on the morning of december 27, mashuu and i woke up early so that i could finish packing (slacker), stuff down a quick brek, and hit the road. we cruised along for an hour or two before entering gokase, a mountainous town northwest of nobeoka. it began to snow along the way, making me squeal with excitement and making matt roll his eyes at this california n00b.
the snowy gokase road
before long, we stopped at a konbini for snack provisions (onigiri and hot coffee), and i made matt take this picture of me. i had no idea what kind of snow we were in for later in the trip.before digging into our onigs and ko-hi, matt decided to sample the snowy delights. he said it tasted lovely and fresh, so i eagerly chomped a puff of it. it tasted like a dirty tree.
we drove for a few more hours, hastening towards that day's destination: kumamoto, the city/prefecture that neighbors miyazaki. we arrived around lunchtime, and immediately headed to kumamoto castle, the tourist hotspot. no disappointments! the caste and grounds were really beautiful and impressive, and we even ran into another pack of miyazaki JETling friends! they kindly took this picture of us:
the grounds were rife with costumed people. a rando jumped into this pic with us and the "samurai" peeps
the castle was high up. here's a view of kumamoto city!the castle was restored a few years ago, so everything inside was pristine and gorgeous. there were many artifacts from hundreds of years ago (no pics allowed, sorry!), along with gorgeous tatami rooms, the utmost japanese style.
my favorite part. that's a ceiling!after fully exploring the grounds, castle, and gift shop (at which i bought a bag of amazing donut-like pastries, booya), kibbeh and i headed for suizenji-koen, one of the purportedly most beautiful garden parks in japan. japanese gardens always incorporate the same elements: stone, water, and plants. the landscape of the koen was indeed interesting and pretty, and we enjoyed a stroll around the deserted grounds.
unfortunately, greenery was replaced by deadery, seeing as it was freezing and winter. you can still appreciate it, though!
so effing hilariously, as we were walking towards the shrine in the garden, we spotted a chub boy throwing bread to some ducks. upon seeing us approach, he abruptly turned and ran away, dropping all his bread in the process, and causing the ducks to fly into a quack-attack frenzy at all the free grub. i let out a huge shriek of laughter, which surely echoed throughout the park and embarrassed the poor kid!
but i didn't care. i had more important things to worry about. like posing!by the time we finished up in the park, it was late afternoon and time to hit the town. we had no accommodation for the night, so we found a trusty lot in which to park the scooby doo mystery machine (matt's delightful, ancient stick-shift van), folded down the seats, and set up the futons for later! we then took to the kumamoto streets, which were filled with fun and funky shops and restaurants--including an eatery called "cabbage and condoms." i mean, why not?
we were quite hungry at that point, but not yet ready to have our basashi (horse) dinner. kumamoto is famed for its basashi, and we were planning on getting our neigh on. it was too early, though, so we stopped into a quick place to split some chicken nanban. before seating yourself, you had to select what dish you wanted on a machine. you pressed the buttons, paid, then sat and waited for your food.
famished, we eagerly awaited our beloved nanban. however, once i saw the waiter appraoching, he was carrying a plate with...fins....sticking over the edge. "that can't be ours," i thought worriedly. but sure enough, he plopped it down. "eeetooo...chikin nanban wa..." matt desperately said while pointing to our receipt. the waiter would have none of it, so we figured we'd pressed the wrong button and tried to tuck in. i fared better than matthew, seeing as i've had years of practice downing unappetizing fish at home (haha, dad!). but matt looked like someone had died...which made me crack up!
after ditching our half-eaten fish, we shopped for a few more hours, then decided to hit up a horse ramen establishment. we found a little place underground that smelled amazing, but--no horse. no matter, though! we feasted on painfully oishii (tasty) pork ramen and guzzled some brewskies! we then hit up karaoke, own private room, nomihoudai (all you can drink) and all. it was magic! we made it back to the car just dandily, and slept like logs.
the next day was truly a day of firsts for me, beginning with a mcdonald's breakfast. i'd never had a mcdonald's breakfast (practically blasphemous in the eyes of mr. mckibbin, who is obsessed with micky d's brek). i tried a mcgriddle and a coffee, and was delighted!
