7 November 2023
A whole ferry load of my laundry
Hiroshima to Matsuyama ferry
Now I am in Matsuyama. I came here by ferry. Well, let me elaborate, tram, ferry, train, walk, laundry, walk.
First of all, there are some tram works happening in Hiroshima, so my tram to Hiroshima port went off on a trip to the furthest point possible from the port, then went half way back into the city, then turned for the port, thus turning a 20 minute journey into 70 minute journey. This nearly caused me to miss the ferry I had planned to take, but I just made it, as I am generally always early for everything.
The actual ferry is called the Super Jet, and is a medium sized catamaran, which goes quite fast. Fast enough that you are not allowed outside at all, so the view is ruined by sea spray stained glass (refer below). There is a small cafe onboard that no one used, and it was only about 1/10th full. The journey was covered by my train pass, otherwise I think it is $60. Arriving at Matsuyama port is actually a bit of a distance from the city proper, but there is a train 800m away from the ferry terminal, which I walked to. Soon after I got to the train station, the free shuttle bus with everyone else arrived.. it never occurred to me to even check for a bus. Then horror of horrors, not only is the train not covered by my train pass, they do not take IC cards other than the local one they invented. Same deal for all the trams in Matsuyama - icoca, suica etc. will not work on any Iyotetsu tram or train. Sort it out! I had to buy a train ticket with cash, like I had gone to a third world country.
Anyway, my change worked at the coin laundry, where I ended up next. This was all part of the plan to not waste a short travel day by turning it into laundry day. The coin laundries do still take coins, but generally they prefer you to use an IC card or credit card, and they do take suica or icoca, even in Matsuyama.
Ok, time for a few boring pics.
Here I am on my never ending tram ride in Hiroshima.
I was late to the ferry terminal, so here is a shot of it from the docks. There are a couple of restaurants in there. The terminal at the Matsuyama end has a lot less to see.
That is my boat coming into port. It roars in at nearly full speed. From what I can tell there are 2 companies sharing a fleet of identical ferries. You can buy a ticket from either companies desk, or show your train pass as I did, and then you might get a red ferry, or a blue ferry.
I got a blue ferry.
This is almost the entire seating area, I think its 10 rows of 12 across seats, so 120 person capacity. Hardly anyone on here today though.
The view would have been good apart from the salt stained windows.
This is the massive steel works at Kure.
This photo came out a bit better due to the angle of the sun. We went under those red bridges.
Behold, a train I had to buy a paper ticket for!
After walking for a few hundred metres from the weird private train line, I found a coin laundry. Complete with futuristic blue lighting. Google camera helped me translate.
And now for my huge and very very good room. I think it is $60 a night. Daiwa Roynet. This will easily be the best room on this trip. The TV has all the streaming apps, a rarity in Japan.
The bathroom has 2 areas to it, the toilet area and a separate bath and shower area, which I am standing in.
That's all for now.