For Thursday 13th October
Hooray for Toyoko Inn breakfasts, where you just take as much as you like and nobody gets offended! This one even included bread rolls with packages of margarine and jam. Nothing with which to spread the aforementioned, but we've become quite versatile with our chopsticks!
We ventured out to explore our surroundings this morning and started by visiting the Tourist Office, passing this cute little cartful of Child Care Bubbies along the way.
Who will buy my beautiful babies?
There really isn’t a great deal that we wanted to see here but we thought we’d see if we could get inspired. We thought about hiring bicycles, but they were a bit expensive (we were spoiled last year in Himeji, where they are ‘hired’ for free!). There is a Dutch theme park nearby called Huis Ten Bosch which we had originally intended to visit, but we’ve since been told that it’s a bit of a let-down and not worth the high admission charge, so we’re giving that a miss.
We finally just decided to wander, window shop and indulge in people-watching. We went down Tunnel Alley which is a market street set in the side of a hill. It was used as an air raid shelter during the war, but is now a quaint street of small market shops selling fruit, vegetables, fresh and dried sea creatures – and even one that sold seaweed in its various forms. We bought a couple of bananas for a morning snack. They’re much cheaper than we were paying in Australia!
Sea creatures galore!
Knives and tools
Kujira-ya (whale meat shop)
Umm...Umm...I'm lost for words!
We made it to the Post Office where we had intended to post our small number of souvenirs and miscellania that we’ve accumulated so far, but then we realised that we’d left behind the package of green tea that Mr Yamaguchi gave us so we decided that we’d make another trip later.
Not quite sure what they're selling - but I don't think I want it!
...but I wouldn't mind this!!
By this time John was feeling a bit ‘off’ and we were both pretty tired and drained by the humidity, so we decided to laze our way through the rest of the day in the cool comfort of our hotel room. Although we haven’t been operating at a fast pace, we felt that a holiday from our holiday was just what we needed.
To my great delight, we discovered that there was another post office diagonally across the road from our hotel, so I took my bag of goodies over there to post while John was still recovering. I’m a bit concerned about posting the green tea. Firstly because I’m not sure that it’s OK to post any vegetable matter, tea or otherwise, to Australia. Secondly because it’s an unmarked ‘brick’ of dried green stuff that might raise some eyebrows when it arrives in Australia. We’ve taken Yamaguchi-san’s word that it really is tea, so I’ve filled in the Customs Declaration form and will hope for the best.
Once we’d recharged and revived, we went out for dinner, passing quite a few of the gorgeous bar girls tottering off to work on their stilettos. As Sasebo is the home of an American Navy Base, there are many hamburger shops throughout the city. The official mascot of Sasebo is a hamburger in a sailor suit! We even picked up a ‘Hamburger Map’ from the toursit office. So, what’s a tourist to do? We did browse around the more traditional Japanese restaurants first, but we decided that the authentic Sasebo hamburger was the way to go. It was really good and topped off nicely with a 7-11 store ice cream.
Last on the list of activities was a visit to yet another 100 yen store. There were loads of things that we’d like to buy, but we’re holding off until the last few days in Osaka. If we buy anything here, we’ll have to hang it round our necks!
John's creation on the 'light and music cascade' in front of the Arkas Sasebo (multifunction convention centre/concert hall etc.)
There is a panel with buttons which switch on corresponding
lights on the board. It then plays music to accompany the 'artwork'.
The weather forecast is not looking good for our ride to Karatsu tomorrow, but that’s all part of the adventure.
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