To Sasebo by Rustbucket

For Wednesday 12th October

How time has flown!!  Today we said goodbye the Goto Islands and returned to the mainland of Kyushu.  As our ferry to Sasebo wasn’t leaving until 10.50, we dawdled our way through breakfast and packing and ambled down to the port with loads of time to spare.  We were a bit concerned when we saw our ferry arrive!

Our ferry to Sasebo -  good grief!

The Goto Islands were very enjoyable and really exceeded our expectations.  The scenery was amazing, the see-through water was gorgeous and the people were very hospitable.  We enjoyed the more relaxed pace of the Goto lifestyle which is centred around the fishing industry, but we’re glad to be back to beds with mattresses, chairs with legs and easy-to-access Internet.

Sayonara Goto Islands

The ferry trip was rather sleep-inducing, so we stretched out on the seats on the outside deck and had a nap.  Sasebo is the site of an American Naval Base and we’ve discovered that there are a few hamburger places here!  With a sigh of relief, we disembarked from the S.S. Rustbucket and rode to our hotel which is only a couple of streets away from the port.

Navy Ships in Sasebo

We then went for a stroll down the main street and through the local shopping arcade, including a browse through the 100 yen shop.  I don't seem to be able to resist!

Church on the main road of Sasebo.

I couldn't face going up all those stairs on a humid afternoon!

Hair not shiny enough?

Back at the hotel, we had a nap, called home, then took ourselves off back to the mall for dinner.  The waiter proudly presented us with an English menu which made life much easier – and also gave us a giggle as “Caesarean Salad” was one of the items on offer.

While I’m typing, there’s an old movie on TV, with Mark Lester (of Oliver! fame).  It’s dubbed into Japanese and it’s quite hilarious to see this very pale little English face with Japanese words emerging from his mouth!  For some reason it didn’t seem quite so odd coming from Bruce Willis.

And so another day passes.  Sasebo doesn’t have a great number of touristy things to do, so we’ll be taking it easy tomorrow.

Nakadori Island

For Tuesday 11th October

Oh please – no more food!!  Our dear minshuku lady provided the two of us with enough breakfast for six people, as seems to be the way.  This time we didn’t overdo it, but who knows what she’ll do with all that leftover food.  She is a tiny little thing, so I don’t think she’ll be eating it any time soon.

Kate with Yoshimura-san

It had rained lightly overnight, so we had a careful ride down the steep and bumpy driveway from the minshuku.  The road soon dried out and we had a great ride to Nakadori, the last island in our Goto Islands jaunt.  We had an easy ride with more of the great views that we’ve been seeing throughout the Goto Islands.  We stopped a few times for photos and took a bit of video footage on John’s ‘helmet-cam’.

Church on Wakamatsu Island

This 'millpond' water is the ocean!

Boats in a bay on Nakadori

This boat is seeing out its remaining years as a plant pot

At one stage along the way, I decided I needed a drink.  The photo below shows how far I had to go from where John’s scooter is parked to the nearest vending machine!

Thirsty in Japan?  Not a problem!

Tomorrow’s ferry departs from Arikawa, so we’re staying in a hotel nearby tonight.  When we arrived in Arikawa we went down to the ferry terminal to get our bearings and to check that the timetable matches ours, then passed some pleasant time at the Laundromat.  I’m not kidding about this – there was actually a free massage chair in the Laundromat, so we passed the time very pleasantly indeed.

If you ever feel the need to kill a whale, this is what you do it with

We called in to ‘Drugstore Mori’ which is a chain of large drugstores which sell all sorts of typical drugstore items as well as a few food and drink items.  We stocked up on a few items that contained neither fish nor seaweed and found a very nice sandy beach to have lunch and relax away the afternoon.

Life's good! (That little speck is me)

Our hotel (the Marine Pia) is very much like our beloved Toyoko hotels, but older and a bit more run down, but perfectly adequate for our needs.  Best of all it has beds!!  Real beds!!  With legs!!  We’re so looking forward to sleeping in a bed after a week of futons on the floor.  And I’m sitting here typing at a desk, with a chair to sit on!!  With legs!!  Oh bliss!!

For our last night on the Goto Islands, we had a nice easy dinner tonight.  We picked up a couple of curry dinners from the convenience store ‘chinged’ them in the shop and took them back to the hotel.  I’m not sure that I’d every bother to cook if I lived in Japan!

Sittin' on the dock of the bay

For Monday 10th October

Our room in Wakamatsu

After we checked out of our minshuku this morning, we rode down to the park at Wakamatsu Port to have a lazy morning by the sea.  The dock area has lawned areas with shady rotundas – just what we needed to sit, relax, read and watch the boats come and go.  Today is a public holiday, so people were out and about enjoying their day off.  We located the supermarket (just in case we ever felt like eating again after yet another marathon breakfast).

