147503
15-Jan-2023

So, yesterday was moving day... After a month in Fukuoka, it was time to head off.

Here are some odds and ends from the last few days in this comfortable city. It has proved a really, really great place to base ourselves, offering plenty to do, everything we've needed, and a non-touristy atmosphere:

xmastree
Dismantling Christmas

statue
Awww...

hare

reflecs

freight
So purple...

youme
Found this mall a little too late, but there's a great Uniqlo here

Friday evening was foreshortened, you may remember. So yesterday morning was busy. Cooking up breakfast, cleaning, packing, showering...

Kind of sad to say goodbye to our little flat:

ourflat
We got used to its compact qualities, and it had a number of advantages...

blueview
... including a blue view

RAINING on our way to the station... Grrrrr...

rain

But this was effectively Kyushu rail trip No. 9 (the third day of our Japan Rail pass), and here's our first train, all orange and jolly:

htb

orangetrain

seats&curtains

The scenery on the way to Haiki was very impressive. More of that quintessentially Japanese countryside -- mountains, tiny fields, tiny graveyards, curly-roofed houses -- all set off today by atmospherically low cloud:

roofs&cloud

outcrop

field

We had lunch in Haiki. There's a CoCo Curry House not far from the station. We like them because you can customize the amount of rice you want, the strength of the curry, etc.

haiki
Haiki station

At Haiki we picked up the Seaside Liner, which runs along the side of Omura Bay, (that amazing bit of sea that's almost a lake):

htb
Huis Ten Bosch theme park

sea1
The silvery sea

sea2

Raining when we arrived in Nagasaki... Jeez, what's happened to the damn weather? Winters here are supposed to be DRY.

We popped into a nice little cafe to wait for our accommodation check-in time:

cafe

sonogitea
We went through Sonogi on the train, and this is Sonogi green tea

And finally, journey's end:

flat
Our Nagasaki flat. Looks like converted office space

This place is a lot more spacious than our little Fukuoka pad, and has more cooking equipment.

But it turns out that on Saturday nights it's very noisy...

So today, we're a bit bushed. Three travel days, including one quite long one, and one with full baggage; and then a poor night's sleep...

But our neighbourhood is very interesting. It's Nagasaki's Chinatown, Japan's oldest such district. And coming up very shortly is the Nagasaki Lantern Festival, which marks Chinese New Year (generally not celebrated in Japan). It's certainly all very picturesque:

parkdragon

horse

lantern

arcadedragon

birdofparadise

lions

arcadelanterns

And Nagasaki has trams, which is always a plus:

tram

Just got to crack this sleeping thing...