Parts of the train journey to Nagasaki took us along the coast and was very scenic in places but as Japan is very mountainous we were zooming though a lot of tunnels at alarming speed so good views didn't last long. Nagasaki is the city that was flattened by an A-bomb in 1945, three days after Hiroshima was destroyed and its difficult to tell that, 68 years earlier, the place was totalled.
We didn’t think Nagasaki was a particularly pretty place and, almost thankfully, there wasn’t a lot to see there otherwise we’d have had to really belt it around in one day! We made use of the tram system (which is remarkably cheap – about 50p per journey) and headed to the A-bomb Museum which was sobering and also alarming. I say alarming because a large section of the museum focused on the development, testing and use of weapons of mass destruction and called out the countries that developed and tested them. We watched a video that showed the testing carried out by the US, France, UK, Russia and China and also the effects of the testing on the surrounding areas. It chronicled the history of the bomb development and the actions taken by the relevant countries. A single entry on the huge wall of the bomb history stood out for me as I remembered it: “1985: New Zealand refuses entry to UK and American nuclear warships.” All in all, the museum was very interesting but also very grim with loads of photos of the suffering, both at the time and years later, of those who live in the city and surrounding area.
On a brighter note, the Nagasaki central area was really pleasant and the China Town area was very pretty but we’ve no idea how authentic it is. If our visas come through we’ll be able to say for sure!
On our wanderings to find some dinner we came across what looked like, at a distance, a fish shop
but we were a bit shocked when we saw they were not aquariums but glass boxes with live puppies inside
Some seemed a bit depressed
but others were nuts. This little thing was going ballistic inside its glass house and this was about the only time it sat still while we were watching it. It was an expensive wee puppy, roughly £720.
We didn’t hang around as, while they were all clean and watered, it just seemed so wrong.
We made a point of sampling the local specialities, not a tough decision but it does seem slightly unfair to have all this wonderful food that is specific to the county and know that its costing an awful lot! We’ve estimated that its costing us £120 per day for us both to be here (travel included) but we haven’t been living on pot noodles and fruit which would have brought the cost down a bit. Anyway, I digress. The culinary specialities that Nagasaki is apparently famous for are shipokku (a Chinese-style banquet featuring many small dishes), champon (a dish of seafood, meat and vegetables with noodles in a hot soup) and sara-udon (same as champon but with a thicker sauce). Its kind of like an rich soupy chow mein in many ways and is very very good. Most of the time we don’t really know what we’re ordering but we are helped out by the food displays
some of which look remarkably real but they’re all in fact plastic, and no, we didn’t sample the below
Another thing we tried were griddle-cooked balls of egg mixture with pieces of octopus inside (no idea what they're called). The custard is poured into ½ ball molds, then the octopus is added plus a few other bits and pieces and once they’re brown on the bottom they’re turned very quickly by hand
and you are dished up little golf-sized balls that are then covered in topped with miso or tamarind sauce (we weren't sure which), mayo, see-through flakes of dried squid and dried parsley - yum.
The rest of the time we wandered and just looked around. This is Japans oldest bridge, built in 1629
and this picture gives an indication of how Japan is. There was 1000s of yen just sitting on part of the bridge, easily within reach but no one took it.
The contraptions here have been cause for great amusement, frustration and, in my case, pain. The kettles are very different to what we’re used to and in some hostels are more like a complicated hot water flask with lots of buttons to press. I couldn’t work out how to get the boiled water out of one and, after trying a few different buttons, tipping the thing etc, I managed to give myself a wicked burn from the small steam vent that didn’t have steam coming out of it at the time! At another hostel, Euan had me in stitches after confidently pressing buttons on the hot water boiler thing, completely giving the impression he knew what he was doing (and I think he really did) until one wrong press of a button had hot water shooting out all over the bench top.
The accommodation here is very cramped, walls paper thin and if anyone is heading this way, we can certainly recommend some good (and poor) options. Just let us know!
View Larger Map
We didn’t think Nagasaki was a particularly pretty place and, almost thankfully, there wasn’t a lot to see there otherwise we’d have had to really belt it around in one day! We made use of the tram system (which is remarkably cheap – about 50p per journey) and headed to the A-bomb Museum which was sobering and also alarming. I say alarming because a large section of the museum focused on the development, testing and use of weapons of mass destruction and called out the countries that developed and tested them. We watched a video that showed the testing carried out by the US, France, UK, Russia and China and also the effects of the testing on the surrounding areas. It chronicled the history of the bomb development and the actions taken by the relevant countries. A single entry on the huge wall of the bomb history stood out for me as I remembered it: “1985: New Zealand refuses entry to UK and American nuclear warships.” All in all, the museum was very interesting but also very grim with loads of photos of the suffering, both at the time and years later, of those who live in the city and surrounding area.
On a brighter note, the Nagasaki central area was really pleasant and the China Town area was very pretty but we’ve no idea how authentic it is. If our visas come through we’ll be able to say for sure!
On our wanderings to find some dinner we came across what looked like, at a distance, a fish shop
but we were a bit shocked when we saw they were not aquariums but glass boxes with live puppies inside
Some seemed a bit depressed
but others were nuts. This little thing was going ballistic inside its glass house and this was about the only time it sat still while we were watching it. It was an expensive wee puppy, roughly £720.
We didn’t hang around as, while they were all clean and watered, it just seemed so wrong.
We made a point of sampling the local specialities, not a tough decision but it does seem slightly unfair to have all this wonderful food that is specific to the county and know that its costing an awful lot! We’ve estimated that its costing us £120 per day for us both to be here (travel included) but we haven’t been living on pot noodles and fruit which would have brought the cost down a bit. Anyway, I digress. The culinary specialities that Nagasaki is apparently famous for are shipokku (a Chinese-style banquet featuring many small dishes), champon (a dish of seafood, meat and vegetables with noodles in a hot soup) and sara-udon (same as champon but with a thicker sauce). Its kind of like an rich soupy chow mein in many ways and is very very good. Most of the time we don’t really know what we’re ordering but we are helped out by the food displays
some of which look remarkably real but they’re all in fact plastic, and no, we didn’t sample the below
Another thing we tried were griddle-cooked balls of egg mixture with pieces of octopus inside (no idea what they're called). The custard is poured into ½ ball molds, then the octopus is added plus a few other bits and pieces and once they’re brown on the bottom they’re turned very quickly by hand
and you are dished up little golf-sized balls that are then covered in topped with miso or tamarind sauce (we weren't sure which), mayo, see-through flakes of dried squid and dried parsley - yum.
The rest of the time we wandered and just looked around. This is Japans oldest bridge, built in 1629
and this picture gives an indication of how Japan is. There was 1000s of yen just sitting on part of the bridge, easily within reach but no one took it.
The contraptions here have been cause for great amusement, frustration and, in my case, pain. The kettles are very different to what we’re used to and in some hostels are more like a complicated hot water flask with lots of buttons to press. I couldn’t work out how to get the boiled water out of one and, after trying a few different buttons, tipping the thing etc, I managed to give myself a wicked burn from the small steam vent that didn’t have steam coming out of it at the time! At another hostel, Euan had me in stitches after confidently pressing buttons on the hot water boiler thing, completely giving the impression he knew what he was doing (and I think he really did) until one wrong press of a button had hot water shooting out all over the bench top.
The accommodation here is very cramped, walls paper thin and if anyone is heading this way, we can certainly recommend some good (and poor) options. Just let us know!
View Larger Map
1 comment:
your culinary experiments are very commendable. I would really be concerned about not knowing what i am putting in my mouth.... have you had any horrid surprises?
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