bffs 4 lyfekibs and i were supposed to catch a 9:30 ferry, but once we got to the dock, confusion abounded. apparently due to bad weather or some such malarkey, the peeps were unsure as to when the ferry would leave. they suggested we drive for 20 miles to another dock. we did so, keeping our fingers crossed that we wouldn't have to drive to nagasaki. luck was on our side, and we managed to DRIVE ONTO THE FERRY! with no problems. i was so excited about my first car ferry!
amazing!we parked, went inside, got bored, and went back outside to watch kumamoto fade and nagasaki come into view.
bai
it was windy. also, coke product placement. royalties??our ferry came into nagasaki in the early afternoon, though we still had to drive into the proper city, which took a little while. we decided to immediately head to the a-bomb museum, which i was, honestly, slightly dreading. i wanted to go, and felt an obligation to go, but i knew it would be...intense.
and it was. don't feel much like describing it at length on here. it's something that i think should be experienced personally, because my second-hand recanting isn't enough to do it justice. all i can really say is, it's so different seeing the artifacts in person, rather than in photographs. seeing blown out clocks, shadows burned into concrete, a charred lunchbox with blackened rice preserved inside--was beyond words. so i guess i'll stop trying now!
after the museum, i felt kind of sick, but after much ado (and me messing up royally while navigating on iphone's google maps, a recurring theme), we made it into our hotel monterey, a much-too-fancy-for-two-people-who-slept-in-a-car-the-night-before establishment with fanciful vintagey elevators and a european feel.
as a matter of fact, nagasaki in general has a much less japanese and much more western vibe/style, which is largely due to the fact that nagasaki was the main (only?) port of access to the outside world for japan during the 19th century. many westerners came to japan through nagasaki, so the foreign community there blossomed. it has a lot of western architecture, a striking number of churches (catholic, no less. score!), and just an inexplicable familiarity.
after settling in and taking much-needed showers, kibs and i decided it was grub time. we decided to hit up chinatown, a mere 10 minute walk away.
and it was. don't feel much like describing it at length on here. it's something that i think should be experienced personally, because my second-hand recanting isn't enough to do it justice. all i can really say is, it's so different seeing the artifacts in person, rather than in photographs. seeing blown out clocks, shadows burned into concrete, a charred lunchbox with blackened rice preserved inside--was beyond words. so i guess i'll stop trying now!
after the museum, i felt kind of sick, but after much ado (and me messing up royally while navigating on iphone's google maps, a recurring theme), we made it into our hotel monterey, a much-too-fancy-for-two-people-who-slept-in-a-car-the-night-before establishment with fanciful vintagey elevators and a european feel.
as a matter of fact, nagasaki in general has a much less japanese and much more western vibe/style, which is largely due to the fact that nagasaki was the main (only?) port of access to the outside world for japan during the 19th century. many westerners came to japan through nagasaki, so the foreign community there blossomed. it has a lot of western architecture, a striking number of churches (catholic, no less. score!), and just an inexplicable familiarity.
after settling in and taking much-needed showers, kibs and i decided it was grub time. we decided to hit up chinatown, a mere 10 minute walk away.
we were half frozen from the walk, and were surprised to find that not many people were out and about (it was about 8pm by this point). we decided to duck into a family-owned restaurant that had an english menu and a friendly hostess. we got gyoza (potstickers), pork buns, and i got chanpon, nagasaki's signature dish. it's basically pork, veggies, and seafood over fried noodles and smothered in a white glazey sauce. it was lovely! matt thoroughly enjoyed his sweet&sour chicken, so we both stuffed our weary bodies to capacity. we then went for a little jaunt towards the oura catholic church, 20 minutes away.the walk was bitterly cold, but since we were bursting with yummy chinese food, we were happy. the streets were deserted as well, since everyone had gone to their hometowns for new year's already. it felt like we were the only people in the city.
oura church, with christmas lights!finally ready to call it a day (and a very jam-packed day, at that), we headed back to our hoity-toity hotel, and crashed.
that's where i leave you for tonight, my pretties--don't fret, much more is on its way! more nagasaki, driving till 4am, getting lost, more sleeping in the car and mcdonald's breakfasts, hiroshima, everything going up in flames, stevie wonder, and our brush with death. weeeee!
that's all for now, folks,
lilly
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