Hammy's 2005 Trip To Korea And Japan - Nov 27th

Gosh, we were up talking until a quarter past one this morning. Miky woke me up at 8am. Ryuji and I were due to go for a walk in the morning but it had been raining severely overnight and looked like it may continue to rain. Ryuji drove us to the top of Inasayama and then into the city to Nagaskai Museum of History and Culture. We paid for the entrance fee. Unfortunately only the titles of the exhibits were in English and there wasn't much to digest. It's the only museum that I've had to take my shoes off and carry around with me along with having to stand up to watch a movie in 3D. There was a short play and we were able to have our photo taken with the actors afterwards. The lady at the entrance said that she would give Miky a poster when she had asked where she could get one from.

We paid a quick visit to the art display to see Sachie's painting and Ryuji parked in a no parking zone for the duration. Next stop was Glover Garden where the first European house was built in Japan by Thomas Glover, a Scottish merchant. The buildings were well preserved, including Walter House, and the views were fantastic. Pity that the Diamond Princess was in the harbour, on route from Beijing to Singapore as that meant heaps of overweight and nasally-sounding Americans in the vicinity [Editor's note - you're gonna have to go easy on the Yankee-bashing or you'll upset some people].

Ryuji felt compelled to buy lunch at the ANA Hotel as he had used their carpark. Talk about a problem getting parking in the area. I ordered Jou Jou Steak. Unknowingly, I ordered a medium rare steak. Still tasted alright. Service was excellent too. After lunch we were dropped off at Nagasaki Station and window shopped for 45 minutes. Pity we didn't get to say goodbye to Sachie. Caught our train to Fukuoka.

Yu-Jin kept calling Peace Park as "Quiet Park". Sachie gave Yu-Jin a video and lots of little toys. She gave Miky a lovely necklace. Me, I think I just got fed very well. They are wonderful people.

Yu-Jin slept all the way back to Hakata Station. I got an hours sleep. We had to move him a couple of time as people came to claim their seats.

Hakata Station, at 6pm on a Sunday, was very busy. Quite understandable really. Everybody is heading home after a weekend away. No bank was open to exchange money though. Miky rang Keiko to ask about taking them out to tea. Her mum was walking the dog so we had to call later.

Went out to look for a bus but exited the wrong side of the station. Asked a parking guy for instructions and we found the bus stop ok. Alighted at Tenjin Station and rang Keiko. Too late, they had had tea. We searched for a real Japanese restaurant but I suggested going downstairs at the train station as there is usually a food hall. Miky was having none of that and walked the streets searching, getting frustrated, getting angry with me for staying so long in Nagasaki, etc. You know, women stuff. If she had called from Nagasaki all of the trouble would've been averted. Finally found a restaurant where someone spoke English - guess where - in the food hall below the train station. Genius.

I told Miky where to get off from the bus stop on the way home but she insisted on going to the next stop. I was right about the bus stop too. Keiko's grandma, aged 92, was at home. We had cake and chocolates with green tea. Keiko and Miky talked until after 12am even though Keiko had to leave by 7am for an extra class. Robby was quite pleased to play with Yu-Jin and try to dry hump him. Formatted my memory stick to regain memory space as it had been reduced to 33MB from 512MB.