Hiking all the hills around Nagasaki to enjoy the endless amazing views
Everyone who has read up to this point knew that today I would wander around the hills of Nagasaki, just as I promised. I keep my promises.
My course started at the Dutch slope, nothing Dutch there.
There was then a strange old person stair assist chair contraption that went about 100 metres up to the top of a hill.
I used the stairs even though I am now very old. At the top I found the best cat of the trip so far, with the best view of any cat in the world. More about him later.
You then have a choice, theres a pay garden to see, something Glover garden? Or you can skip up the hill for free. Skip I did, to the Mount Nabekanmuri Park lookout, which was probably the best view of the day. There was no one up there but me, I ran around and around the circular lookout thing until I got suitably dizzy.
From there I could see all the mountains (hills) and could plot a rough route and a goal to get around to before descending. The top of the hills is quite developed, despite that I somehow found myself battling giant spiders on remote paths before ending up on the far side of the hills in a very rural area. I had no idea how to get back to the other side other than to press on! This required scaling a few small fences even though the tracks were marked on google maps. The fences had spikes sticking up despite being very low, so it was a delicate operation, I have managed to come out unscathed. Piercing my scrotum was a real possibility. Some people pay to have that done.
Throughout the day I was kept company by 12 gauge shot gun blasts, presumably farmers angry I had climbed their little fence. Later in the day I convinced myself they were probably bird scarers, but I swear a couple of times I heard the blast and then what sounded like projectiles flying through the air and hitting something.
Eventually I found a road back to the other side, but there was still a chance for a rewarding detour up a steep ANCIENT hill to an old shrine with no view. Too much view today, too many view photos, I like the view. Tomorrow....more view.
Here, by special request, is the DUTCH SLOPE. I read a sign, apparently the Japanese called every white person Dutch and this is where they lived. I guess there are a few western style houses, and there are certainly catholic churches, but it was really just a hill to walk up and keep going.
The view was already awesome in the early morning light.
Now it was time to walk up the stairs along side the old person assisted hydraulic chair system that goes up a really long way. As you can see there are a couple of semi circular lookout spots on the way up, you can bet as I ascended the stairs I appreciated the view from each of them.
Cat of the day is cat of the trip so far! He has found the best spot to sleep. He briefly opened one eye to tell me to get lost, but otherwise was not moving.
It was now time for me to ascend through some little farms up a staircase, another cruise ship has docked already.
The lookout at Nabekanmuri park is highly developed, theres a public toilet, coke machines and a small car park. This one is closer to my hotel so it might be my 'night view' lookout on of the nights I am here, the other one is a much longer walk up a dark road where I will probably get run over.
The view from up here is no less spectacular than yesterdays awesome view, so I took a lot of shots of the view.
You can see yesterdays view spot across the water about a quarter of the way from the left edge, the towers on the top.
One last of the view from up here before I press on!
I found what happens to all the coke cans from the wall of vending machines located around the base of the lookout.
In attempting to get to the next lookout I went up through a cemetery. This one allowed you out the back way so I did not have to double back like previous cemeteries.
The second peak lookout spot however was no go. This is shot through a huge barbed wire and razor wire fence. It all looks abandoned but you cannot get in to look at the view. Oh well, time to keep going around to the next peak!
In getting to this lookout I went along a series of forest paths behind the main ridge, it was very quiet, but there were huge spiders everywhere threatening to eat me whole. I had to carry a big stick in front of me most of the way so I did not take any photos of the path. The lookout itself was not the best, it needed to be higher, and more importantly, it needed to be at the other end of the park.
Here is the view of the park, as you can see, the sea on the other side of the ISTHUMUS that has Nagasaki on it is just visible. If they had of built a lookout at the far end of the park the view would have been spectacular. There also was not a breath of wind, despite this a guy tried to fly a kite, quite an old guy, it was amusing to watch for a few minutes.
After lookout 2 I got really lost, and ended up wandering through farmers fields and climbing fences. I was following what was marked on my phone as a path. This allowed me to get a good view of the sea, this tiny seaside town and the mountains on the other side of the harbour. So it was worth it.
There were still however lots of farms to cross. Here is an orange grove. People picking various fruits seemed very confused to see me. No one offered me an orange. My camera has made the blue sky a strange blue here...it seems to do that.
I was actually quite relieved to get back to a road! A few things marked as roads were not roads at all. That is the entrance to the tunnel under the hills that goes right into central Nagasaki, I couldnt go that way, I would have to cross back over the mountains! Even if I could go that way I would still go back over the mountains.
After following a highly developed area of the mountains I found this peak sticking up. Challenge accepted.
