The night bus
It is 23:00 and we are at the feet of Osaka’s sky-scrapper boarding our first night bus to arrive at Hiroshima at 5 a.m. Following night we are coming back to Osaka with the same bus. Facing 2 nights of 5 hours bus sleeping activates you mentally and your body is getting ready to deliver the “hard core run”.
Limited budget means you have to be inventive and make hard choices. (see budget details here) The bus ticket is not cheaper if you travel during the night, but at least you don’t pay for hotel.
So we found our reclineable seats and I actually managed to sleep through the night. Seb struggled a bit with the heat, but we both made it in ok condition.
When asphalt hits your face
5am – pitch dark night, the bus left us to an empty street of another big strange city – Hiroshima. Woken up 3 min ago, we are a bit bamboozled with our massive backpacks. Seb remembered about 24H cyber cafes where apparently you could sleep. We found the closest one online and started to walk in that direction. Everything is in slow-motion like in a dream. I am dragging my feet feeling the load of my backpack, streets are full of light and absolutely empty. We are crossing a big road and suddenly with a loud BANG the asphalt hits me hard on my stomach. Immediatelly another BANG – my backpack squashes me to the ground. Second later i realise I’m absolutely flat sandwiched between the tarmac and the backpack. Seb looks scared… i explode with laughter and crawl away from the road. We laugh hysterically for eternity =) no injuries, just a wake up slap.
Catching up sleep in a cyber cafe
Cyber cafe is a pleasant surprise. We get unlimited free soft drinks and icecream, but more importantly a cubicle with a matras so we catch up a few more hours of sleep before starting the day. Few hours later squinting to the bright sunshine we found luggage lockers and made our way to the A-bomb dome.
Emotional visit
The city looks and feels not different from Osaka or other big cities. It is hard to believe that it was completely destroyed not so long ago. First sights on the dome. Lively park, bright blue sky, Japanese primary school students stop tourists for a small scripted interview to practice their English. A woman offers people to sign a petition to ban nuclear weapons… all this places a bitter pill at the root of my tongue, i fight the stupid tears back in.
We continue to the monument and the museum and spend about 3 hours there, learning all the details and circumstances of this horrible page of our history along with personal stories of some survivors. We exit the museum, there are plenty of school students having their lunch on the lawn nearby, just a normal day with a lot of sunshine. Like it was on the day of the attack. The bitter pill explodes and I burst in tears. We hastily go away talking about the atrocities of nuclear age and how human is just a massive parasite…
Okonomiyaki for life and hope
Seb distracts me with other topics and we go to sample Hiroshima style okonomiyaki (the local specialty) for lunch, which was excellent. You know how food warms you up from inside on so many levels :)? After lunch walking on the buzzing green streets full of shops, businesses, restaurants and life, I’ve seen the other side of the coin: life wins and overcomes even the darkest times. And my bitter pill dissolved in an ocean of love for life and hope.
