Talk:Onjuku
Yesterday went on a trip to white sand beach of Onjuku... its in neighboring Chiba prefecture only but it took us almost 2 and half hour to reach there... The beauty of the trip was it wasn't organized or planned perfectly... There is special kind of enjoyment in such trip when I just take some print outs from internet and go out to explore... and great to have two never-complaining good friends who have similar taste in going out on such trips... I can't go with persons who start cribbing over in middle of the journey about anything coming across... one should expect some twists in such journeys and should know how to enjoy them... :) We didn't think this place would be so remote as Chiba is just next to Tokyo... Saturday evening had dinner at Arpan's place and spent night in Nishi-kasai only, we were on Nishi-kasai station at 8am had breakfast there and took Tozai line to Nishi-funabashi... from Nishi-funabashi took train to Chiba... From Chiba we had to change train from Metro to JR Sotobo line... the first one on Sotobo line took us to Kazusaichinomiya where we again had to change to next train to reach Onjuku... during this journey real rural Japan starts... farm-fields on track-sides... and very small stations with few people boarding or alighting... a bit of suspicion could have crop up among us on whether we are on right track as we didn't see many tourists on train but fortunately while changing train at Kazusaichinomiya we met one elderly guy Takashima-san who said he is working in a government office and also a volunteer tourist guide in the area (showed his card for that)... he just explained briefly about the scenic places in the area and we were assured... it was also good to see some surfers alighting from train at Onjuku with their surfing boards...
Onjuku is a nice place to be if you love beaches... its a of 2km stretch only but nice white sand and with very clean water... (Kamakura is black-sand beach).. other difference between the two is that Kamakura beach is more of young hippie kind crowd while Onjuku is more of beach for families or surfers... saw more relaxed persons in Onjuku... Kamakura is too crowded to enjoy a good swim, Onjuku better on that front... Kamakura good for beach parties with dance-floors nearby while Onjuku good for a relaxed day out... Don't get disheartened by looks of a small station and not many people around as we noticed most people reach Onjuku beach by car... with their surfers boards and camping equipments...
There are nice restaurants on the way from Onjuku station to the beach and we had really good lunch on our way back from beach... next we went to Ubara (just 2 stop away from Onjuku) to see Katsuura underwater park... enjoyed the journey till there with nice bakar on anything under the sun... but the underwater park is not worth the money and time you spend... it would have been better to go next stops where you can do boating or go to an island visit but we were short of time...
- Raj Khichi