There are no roads in this area, just steps and paths that look like they are peoples driveways. Oh well, I will just keep going until I cant.
A good bet is to follow the drain, thats normally a path that doesnt end suddenly.
I was very happy to find this sign, which tells me the way to go to the top of the little mountain. Despite this sign I still got lost 3 times going up from this point. Being a postman here is a challenging job.
Once on the path, it was dark and mysterious. I think its a genuinely old path.
I approached the shrine from the back, where the shrine makers had discarded the excess boulders. They are fun to roll down the hills.
And here is the mountain shrine. It did not appear to have anyone looking after it in recent times.
The path down the front of the little mountain back towards Nagasaki was also stone steps and easy to follow. As there was no view from the top (annoying) I took this photo of the view as soon as it appeared. It looks just like all the other view shots!
My journey back through the streets of Nagasaki took me past many shrines. I could not resist the long staircase up to this one. Because it is built on the edge of a cliff its impossible to get a clear shot. That didnt stop me from almost plummeting to my death trying. Lots of people really do plummet to their death taking photos lately.
Literally next door is the red version of the shrine. The competing brown (made from stone) versus red (made from timber) shrine. Who will win? You decide!
After a visit to the 100 yen bakery where it took some time to explain I did not need everything individually wrapped and bagged because I will eat it right now, I arrived back at my hotel. Right out the front, Japanese children were putting on a display welcoming the Chinese cruise ship tourists coming to Japanese Chinatown to buy instant noodles.
Another great day of hill wandering completed!
The rather dull suburb of Urakami is a place to eat pasta
How did it get so late? This probably wont make any sense because I am even sleepier than I normally am but anyway....dot dot dot
Tonight I went to Urakami. It is north of the main Nagasaki station. It is roughly where the bomb museum is, so I had already been to parts of it during the day.
According to my map provided by google, it has lots of shops and restaurants. I think they just make shit up because there was nothing there.
Instead theres now a huge mall with a ferris wheel, mandatory requirement for every city in Japan. Other than that the streets are really very quiet and I could not find anywhere to eat.
The best bet turned out to be a strange shopping centre that pre dates the atomic age that the equally ANTIQUITEOUS tram trundles under.
All this lead to there not being much to photograph, so I messed around with long exposures and stuffed up a few settings and ruined a few photos, so there are not many tonight. Nagasaki is a one city centre town I think, and I am right in it. The other parts are just one big mall each and a lot of darkness.
Also, no cat tonight, but I got my cat pic this morning, I dont want to over cat.
Tonight I followed a tram line, so I took photos of trams. Here is a tram from above. It now occurs to me that I have not ridden on a tram and probably wont, because I enjoy walking too much. Trams are only for when its raining.
Here we have the Cocowalk mall. It is very large. I think it has replaced everything else that used to be in Urakami.
It has a ferris wheel. I have been on many ferris wheels but did not feel a need to go on this one. I must be getting really old, they are now more excitement than I can handle.
Ahhh, the bustling city centre of Urakami.
I retreated back to the highway and found this place with a tram running under it. I also wanted to run under it, but I would be run over by a tram if I tried.
This is the inside of the shopping centre. It looks like you are outside. Its an indoor outdoor brick paved semi abandoned shopping and English teaching centre.
Despite the lack of options, the one option I did find was pretty good. Tonight only, your choice of pasta with any salad free! TONIGHT ONLY? How could I possibly pass up such a bargain that would never ever be repeated. It was very nice! They provided a couple of different chilli sauces to drink from.
My journey home took me past the peace park, and also the pink peace park motel and pachinko parlour. I bought a few balls and won a voucher for a free salad at the pasta shop.
Its the Huis Ten Bosch express, for $40 (each way) it will take you to a theme park based on Holland with windmills and tulips that costs only $100 to enter! Seriously it costs more than Disneyland!
I remembered the nearby bridge had a good view in the morning, how is it at night? Hmm, not as good. But it did help me get over my 40,000 step daily goal, mission accomplished. That is some serious star beams on the right.
Why is this place open at 9pm? Who needs a broom or a basket at 9pm? Why is this store in a residential street that is otherwise pitch black? Surely its a front for something?
Final photo tonight is the mini Huis Ten Bosch located right here in Nagasaki. Well its on the right edge of this picture. To contain the Portuguese who the Japanese refer to as Dutch, they made them all live on an artificial island. It now has re-created churches and coffee bars and a $10 entry fee. I bet I can get a tart from there. But probably not a purple sweet potato tart. I now eat purple sweet potato tarts exclusively.