These nice old timers had a good chat with us.

The one in the white shirt looked just like a Buddha statue!

I'd like to put him in my garden and polish his head every day.

Youngsters enjoying their day off.

(If you squint and look really closely,

 you'll see that the middle boy has caught a fish)

We experienced some interesting noises during the morning – firstly we heard more of the ‘horse birds’ that we have been hearing during our stay on the Goto Islands.  We don’t know what they look like but I’m picturing a small bird with a long mane and tail.  The other noise sounded just like the Tardis landing, so we waited for Dr Who to appear, but this turned out to be just a couple of barges rubbing up against the docks whenever any waves caused by passing boats caused them to rock.

The Wakamatsu dock area from on high

The dock area has an interesting system of railings – there is one set of posts and chains for the high tide level and another set which is under the water at high tide, but exposed at just the right level at low tide.

The lower railings emerging as the tide went out

The 'high tide' railings are on top of the wall

John performed a good deed by rescuing a spiky sea urchin creature that became stranded when the tide went out.  It was a very ugly creature, but we thought its mother probably loves it and it would be better off in the sea than gasping on the concrete path.  [Stop press:  I just found out that sea urchin roe retails for $450/kg!]

We dropped in to the supermarket at lunch time and bought a sandwich, bun and fruit juice.  It turns out that we did become hungry after all and it was very nice to have familiar food.  It seems that the minshuku operators want to offer us every possible item of Japanese food that exists.  We will both be quite happy to leave the big plates of sashimi behind and as for the jellied grey things, I just don’t want to talk about it!  I have a theory about something that we’ve been eating while on the Goto Islands, but I’m going to keep it to myself until nearer the end of the holiday as I don’t want John to become aware of my thoughts just yet.

The lady from tonight’s minshuku said that she would come over to get us at 3.00 at the place where we stayed last night, so she could escort us to her place.  Good plan!  We would never have found it on our own.  After offloading our bags and having a cup of tea with the lady (who can’t speak one word of English) we went for a ride out to the western end of the island.  This was a lovely ride in the cool of the late afternoon with more of those great ‘sea and mountain’ views.

Back at the minshuku we were presented with an enormous dinner which we didn’t have a hope of consuming.  We just made sure we had a bit of everything and hoped we didn’t cause offence.  Once we’d conceded defeat and said that we were full, the dear lady proudly presented a plate full of peeled persimmons – which is another of John’s dislikes.  There was no way that I was going to eat the whole plateful by myself, so I managed to convince John to force a couple of pieces down and I had the rest.  I don’t mind them, but it was rather more than I wanted to eat.  My Japanese phrase of the week is "Onaka ga ippai!!" which means "my stomach is full".

Keep on eating!

I’m really struggling with sitting on the floor to eat as my arthritic hip is particularly painful at the moment.  It’s impossible to get comfortable whether I put my legs to the left, right, underneath or out in front, so after having a soak in the bath to ease it a bit, I’m now typing this laying on the floor on my futon with the computer propped up on my belly (that’s the big round thing that’s full of interesting sea creatures and persimmons at the moment).

Tomorrow night we’re staying in an ordinary hotel and we’ll be able to go out for dinner to have a normal human being’s sized meal of our choosing.  It’s been interesting being exposed to this lifestyle, and the experience of travelling around Goto has been amazing, but we’re now both ready to return to normal beds, tables and chairs and identifiable food items.

Off to Wakamatsu

For Sunday 9th October

We checked out of our Narujima accommodation this morning with an agreement that we’d call back to pick up our washing at lunch time, to give it time to dry.  The minshuku lady offered to make us udon noodles for lunch when we came back – an offer which we were happy to accept.

We did a bit more scootering around the island, exploring and admiring the view, then picked up a few things at the supermarket and finally ended up back at our much-loved beach.  We put up our feet and relaxed for a couple of hours.

Harbour on Naru Island

Back at the minshuku, we found that the dear lady had brought in and folded all of our washing and had some scrumptious noodles ready for lunch.  We completed the meal with a cup of tea and loaded the scooters up ready for the next stage of the journey.

We went down to the ferry terminal and sat back with our Kindles until the ticket office opened.  This time the ticket office lady filled in the mystery form for us (phew!).  We didn’t have to line up with the cars to board the ferry – there weren’t any!!  Our scooters were the only two vehicles on board and there only about six passengers all together.  Not a very profitable trip for the ferry company!

The trip was fabulous, taking us around many small islands on a very calm sea.

