So I ended hitting the train times with pretty awful luck. I ended up waiting at Nishitetsufutsukaichi station for over an hour. A brief check and I thought the trains ran every hour, however they were every 2 hours to where I wanted to get to. Oh well was a good time to research and update the blog.

Nagasaki’s chinatown seemed to come up on the radar quite a lot on the research especially their sara ramen so I checked into Hostel AKARI and they showed me round all the facilities, pointed out the main attractions in Nagasaki and gave me some discount vouchers for popular sites. Score. The hostel had a nice vibe to it. Friends chatting and strangers watching TV together, a hostel vibe I hadn’t seen until now.

I got settled and headed out to hunt down these noodles.  Walking through the narrow main local shopping district into town and 15 minutes along I hit the well lit 2 main intersecting streets of chinatown.  Lots of street stalls selling steamed buns and dim sum like snacks, but I save myself for dinner. The noodles were more like fried ramen, crispy and fragrant. However the topping was a little bland. Some gems of good ingredients, but think I could do better (which isn’t saying much), but is normally how I judge a dish’s various aspects.

The best way to get around Nagasaki was the streetcars (trams) and for 500 yen a day tourists can ride them all day. Pity I only noticed this at the end of my first day sightseeing.

As mentioned in my previous post I thought getting to know more of the detail about the atomic bomb droppings was pretty a somber experience. However even more having visited Nagasaki to learn that it was actually a secondary target and had only been hit because the primary target was covered in fog and the pilots couldn’t see the target. Less casualties than Hiroshima, but just as unnecessary.

I venture to some of the shrines around Nagasaki which are dotted around some of the higher grounds of the city a lot of them next to each other but dedicated to different deities or teachings. Some pretty similar stories of things being burnt or moved and rebuilt. The Sofukuji temple below with strong Chinese influences and apparently each part was shipped over from China and assembled here. They are backed up the hills by their associated cemeteries which being deserted and a little overgrown was a little eerie to walk through.

Not that hungry, but I did want to try some of those steamed buns and treats in Chinatown. Not a good as the ones I’ve had else where but I think that mainly because they were left in the steamers too long and the bun was too soft. Belly pork was damn good though and full of flavour.

I was told by another traveller that I must go to the ropeway view at night. “It’s the third best night view in the world after HK and Monaco”. I had read top 3 in Japan but either way had better go check it out!

So it was beautiful view. Pretty windy but the city was quite spread out leaving a great night view spectacle. Certainly not top 3 in the world, but worth a look.

Thought I fill my belly with something more Japanese this evening and throw myself into the deep end with more Japanese only situations. The guy serves me up an amazing salad. Not the healthiest, but very tasty with lots of various nuggets of yum.

Tomorrow was going to be a pretty heavy travel day to Miyakojima for a spot of hot weather, scuba diving and beach time so I head back and hit the sack.