Stop 31 & 32 - Nagasaki & Fukuoka

Finally, last bus...
So we can hopefully stop complaining about them. It did cost us about half the price of the Japan Rail pass (which gets you the much more comfortable bullet train), so there's that, but if you have the money it would be worth weighing up how uncomfortable the buses can be. Enough on that, after enduring the bus, we touched down in Nagasaki, and checked in to Casa Blanca Guesthouse - grand enough, though we were up on the fifth floor with no elevator, and not much craic to be had (a theme we're now realising has happened throughout our Japan journey).
Still, we wanted to see what Nagasaki was about, so off we ventured into the Chinatown area nearby.

Pretty much nothing. And it was pretty dead. Starting to question whether it was a good idea to come down this far. Still, on we went, and some friendly locals told us everything was happening out on the coastline of the city, as a ship festival was on. Can't say either of us are fans of ship festivals, but it didn't seem like there was much else going on, so on we went (again).

It actually made for a decent day out, the sun was shining, though the fascination with the military crew on the boats went over our heads, but the locals seemed all about it. What didn't go over our heads though (note: our = Dani's), was the dancing competition they had on stage as part of the festivities. The older kids knew what they were at, but the six year olds spinning around in circles when not knowing what to do stole the show.

We thought it might be best to get a couple of drinks (Dani found some prosecco), and chill out in the park taking it all in.

With our time to Japan soon coming to an end, we absolutely made sure we revisited a few of our favourites along the way, and Ichiran ramen (above) is an absolute staple of our time here. Fukuoka, where we close out our trip, is the birthplace of Tonkotsu ramen too...

All throughout the Japan the dogs are a incredibly cutesy/preened to perfection, and there are these shops selling ready made fashion statements at extraordinary prices. Questionable how ethical they are, but this little guy took a shining to us, so he makes it into the blog ^.

The next day, we decided we'd check out the memorials to the A-bomb dropped on Nagasaki - again no pictures allowed in the museum. The memorial park which had this very grand statue, with its right hand raised to symbolise the threat of nuclear weapons dropped from above, and the left hand is pointed outwards to symbolise the path to world peace.

That just about covers Nagasaki. It was nice to see, but is a little bit less tourist-y than Hiroshima, and thus a little less....developed.

We grabbed one more Mister Donut on our way to our last (note: LAST) bus, to head to Fukuoka for our last two days.

Central Fukuoka looked pretty nice (and a bit more lively than Nagasaki), but as we made our trek to our hostel Guest House Hokorobi we realised it was miiiiles out. This left us in a bit of a pickle, as we made it to our last day with no money to our names other than the metro fare needed for the airport. The minimum you can take out at an ATM in Japan is €80, so we decided against venturing back into the city. Our hostel was full of weirdos which didn't help matters.

We did, however, walk to Fukuoka tower, which made for a pretty impressive view against the night skyline. And that was our last act before getting ourselves ready for another country, as the next day we made it to the airport with our our last Yen (~20c to spare). Next stop is South Korea. Japan was absolutely unreal, a great experience, however backpacking through it ain't the easiest. It'd be more suited to a trip with a bit of a higher budget than we had - the vibe/energy is also quite...serious, or at least we found. Maybe we got a bit unlucky, but looking back, none of the hostels we stayed in were much craic, and all very expensive.
That would be majorly looking at the negatives though, overall it was fantastic, the food, people, and things to do were all amazing. We loved it. Just wish it wasn't so expensive.

Big love,

Dani & Stu.

Currently listening to:

Stop 30 - Hiroshima

Another night bus...
and still the same complaints. You'd think we'd have learnt by now, but no. Hopefully no more needed on the trip. We got in to our hostel again far too early for check-in, the quaint K's House Hiroshima. After putting our bags down and getting some breakfast, we ended up chatting away to a Canadian lady who had brushed up on her Japanese history - particularly the atrocities the Japanese empire carried out against Korea/Koreans. Not the easiest chat over breakfast, especially given how delirious we were post-night bus.

We managed to eventually get away from her, and that afternoon explored the main part of the city - reaching the A-bomb dome structure that withstood the blast of the atomic bomb dropped in WWII.

We were pretty wrecked and would finally be able to get some sleep back at the hostel (these night bus/early arrivals are an absolute pain), so called it a night early to get a proper rest.

The next day we were still getting our bearings, so after a run and some shopping, we decided to head back to the A-bomb dome area and head to the peace memorial, children's memorial, and the museum (which they understandably request you don't take pictures in).

Pretty hard-hitting stuff (understatement), but absolutely worthwhile for an afternoon. That deciding to head back to the hostel and attempt to cook one of the recipes we got from the cooking class we did back in Goa. Complete disaster.

Having eventually feeling well rested for the first time in a few days, we'd planned a big day to head out to Miyajima island - famous for its massive torii gate. First was a quick stop at Mister Donut, which if we haven't mentioned already, is unreal.