Approaching Wakamatsu

As we drove off the ferry our next minshuku lady was there to meet us and we followed her to our new lodgings.

Our accommodation on Wakamatsu Island

We were stunned when we saw our room!  We have a living area and a sleeping area, more than twice the size of the minshuku rooms we’ve had so far, with a huge TV and a sofa to sit on, so I don’t have to try to tie my legs in knots.  The lady speaks a little English and with my little bit of Japanese, we’re actually managing to communicate quite well.  Her daughter lives here too, and she studied English for a few years at school, so she’s helping to fill in the gaps.

Hauling nets

This bench really rocks!

We went out for a walk around the town and after we’d been gone a while, the minshuku lady caught up with us in her car and took us for a drive up a very steep hill to a lookout.  We were thrilled to see a deer and her babies along the way.  The final part of the ascent was on foot and left us all a bit puffed!

The view was gorgeous but due to the hazy conditions, we couldn’t get a decent photograph.

Easier on the way down!

Back at the minshuku, we had dinner with the lady and her daughter at a table with chairs.  Again, no tying my legs into painful knots!  What was challenging was trying to eat in front of our hosts.  In most cases, we’ve been given dinner and then left to eat it on our own so we don’t have to worry about doing it the ‘right’ way.  Hopefully we didn’t bring too much shame upon Westerners with our clumsy eating.  The meal was delicious and way more than we needed.  We managed to have quite a decent chat during dinner using our combination of mangled language.

We had thought that we were here for two nights, but we’ve just been informed that we are only here for tonight. Our minshuku lady has arranged another place for tomorrow as she had other guests already booked for tomorrow. This was a little disturbing and we didn’t know how to find the other place, but she’s just said that she’ll escort us there! If there are any unhelpful people in Japan, we haven’t met them yet.

 

Then it was time for baths to soak away the aches and pains.  We finished the evening watching Die Hard in Japanese before snuggling in to our futons.

Beach bums

For Saturday 8^th October

After another big Japanese breakfast, we headed off this morning with onigiri (rice balls) and two bottles of ice tea supplied by our lovely minshuku lady. 

We took the road over the range of hills, eventually dropping down to the sea on the other side, then road around to Miyanomori Beach.  This was a lovely pebbly beach with see-through water and some nice shelters to sit in while admiring the view and listening to that very relaxing lapping water sound.  We stayed there for a while just taking it easy and reading our Kindles on yet another blue-sky day.

Our trusty steeds at Miyanomori

My relaxed husband at Miyanomori

Good thing we didn't want to go surfing!

The minshuku lady had given us a brochure about an art exhibition so we went for a walk to look for it.  It was just a few minutes down the road from the beach.  We were a bit confused, as we could see that the building we were going in to was an elementary school and it wasn’t obvious where the exhibition was.  We went in anyway and there wasn’t a soul in sight.  After we peered around for a while trying to find out where to go, a man appeared and took us upstairs.  He switched on all the lights in the exhibition room and let us in. 

The exhibition was amazing!  It consisted of the work of several Japanese artists including Kasamatsu Hirotomo, a Goto local.  After we’d been looking for a while, a man who spoke very good English turned up and explained to us about the artists and the exhibition.  The school is no longer operating as a school, having amalgamated with a Junior High School, and is now used as an arts centre.  The man had come over from a shed/workshop in the grounds of the school and told us that he was over there doing pottery with a hobby potters group.  He said that we were welcome to go over and see them at work when we’d finished.  We spent a while viewing the pictures which were of a great standard – a very unexpected addition to our sightseeing agenda for the day!

We then went over to the potters and spent some time admiring their work and their huge on-site kiln.  They were all very friendly and we were able to convince them to pose for a photo.

The hobby potters at work (or play?)

Naru is shaped like a butterfly, with the town as the central ‘bug’.  Our accommodation and Miyanomori Beach are on the right-hand wing, so we came back through the town to cross over to the other wing, after stocking up with some fruit, nuts etc. to go with our rice balls.  We rode around exploring the ‘West Wing’, stopping for lunch by the sea.  Around every corner was another lovely view of sea, hills, boats and hovering kites (of the bird variety).

Across the road from our lunch spot by the sea

We found our way round to ‘Beach Rock’ which is an area of pebbly conglomerate.  The pebbles look as though they could just break off, but they are actually firmly cemented together by lime.  Apparently this took place about 6000 years ago.  The conglomerate contains fragments of ‘cord pottery’ from the Jomon period (you can find this on Google or Wikipedia if you so desire). 

At Beach Rock - the end of the road!

The black lines on the road are shadows from power lines,

 not rubber marks from us skidding to a halt!

