Saturday, July 30, 2016

Travelouge: Nagasaki, Japan



Greetings, Travellers! I come to you today from the beautiful, wonderful Port of Nagasaki, Japan! No, I didn’t make it to the Bomb museum today, but I hope that the next time we are here I can make it! …which is in September. Stay tuned, folks!


It’s true that Nagasaki is a beautiful port. The streets are clean and there are parks everywhere. Even the terminal has grass! It doesn’t feel like a big city, which I love. It felt really open, at least until you start wandering the side streets. (No, Grandpa, I was not wandering the side streets! That just happened to be the fastest way to the restaurant that our friend knew of…)

I did make it to a nice local restaurant today. The menu had both Japanese and English text so I was able to read it enough to order hamburger meat with some beans and some sort of coleslaw thing. It was actually pretty good. (I don’t like coleslaw though, so I didn’t eat it.) It also came with a sidebar option, which was a drink, a soup and three mini desserts. I forgot to get the soup, but I did get some orange juice and some dessert. (éclair and a jello that tasted like coffee.) The third option for dessert was yougurt so I decided to pass. They even had free wifi! (which is a big deal when I have to pay $4 for an hour onboard.) I was able to chat with my boyfriend and download the new pokemon Go app. I couldn’t get it to work right away though, so It may have to wait until my next port day.

After that we wandered around a local mall. It was a beautiful place. It was outdoors, but there was a glass ceiling overhead, so it was both outside and inside. We didn’t really have a lot of time to shop, though. While my friends shopped I spent some time looking at merchandise and pondering the differences between US and Japanese marketing techniques. I did see some really cool shops that I would love to visit when we come back. There was even a pet store!

I’ve heard rumors of cafes in Japan and maybe South Korea that are centered around animals, like Pet cafes, where there are cats running around that you can pick up and pet. I’d love to visit one of those at some point. I really feel like cuddling a kitten right now. (Or my boyfriend, but that has to wait until I’m back in the states. <3)

Unfortunately, we left the ship early afternoon and only had a couple hours in Port, so we had to get back to the ship. We took the tram car back, which cost us a grand total of 120 Yen per person. (That’s about $1.20 in US currency) It was a flat rate too, which I love. They were really prompt, and fast-it took us longer to get on the ship from the terminal than it did to get to the terminal from the mall.

I really hope that our Next port day in Nagasaki will allow more time for sightseeing. I would really love to visit the bomb museum, from an American-seeing-the-reprecussions-of-our-actions standpoint, and I heard about a beautiful catholic church near the terminal I would love pictures of. (my friend Ben had pics, and I want to get some at some point!) There’s also an observation deck up on a hill that allows you to see ALL of Nagasaki, so that’s also on my to-visit list. Finally, there’s the Peace Park, which I think is near the bomb museum so those can be visited at the same time.

As always, there are pictures of my Adventures HERE if you want to see them. (They upload faster for me there, but it still takes time if there are a lot. Pics come when I can upload them.) I add them all to the same album so make sure you check the whole thing if you don’t see anything new right away.

Safe Travels, folks!



-Tinker



Travel Tip: Asians do not and do not like tipping. They consider it rude and an insult, as it insinuates that you need more money rather than a reward for a job well done. (Unlike in the US where we really do need more money.) So if you do not get tipped by a Japanese or Chinese guest, this is probably why. Don’t get insulted, it’s part of their culture.

No comments:

Post a Comment