need to clean ourselves at the water place, outside the entrance to the shrine. We watched the locals before we did the cleaning.
Next was The Inner Shrine (Naiku). It is considered Japan’s most sacred shrine. Its compound is bigger than Geku. In order to reach to the main sanctuary, we had to cross the Uji Bridge, a wooden bridge across the Isuzugawa River. The brige has two large Torri Gates. On our way to the main sanctuary, we stopped by the Riverside Purification Site. The main sanctuary is found at the top of a flight of stone stairs. Photography is not allowed though. To make a prayer, we need to make two deep bows, clap your hands twice, pray in silence and ended with another deep bow.
We then proceeded to Meoto Iwa, two sacred rocks in the ocean. They are also known as The Wedded Rocks. The large rock represents the husband and the smaller one represents the wife. Both rocks are connected by a rope.
Due to Ise being a small city and not much of English speaking locals, we missed the last bus to go to Toba City. We had to walk more than 2km to the nearest train station. However, it was already very dark and we could not find the way to to the station from the main road. It was just right there but we did not see the small path to it. So near yet so far. To be honest, I was really scared. I am glad that the boyfriend was calm. Yes, there were cars passing by us but we could not stop any one of them. Or rather, they would not want to stop for us.
When we decided to turn back, we ran into an old lady who was riding a bicycle. I decided to challenge myself with some Japanese words that I learned from watching anime for years. Plus, body language and signs. Fortunately, the lady was able to understand and she showed us the way to that train station we saw from the roadside. I am glad we made it for the next train ride back to Ise City.
We were really hungry by the time we reached Ujiyamada Station and decided to dine at any nearby restaurant. We came across this dodgy-karaoke looking restaurant. You have your own room, with door closed. Anyhow, the food is great and the service was superb. They had to send a waiter who has the best English proficiency (among them) to serve us. Fun experience I shall say.
The room was ready for us when we reached the guest house. There were some other guests in the place already. Though shared bathroom, we had a bedroom to ourselves. It is an old Japanese style room where we slept on the tatami. We were really tired that we knocked off after our shower.
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