We finished off the day by going back to Miyanomori Beach and just relaxed and read in the fresh air.  There are some very interesting bird noises around here.  As well as the crows, which seem to speak Standard Crow, there are the horse-birds that start off with a bird noise that transforms into a whinnie at the end, something else that goes 'myuck, myuck, myuck' and an 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' bird.  The latter goes 'Oi, Oi, Oi', so I put in the 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie' and we had a good conversation.

More calm sea views than we ever imagined!

Back at the minshuku, we had a bath and dinner and blobbed the evening away.  This is the life!


[note: during our travels, I referred to Miyanomori Beach as Miyanohama.  I hope I have now corrected this in all places where I had it wrong]

Non-reply to comments

Hi everyone - thanks for all your great comments!  Sorry I can't seem to reply to them on the blog.  I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I thought I should let you know that I am receiving your comments and we're really pleased that your enjoying the journey with us.  Don't think we're ignoring you.
Kate & John xx

Naru Island

For Friday 7th October

After having a great time staying at Mr and Mrs Yamaguchi’s establishment, this morning it was time to pack up and leave.  Firstly, we were treated to a huge breakfast which included toast with jam, and fried egg and crab meat.  The Yamaguchis gave us a gift of a package of green Fukue tea and some mochi sweets.  They were so good to us and we are very pleased that we found them on the Internet. They made our stay on Fukue Island so enjoyable.  We’ve asked them to visit us in Australia, but they have to wait a few more years for Mr Yamaguchi’s pension to kick in!

John with Mr and Mrs Yamaguchi

We said our farewells and rode down to the port to make sure we could find the right place later in the day.  That done, we went to the Post Office to be served by another friendly talking ATM and then went to have a look at the street alongside the old samurai residences.  This was the area where the middle-ranked samurai once lived.

Samurai Street

There are only a couple of old houses remaining but the walls along the street are still standing.  They are very skillfully built and make the street very attractive.

We were feeling a bit weary with all the sightseeing we’ve been doing, so we went back to the ferry terminal to rest, relax and read.  Once I discovered that there was free Wi-fi access in the terminal, I caught up a little on the blog backlog.

The ferry ticket sales did not open until 1.00pm and the ferry was due to sail at 1.25pm so we made sure that we were at the ticket window as soon as it opened.  That was all fine until the lady at the ticket office started giving instructions and asking questions in rapid Japanese that left me stumped.  Fortunately, there was another passenger there who was taking a vehicle on board, so he was able to show us what to do and showed us where to go to board the ferry.  We filled in the necessary forms, went to the scooters and kitted up, rode round to the correct loading area and got ourselves on board with about 10 minutes to spare.  This ferry had seats like a plane, so we sat right at the front to get a good view.  All around were hilly/mountainous islands with rocky cliffs.  As expected, the sea was very calm.

Thanks to the help of Mr Yamaguchi, who phoned ahead on our behalf, the lady from the minshuku where we will stay for the next two nights was at the ferry terminal to meet us.  Well, actually, she was parked right in the middle of the road where the vehicles drive out of the disembarking area!  We followed her to her lovely minshuku (called “Shiroyama”) and went in to have a drink.  Bad luck for John – it was iced tea!  He managed a bit of it to be sociable and then we went to get the scooters unpacked. 

Shiroyama - our accommodation on Naru Island

The little red mark is the location of Shiroyama

Our room in Shiroyama

We then went for a walk around the local area followed by the young boy from the minshuku as well as a girl who seemed to be of similar age.  They were both on bicycles and rode up and down the road as we walked.  They couldn’t speak English but I was able to ask their names and ages and they said they were both 9 years old.  John demonstrated his stone-skimming skills and the boy enjoyed trying to compete.  The girl was as good at throwing as I am!

Taisukei skimming stones

When we got back to the minshuku, both of the children came inside, so we realised that they were brother and sister.  I looked up the word for twins in my English/Japanese dictionary and asked the minshuku lady if they are twins.  She said yes, they are and they go to school in Nagasaki but are presently on holidays.  She said their father is a “shouboushi”.  That was a new word to me, but fortunately it’s in my trusty dictionary, so we were able to establish that he’s a firefighter.

We had our baths and then were called for dinner.  This was one of the best dinners we’ve had so far! 

Trying to smile despite leg contortions

The minshuku lady asked what time we’d like breakfast, and whether we were going out sightseeing for the day tomorrow and when I said we were she said that she’ll make “onigiri” for us, included in the price.  This was all conducted in Japanese and restored my faith in my limited abilities and I’d been starting to wonder if my studies had all been in vain.

We spent the evening relaxing in our room with TV and Kindles, ready to take on another day of sightseeing tomorrow.