Back to the island...

The prospect of beer chilled to below freezing at the airport was a bit too much to resist...

Our trusty steed for the journey

and a slightly more glamorous ANA pokemon plane

this is a local noodle delicacy called 'champon' it was pretty colourful and delicious

our hostess with the mostess - Erika 'the snack bar' Sanaka

sampling the local flow

plastic dart boards are pretty shit

but Japanese bowling shoes are pretty awesome

I managed to mash my hand up - the photo does not do justice to how much slamming a ball into the floor with hand attached hurts...

still, I managed to bash up A-Lund on the arm wrestling

another local specialty to Shimabara - peanut noodles, interesting.

The views from our room at the Kowakien ryokan in Shimabara - possibly the best hotel I have ever stayed in.

Just off for an onsen to chase some Japanese dudes out of the water. Literally every time we went to the onsen all the Japanese dudes would get out as soon as we entered, racism/xenophobia can be a wonderful thing sometimes.

on the second day we went dolphin 'watching' though it was more like a cross between wacky races and being a papparazzi as every time the dolphins popped up all the boats, which were mainly retired fishing boats would blaze over to the dolphins and scare them off.

the paps in action, I felt like a 3am girl

Alex

Alex fouond a dead fugu fish on this beach which was also peppered with jelly fish.

at Shimabara castle - which has an interesting history related to a Christian uprizing in the 17th century - there were some awesome costumes we could try on. May managed o put the slacks on back to front, but maintained her dignity despite this.

I just looked deadly

the best meal I have had in Japan, bar none! Erika's parents took us out for dinner one night and took us to their favourite restaurant, where they catch fish from the bay in the morning and keep them in a tank. We chose a flat fish that looked a bit like a sole, and some fugu - for those not in the know fugu is a potentially deadly puffer fish, and the chef has to undergo loads of training to learn how to safely remove the poison.

it was pretty and delicious

these were in a sweet bar Erika goes to regularly, the owner has a day job and this place is his hobby. His whole record collection was around the place and he had really interesting and broad tastes, well worth the visit.

A samurai house, with a cool spring water canal outside.

carp street - pretty incredible when you think how much they are worth.

going up mount Unzen - the local active volcano

Japanese people have umbrellas for all kinds of weather

Erika prefers a shroud

the rope way

another interesting meal. Erika said it was beef based but that she wasn't too partial to the meat, and she did explain that it was guts, it took a while for me to realize that it meant offal.

the noodles were nice though

this is something I had been keeping my eyes open for since we arrived - a sexy vending machine. It was an Alladins cave of perversion. You could get everything from porn to worn clothing, including undies, bras and oddly enough a swimming costume. Fantastic.

a Sasebo burger - susprisingly delicious and guil free

we went on a cruise called the 99 islands in Sasebo. Little did we know that it would involve going out on an 'aqua patio'

the Goonies ship as also out in the bay

Nagasaki: European, pretty, wet.

thats right, a cat bus, a man sized cat bus, what of it?

China town

'Sala udon' a dried version of the Champon in a noodle bar with its very own Yakuza, authentic as you like!

the peace park after a trip to the bomb museum, which was informative and moving.

stings covered in paper cranes

a really great sushi bar in the red light district of Nagasaki, which I found more intimidating than Kabukicho or Amsterdam due to the high volume of hostesses and prostitutes on the street.