Before we finally arrived at the port, and made our way over on the ferry:

Miyajima itself actually had more than we bargained for, and made for one of our favourite days in Japan. After getting off the boat we found ourselves in a bustling little village, with plenty of shops/cafes/restaurants to choose from. And similarly friendly deer to the ones we found in Nara:

"Table for two please"

We made our way through the village, got some lunch, and got the most unreal coffee ice cream at Miyajima Coffee:

And finally settled down on some benches at the other end of the village, with two beers from Miyajima Brewery (they're not very adventurous with the names):

Things were looking good, and we got the weather for it! Only a short stroll down the coastline got us to the main attraction, as we got up close and personal with the Itsukushima Shrine - visiting in low-tide meant no picture of it "floating" for us. Oops.

Still, a pretty special place to be able to spend an afternoon, and to round off our day there we went for a hike around the island/through its main park in the sun, before getting one of the last ferries home.

And off we headed back to Hiroshima proper, and spent our last night having a few drinks at an American bar Kemby's Pub, that did deep-dish pizza. We were still hungry on the way home and ended up getting 21 gyozas (don't judge us) to try and stave off any hangover the next day. No pictures, so you'll have to use your imagination.

And that was our time in Hiroshima! Definitely up there as one of our favourite stops in Japan and would really recommend it. We had another (yes, another) long distance bus to catch - though at least this time it was during the day. We're heading further south, heading to Fukuoka - and from there catching another bus to Nagasaki - hopefully getting to spend some time in each.

Guess who can't wait for another bus journey:

Big love,

Dani & Stu.

Currently listening to:

Stop 29 - Kyoto

Second attempt @ Kyoto...
As we actually intended to come here the week previous, but as far as we could see all the reasonably priced accommodation was booked out. Delaying it by a week and visiting Osaka first allowed us to book Bird Hostel, our very nice, and very expensive, resting place for the next five nights. €60 for two beds in a 32-bed dorm, things have come a long way from our €50 night in a 5-star hotel in Chennai. Don't think it's that expensive (at least we hope not) year round - most likely due to the cherry blossom season, which is now in full tow:

After getting ourselves settled in to our luxurious room shared with thirty other people, we needed some sustenance, and the nearby Fire Ramen restaurant piqued our interest - and was well worth the half hour queue - a show is put on in serving up your bowl, as they splash oil and fire over your noodles in front of you. Safety assured beforehand. They take a video of your reaction too to look back on, however the video is ruined due to the argument we had over Dani trying to fix Stu's paper bib, so it's not fit for public consumption. Also videos are a pain to upload on hostel WiFi, so this picture will have to do:

Argument over, hopefully no more paper bibs on the trip, Stu finds them too hard to navigate. Our first site visited in Kyoto was Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, which is very well named, as it is a grove that is filled with bamboo. Can't really say much more than that.

After the morning there exploring some bamboo, an afternoon of looking at cherry blossom at the more metaphorically-named Philospher's Path was up next.

As mentioned at the start, cherry blossom season is in full bloom, and the walk along the canal is pretty spectacular. There's a lovely peaceful vibe from start to finish, and the small cafe Pomme we stopped in along the way to people watch was a nice place to rest our feet.

After our walk along the path ended, Dani decided to try some Dango - a Japanese dessert:

Not bad. We did well to pack in a few things that day, as the entire next day we were rained in from dusk to dawn. Getting ourselves prepared for the next couple of days in Kyoto, as well as the next couple of weeks getting through Japan, was needed anyway.

A few games of Kaboom were had too, just to make sure we hadn't forgotten the rules. All that planning meant an action packed day the next day, as we set off for a ramen cooking class hosted by the same place that we got the Fire Ramen.

We're now certified ramen chefs; the potential menu for our first dinner party upon returning home is growing rapidly.

And of course, no trip to Kyoto would be complete without a visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine - the most famous landmark of the city. Thousands of torii gates line the paths and make for some pretty impressive views (and of course, photos):

For the evening we ventured to Gion, the area famous for having geishas walk the streets and entertain fancy dinner parties, but we had no money and didn't know what we were at whatsoever, so had a quick wander, took a photo of the Yasaka Shrine pictured below, and called it a night. No geishas to be found.

That pretty much sums up our time in Kyoto - we reached our last night and made our way back to Kyoto bus station, and dined on the best Chicken Katsu we've had, at Katsukura. Thankfully able to fill our stomachs with some decent food before another night bus, which will hopefully keep some of the discomfort at bay.

And we said goodbye to Kyoto Tower on board the dreaded night bus, due to arrive at 6a.m. the next morning in Hiroshima. We're now over the halfway point in Japan, and we've absolutely loved it so far.

Absolutely terrified for the journey ahead

Big love,

Dani & Stu.

Currently listening to: