Nagasaki - Our Golden Week Holiday

2nd, 3rd May, 2007

We caught a 5:30pm train and headed to Nagasaki for two nights and Fukuoaka for one night. Nagasaki is on a different island to Himeji. Himeji is on Honshu and Nagasaki is on Kyushu. It took us 5 hours to get there and we even had to go under the sea and everything. We pretty much slept the whole way there. We finally got there or so we thought……we quickly got our luggage together and hopped off the train. When we got off we soon realised that we had gotten off at the wrong stop. It certainly wasn’t Nagasaki. Oops!! By the time we had realised the train doors had closed and we were left there with our luggage looking very confused and worried. We went up to the ticket man and fortunately he told us that there was another train coming which we were able to catch. PHEW!! We eventually made it to our hotel and basically went straight to bed.

Lauren was feeling sick in the morning so we thought it was best to take her to a doctor so that she could get some antibiotics. The hotel assistant was kind enough to walk us to the hospital. Lauren was checked out and was diagnosed with laryngitis and pharyngitis. She was given some antibiotics and we were on our way. Poor Lauren – this was not the best time to get sick. She battled on though. She did get a little more energy as the day went on but she was nowhere near 100%.

After we finished from the hospital we headed to Hollander Slope which is a beautiful stone street built by the Dutch. We went into some old house and from the top of the hill could see some fantastic views. We then came across a beautiful temple which was magnificent to look at.
























From here we headed to Nagasaki’s Confucian Shrine – called Koshi-Byo. This shrine is the only one in the world built outside China by Chinese hands and the land that it is on is Chinese territory. It was very amazing to look at and very beautiful. There was a museum of Chinese history inside too. I bought a Chinese top as a souvenir.













We then walked to China town to grab some lunch. There were people everywhere being a public holiday and all the restaurants were full. We ended up just grabbing a steamed bun and a bamboo wrap from a stall and sitting in a park to eat it. I enjoyed it all the same.

Our next stop was Glover Gardens. We caught an elevator (would you believe) up to the top of the gardens. The views from up here were remarkable. The gardens were very well kept and it was very peaceful just strolling through them. There were many different things to see in these gardens and so we just took our time looking around.




























After the gardens we stumbled across this really cool street with lots of souvenir shops and stalls. There is some famous cake in Nagasaki called ‘Castella’ and we came across a shop that let you taste test all the different flavours. The flavours included: original, green tea, custard cheese and chocolate. My favourite was the custard cheese. I couldn’t resist buying a box!!

Dinner was very interesting. We walked into one place and got rejected so we went quite a distance to another one and were rejected for the second time. We think it was because they were full but who knows really. We finally found a place that would take us – I was starving by this stage. We looked on the menu to order and found that everything was in Japanese and had no pictures. Great!! It was like a pick one and you get what you get. Marie ordered some bean dish, Lauren ordered a noodle soup dish and I ordered sweet and sour pork, we also ordered spring rolls. Well Marie’s meal came out and was totally not what she ordered. It looked like cabbage. Her meal was $16 too so it couldn’t be cabbage. Anyway she tried it and it was cold and when she bit it, it was all crunchy. Gross. I tried a bit of it and realised how disgusting it actually was. There was some people sitting on the same table as us and they saw our faces when we tried it and started laughing. We asked them what it was and by using hand gestures we worked out that it might have been sea urchin. No wonder it was foul. My meal came and it was what I ordered and Lauren’s was ok too so we shared our meals with Marie. We ended up paying quite a bit considering we came out not full. It was a funny experience nevertheless. When we left the restaurant we ducked into Lawsons (a convenient store) to buy a few snacks for the hotel where we were going to relax in our PJ’s and watch Sex and the City.

Hikone

30th April, 2007

Monday was a public holiday so Marie, Lauren and I decided to go for a day trip to Hikone which is about 2 hours away from Himeji. Adam is currently here from Australia so Steve and Adam are having a little boys trip. Hikone was a beautiful town. Very pretty and cute. When we first arrived we went down the main street which was lined with beautiful buildings and we looked for somewhere to eat lunch. We eventually decided on a place and ate a delicious meal. I had omerice which is riced wrapped in egg (absolutely delicious), Lauren had some shrimp dish and Marie wanted to try the steak as Hikone was known for it’s steak. It wasn’t the cheapest in the world either. All meals were delicious and very well worth it.

After lunch we headed to the Hikone castle and gardens. The Hikone castle is also one of the original castles in Japan. The views that we could see were amazing. Hikone is surrounded by mountains and so you can imagine the magnificent view.

Lake Biwa was next on the list. After walking for what seemed like hours in the heat we finally made it to the lake. This lake is the biggest lake in Japan. It sure was big – we couldn’t even see the other side. Since we were there we took our shoes off and walked through the water. There were people windsurfing and jet skiing too. It’s definitely a place that I want to go back to in the summer so that I can swim in it. We have definitely had a very busy weekend but I have enjoyed every minute of it. No use sitting at home doing nothing – better to be out enjoying and experience as much of Japan as possible.

Hair Change

29th April, 2007

I was sick of my hair being so light after it faded from my last colour so I decided to buy a do it yourself kit from the chemist. After spending about 15 minutes trying to decide which colour to buy I finally picked one and hoped for the best. Lauren and Marie put the colour on for me. This was the first time that I have ever used one of these things so I was a bit worried – but the end result actually turned out really well. I was happy with the job and instead of costing $80 at the hairdressers it only cost me $6, much better if you ask me ☺

A Dancing Weekend

27th/ 28th April, 2007

We definitely got to dance this weekend – it was fantastic! We started off by going to Kobe on Friday night. We ended up at an Irish pub called Ryan’s which is Bill’s local. It turned out to be an 80’s night which was just my cup of tea. It was so good to have somewhere to dance to my style of music. We ate chicken parmigana’s which was a first in Japan and got to dance all night to 80’s. We caught the last train home after having a really good night.

On Saturday we headed to Osaka. It was Marie, Lauren an American girl called Lexi and myself. We met up with Megumi someone who Marie met on her New Zealand trip and she took us to this really cool Australian restaurant. We hung out in there for a while before we headed off to check into our hotel.

For tea we went to our first sushi train in Japan. Actually it was the first sushi train that I had ever experienced. Just as well I got to do it in Japan for the first time. It was awesome. I loved it. All the plates were only 130 yen ($1.30) – you couldn’t go wrong, I ended up having 7 plates and feeling very full. The good thing about this place was that you could choose what you wanted to eat. If you didn’t like the look of it then you didn’t choose it. I can’t wait to go back again.

After tea Lexi wanted to take us to a ‘host bar’ to show us what it was like. I was very hesitant at first because I wasn’t sure what it entailed but Lexi assured us that it was ok so we thought ‘why not’ and went. It was a very bizarre experience. We walked in to what looked like a secret room and were very sceptical about the place but when we got inside it actually looked pretty cool. We sat down at a table and then 3 guys (hosts) came up to talk to us. Thank goodness we were able to sit in a group. There was no way that I was going to be doing any one on one talking. Not that I could communicate anyway as the hosts spoke in Japanese with very limited English or no English at all. We got one hour with the hosts – well at least that’s all we were willing to pay for. It cost 2000 yen ($20) for one hour with all you could drink. We drank about 4 drinks each. It was difficult trying to communicate with the hosts and the funny thing was that because we were paying they had to stay and talk to us. Lexi’s Japanese skills are pretty good so she was able to have a conversation which was good. The funniest comment of the night was when one of the hosts told us that ‘we were very beautiful – just like statues’. When our hour was up we were escorted out of the place back to the street. It was embarrassing going back onto the street again. It was a funny experience but definitely for me a once off thing.

After the host bar we walked around for hours deciding which club to go into. It was fun and interesting just looking at all the people that were out and about. There were many hosts just on the streets trying to lure people into their clubs – now that we had been to one we could spot them. There were also many scouts trying to find people to work in their bars. It was very interesting to see this. We finally went into a club but only stayed for one drink because it wasn’t that great. Lexi then persuaded us to go to a club called ‘Jool’. This is a place where she often goes and loves. Well I am really glad that we decided to enter this club. Lauren and I didn’t really want to go in because we weren’t too keen on the music but thankfully we decided to give it a go. This club was the biggest club that I have been to so far in Japan. It could fit about 600 people in it. All the people were pretty much Japanese. There was the odd foreigner. We really stood out though. This club was filled with a particular type of Japanese style. All the guys had hair sticking out everywhere and were dressed really trendy. All the girls had really big hair mainly blonde and were wearing next to nothing and then there was us!! The music was trance – so not really my style but I still managed to dance and have a good time. I just loved watching everyone in the club. Lauren and I ended up getting home at 5am. Marie stayed with Lexi for a bit longer and came home at 6am. It was really fun.

Yozakura

Night cherry blossom viewing has a special name in Japan – it is called ‘yozakura’. We went a couple of times at night to Himeji Castle to check it out. It was amazingly beautiful. They actually light up the cherry blossoms with coloured lights. Of course photos never do it justice but here is an idea of what we saw. I could have just sat in the castle gardens forever just taking in my surroundings. I just can’t get enough of the cherry blossoms.

Sing Your Lungs Out!

Karaoke is a big thing in Japan. Pretty much all Japanese people love it. So there’s only one thing to do in Japan – SING!! It was Friday night and 2 of the Americans in our residence were having a birthday so we decided to help them celebrate at a Karaoke bar. This is the third time that I have done Karaoke in Japan and have really enjoyed it every time. I didn’t think it would be something that I would enjoy so much but it’s soooo much fun!

I'm Cooking Japanese!!

I cooked my first traditional Japanese meal – ‘Okonomiyaki’. We had lunch at one of Steve’s teachers houses and they cooked us this dish. We have eaten it many times at restaurants and it is absolutely delicious. I watched very closely as to how it was made so that I could attempt to make it myself. I finally got all of the necessary ingredients required to make this meal and chose a night to give it a go. Okonomiyaki is like a pancake type meal with cabbage, capsicum, mushrooms, thin slices of meat and these puff things that look like rice bubbles. Once the pancake has been cooked on both sides you put a BBQ type sauce and mayonnaise over it, sprinkle some ginger and tuna flakes on top and ‘wolah’ you have okonomiyaki. The good thing about it is that you can put anything inside of it. You could make it seafood or vegetarian or whatever you like. I got the thumbs up from Lauren and Marie. Steve was in Tokyo with Denzel so he missed out. He will have to wait until next time!! I’m not sure if it looked exactly as the Japanese make it, but it was okonomiyaki ‘Tina style’.