Nagasaki

The coach trip to Nagasaki left at 9am from Hakata station. Kanashima had been worrying all week about us turning up on time for the coach, so the prank phone call telling that we were just leaving and we would see her at 10 was inevitable. After the noises of horror on the other end of the phone grew to an unbearable level, we had to put her out of misery; it was just too cruel.

Our tour guide was a lovely, round-faced, middle-aged man, though I think he was scared of us. We sat at the back of the bus and he delegated with us through Kanashima who was sitting just in front. We each got a little badge, presumably identifying us as being on that tour, and a timetable for the Chinese Latern Festival that was taking place.

After about 45 minuted of driving we stopped for the first time: a toilet break. Maybe the tour guide has had accidents in the past, I don't know, though it seemed a little over the top seeing as we stopped again only an hour later. This time at a cake factory. We'd had a sample on the bus, and now we could witness it being made: from the automatic egg-breaking machine, through the big "Wallace and Gromit"-esque contraption, and out the other end. The giant square slab of sponge was cut and more free samples were handed out. The opportunity to purchase sponge cake was extended, though we were content with just eating the freebies.

We finally reached Nagasaki where we had food in a Chinese restaurant-cum-train station. I don't know where the trains were, but they kept making annoucements about platforms. The food was all right and came in largish quantities. There was a spinnable section in the middle of the table that kept us quite amused for a few minutes. I also had my first cup of oolong tea, which was quite nice.

After lunch we made a break for the epicentre (they call it the hypocentre) of the atomic bomb, which we found. It's a strange feeling standing there, knowing that only 500 metres above your head a huge nuclear bomb had once detonated - only 60 years ago.

We quickly high-tailed it back to the coach, where it drove us to the parking lot, only to decide afterwards that we would catch the Nagasaki tram back to the peace park. This was not before we popped into the Latern Festival and saw some dragon dancing. It was all very impressive, especially some of the giant lanterns.

We walked around the large peace park, the main monument being a giant, blue man. He is sitting with one hand pointing to the sky (representing the threat of nuclear weapons), another pointing out to his side (representing peace). His eyes are closed in rememberance, and he has one leg up in a half-meditative pose, his other leg poised for action in assisting humanity.

The Atomic Bomb Museum was full of pictures of the aftermath: pictures of burnt people. There was a timeline of events before and one for after focussing on nuclear testing and related issues. There was also a replica of the "Fatman" bomb, and a collection of melted coins and bottles that were recovered. It was quite a full-on, shock therapy experience.

Afterwards we went back on the tram to the wharf where we had a drink. The girls stayed for food, whilst the guys went off in search of Chinese food. On this front we utterly failed: we were in the middle of a packed China town, during a festival, and all the Chinese restaurants were full. In the end we settled for Korean cuisine at a little place run by a single woman on her own. She forgot my order and had to do it quickly at the end, though it was tasty when it came. We spent most of our time there trying to name as many fruits as possible, due to the fact that Brendan told us that a study found that the average Thai child could name and identify over 120 varities. We managed 61, though I'm not sure whether they all counted.

The girls burst in during our eating, rather drunk, though we had only a little left before we had to return to the coach so they left to enjoy some more of the festival. Before we left, the woman took our photo to pin up with the rest scattered around the room. It's strange knowing that our likenesses will be pinned up in Nagasaki for a while, where I'll probably never see it again.

Back at the Lantern Festival we were in time for some more dragon dancing, though this time it burst forth onto the street right next to us, which was cool. After a while it ran off down the back streets, followed by another dragon operated by an all female crew. Dragon dances seem to consist of a long dragon with many wooden poles hanging down by which it is operated. There is also a man in front of the head that has a golden ball on a stick that the dragon follows about.

We all made it in time back to the coach and we departed from Nagasaki, the journey broken on the way back only by the obligatory toilet stop. After returning Binks called everyone together, whereupon I was given my (belated) birthday present: an acoustic guitar. A wonderful surprise, and an excellent end to a good day out. Thank you everyone!