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Dazaifu

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In the backpacking days of year gone by my main sources of information were the Lonely Planet (probably why I’ve stuck to that trusted source), exchanged stories with other travellers and guides and leaflets at various points of interest. Off the beaten track points of interest in Japan don’t serve Gaijins too well. I think I learn more about the reason for certain shrines in researching destinations compared to actually visiting them. Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine was no different. Japan-guide.com and Lonely Planet being the 2 main sources as well as anything else a search on the inter-web brings up. A stark contrast of my round the world trip 10 years ago. How the world has changed. (and how old do I sounds saying that!)

The Tenmangu Shrine was in a beautiful setting, but I think I had picked a day when every single school decided to visit the same shrine. Though it has to be said I’ve seen literally school loads of kids at airport check in all patiently sitting on the floor cross legged chatting quietly in rows. Amazing level of discipline. Cut a long story short, this clever fella Michizane passed away after being exiled and a bunch of bad tings happened. Like earthquakes and dat. So now they pray to this shrine to stop dem tings. (sorry was reading a funny social media response from Argos which I thought I’d try, maybe badly may homage to). The better explanation is on Japan-guide.com

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On of the main reasons I came to Dazaifu was to see the Kyushu National Museum. A pretty impressive building housing a main gallery of historic artefacts of times before the Japan as we know it existed so also explains certainly interesting similarities with other south east asian cultures. There was also an interesting special exhibition on sacred treasures from shinto shrines and outlined the development of deities over time. Pretty interesting stuff.

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The transport network isn’t really set up for easy public transport access to Dazaifu. A bit of a walk between independent train networks. It would be a while until I would get to the right line to Nagasaki so I thought I’d grab lunch here. Rarely do places charge a premium in tourist hotspots so not much of an issue. Pretty enjoyable tempura soba. Got the slurping technique down to a tee. Going to look like a right rude eater when I get back to London – Ha!

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Next Nagasaki

Nagasaki

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.