From our relaxing Onsen trip at Kurokawa, we move on to the final leg of our trip. Toward Nagasaki via Aso.
The view of Aso
Bus alights us directly at the train station of Aso. We should have stopover at Aso and do some hiking which we do see many Japanese doing. My hubby says they hike at Mt Aso. Will love to do that someday too. As the trip to Nagaski will take a few hours, we need to take away some bentos on the train for lunch. Just beside te train station, there was a wholesale market that sold their harvest and fresh bentos sets.
Strawberries were in Season when we were there in May, and it was really a bargain. It was going for as low as 100 yen but we select 150 yen range as the strawberries were slightly bigger.
Our Destination Nagasaki Station. sad to say, it will also be our final stop and we will be going home after the trip.
We stayed at Chisun Grand Hotel, Nagasaki and the rooms although small was really comfortable and nice. Nice business hotel, service staff was also friendly. Highly recommend this hotel, as beds are great and the location is good. Within walking distance from Nagasaki Station and directly outside the hotel is the tram station which brings you to all the attractions easily. And if you do not feel like venturing off , a walk at the pier/harbor is about 5-10 mins walk. its a nice place to grap some lunch or dinner overlooking the pier.
Nearby, there are shopping malls with supermarket at the basement and if you will like to grap some dinner, you can easily get them here and bring it back to the hotel.
Oh, and the rooms comes with a view too. This view was from our room.
We actually walk over to the pier after we check in to the hotel, and the sun was soon setting.
In Nagasaki, i was looking forward to visiting the peace park and Atomic bomb museum. Having been to Hiroshima before, whereby the museum was done up very nicely, i wanted to see what Nagasaki had to offer. A walk to the museum can be done from first visiting the peace park follow by the museum.
We did noted that we need to pay for an entrance fee here whereby we didn't had to when we were at Hiroshima.
Overall, we felt that the museum at Hiroshima was better.
Fountain of Peace at the Peace park
Peace Park
The famous Peace park statue. This Statue is by the Nagasaki citizen and is symbolis PEACE. The Sculptor is Seibou Kitamura. The raised right hand points to the heavens to signify the threat of atomic weapons while the left arm is raised horizontally to represent the wish for peace. The figure's eyes are lightly closed in prayer for the souls of the atomic bomb victims. Every year on August 9, the anniversary of the atomic bombing, a peace memorial ceremony is conducted in front of this statue and a peace declaration is made to the people of the world.
A short description on the atomic bombing incident
Urakami Cathedral
This Cathedral was completely destroyed when the atomic bomb fell.
View from the top of the Cathedral
After the tour of the peace park and museum, we proceed on to Chinatown to lighten up the mood.
Nagasaki Chinatown
The tram that we took
oh gosh, sushi was so fresh here. We couldn't help it but bought a sushi set.
After 2 nights at Nagasaki, it time to say good bye to Japan and its back home again. Every time, its sad and i am sure all travelers feel that same. I am looking forward to the day that we can continue what we have done before traveling around without an itinerary.
Lets hope that the day will come soon. (I do miss our backpacking days)
