Korea + Japan 04/17 – Himeji Central Park
Oh look. Another ferris wheel.
Day 5
Started the day with a ride on the beautiful Miss Nozomi (the bullet train) who dropped us off at Himeji Station. We used the lockers there to dump our bags for the duration while no less than a thousand school children walked past us in single file, every one of them smiling, waving and speaking various greetings.
Went to the bus station outside and jumped on the next one to the castle. They had some interesting looking old fashion buses operating, but unfortunately we ended up with one of the regular ones.
Ticked off the culture cred.
And the cat cred.
The castle comes with a vending machine that had melon Fanta. I had been promised ‘all the Fantas of the world’ on this trip, but we only found 2 that were new to us in the end.
Took another bus from there to our park for the day.
Himeji Central Theme Park/Zoo/Waterpark.
Got that all included one very expensive ticket, whether you want it or not.
Highlight: Everything I wanted and more.
Lowlight: Disappointingly for a zoo, no camels included.
#2 Imorinth
Highlight: My first time having just a single lap on one of these Wacky Worms. A proud moment.
Lowlight: £10 a head
#3 Labyrinth
Highlight: Good odd fun in this unusual coaster that was sort of trying to be a wild mouse.
Lowlight: Lack of legroom (that keeps coming up)
I loved the rubber escalator in this park that takes you up the hill. What I love even more is the fact that it used to be an upcharge attraction.
These old Intamin drop towers have quite an unnerving aesthetic. Thankfully the whole end sequence when you end up on your back for the brakes was a bit of a blur and I didn’t really notice being tipped on my head to get back to the station.
Highlight: This B&M invert clone has a great setting and is good to look at.
Lowlight: Felt a bit weak for a Batman layout, it doesn’t get enough ridership obviously.
More worrying Togo encounters that proved to be entirely unjustified. Had a good laugh on this one and no troubles at all.
Highlight: The speed hump at the end.
Lowlight: Discount GoPro in your face in case you want to buy the video.
Another day another ferris wheel. Great views but some unnerving noises on this one.
The park was a bit of a disappointment overall, even once we had gotten over the extortionate cost. I remember looking at pictures of Diavlo in the mountains long ago and thinking “wow, that looks like a fantastic place to visit.” In reality, it feels rather run down and tired.
Once again none of the attractions were particularly outstanding and we didn’t feel like hanging around any longer. Bus times were awkward to get back out of the place in the middle of the day, so we asked guest services to find us a taxi.
A 90 year old man picked us up and took us back to the train station. He was greatly amused by our reading out of the ‘things to do in Himeji’ leaflet we had picked up.
Hopped on the regular train to Osaka from there and spent the rest of the day exploring the next city and its endless shops.
Day 6