First impressions in Nagasaki

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Ok well today was not very interesting from the sightseeing point of view, because I travelled from Fukuoka to Nagasaki by train today and it took about four and half hours, but at least there was only one transfer. Unfortunately the scenery wasn't all that good we just went through some of the smallest places I've seen, with what looked like about 20 houses, a train station, a few shops and rice fields! It was sort of cool to see them though. But I tell you what, when I got off that train at Nagasaki my legs were so sore! Once again, the sacrifices and pain I put myself through to be a cheapie! Oh well.
When I arrived in Nagasaki it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but I have only been here for 5 hours and the train station isn't actually located in the centre of the city so I'm yet to visit there, I could be wrong. But I just expected the train station to be a lot busier than it was thats all. Anyway I'll let you know.

OK, so here comes the more interesting part of my day. I arrived around 3pm this arvo and decided to check-in to my accommodation straight away, as usually check-in time is around 3 so I thought it would be OK. I doubled checked the reservation that I had printed off with the map of the place and it actually said that you can check-in from 1pm, excellent I thought, should be no problems. The place I'm staying in is called Minshuku Sieboldm and basically a minshuku is a bit like a B&B, run by a family but occasionally they don't serve meals, this place does however. Anyway I digress, the minshuku is located a little out of the city so I had to catch a tram from the train station to get there and from the tram station its only a 2 minute walk. When I got off the train at Nagasaki station it was unbelievably hot and humid, and no wind, and the sun was shining, but when I got off the tram a matter of 15 minutes later it was raining. You know those days when its sunny and then all of a sudden it rains really hard, no sprinkling and getting harder, just all at once it comes down. Well it was one of those days! I got off the tram and in the 2 minute walk to the minshuku I got absolutley soaked, I don't have an umberella you see, too awkward to carry.

I found the place alright, tucked into a little alley behind some shops. It looks like a house except for the sign that says Minshuku Siebold. Because it was raining so hard as soon as I saw it I ran to the door to stand under the tiny little shelter bit they had which wasn't big enough really but at least I wasn't standng directly in the rain. I shook some of the water off and went to slide the door open and it wouldn't open. I looked around and yep sure enough this was Minshuku Siebold, I tried again, nope definitley locked. I then noticed a door bell so I tried that, thinking they must just lock the door for safety or something. I waited and waited, pressed the bell again, waited and waited... No answer. I stood there for about 10 minutes waiting and pressing the bell, I knew it was a little old couple that ran the place so I thought maybe they are slow walkers or they can't hear very well, but nothing. At this satge I was like, OK so what now? Where do I go? I couldn't stand there, I was getting wetter and wetter by the minute. I looked around again and wondered if maybe I had the wrong place, then I noticed a piece of paper on the front door, which was kind of hard to read because it was wet and the words had run a bit, the paper had my name on it, but thats all. OK, I thought they must be expecting me so where are they? After another 5 minutes of wondering what to do I decided I had to get out of the rain and started to walk back to the tram station and passed a bank on the way (well the bank was closed but they had a section where the ATM's are kept that was inside and had chairs) and I went in there. I thought I'd sit there until the rain slows down and think about what to do next. I couldn't help but laugh actually, it was pouring rain, I had no umberella, I was soaked, no-one was answering at my accommodation and I had no idea when I should go back and try again, and I was sitting in a bank! Aaah, the memories this trip is giving me!

It started to thunder and I sat there and waited, I was there for about half an hour when the thunder stopped and the rain slowed a bit and I thought well this is my chance, go now or it might start to rain hard agiain, so I walked back to the tram station and caught a tram back to Nagasaki station with the intention to put my bag in a locker and find a cafe or something where I could wait. And you'll never guess what, the moment I stepped under cover at Nagasaki station the rain stopped, just as suddenly as it started! "The sun came out again and dried up all the rain" (sorry, couldn't resist throwing in abit of incy wincy spider, fond memories, hey Laura!), no really the sun was out and you would never have guessed that it had been raining as hard as it was. I just stood there and thought, you've got to be joking! Why? You can keep raining now, I'm under cover!!! I looked like a complete idiot walking into the cafe soaked to the bone when the sun was out. I went to the tourist information centre, picked up a handful of brochures about Nagasaki and went and settled myself into the cafe for a couple of hours.

Around 6.30 I thought I'd give it another shot so I collected my backpack and once again caught the tram out to the minshuku. Hallelujah! It was open! I walked in and didn't see anyone so rang the bell for service and once again got no answer. I waited and waited. For crying out loud what is with this place? I could hear the TV in the back, obviously where the old couple lived and so after a few more rings and me calling out, I took off my shoes and walked right in to see if I could find someone. I felt really rude but I wasn't going to stand there all day. Anyway the sound where the TV was coming from was closed off so I called through the door and walked around the house and called out but there was no-one there. I could not believe it. I went back to the entrance and thought well all I can do is wait right? After a good 10 minutes I tried again and just when I was walking back up the hallway the old lady returned home, had been shopping! I told her that I had a reservation and she looked confused and told me to wait a minute and she'll check. She came back and said that I was supposed to have arrived yesterday not today but that they did still have a room for me. I was getting a bit annoyed at this stage and said no I booked from today for 4 nights and I showed her the reservation confirmation that I had. She looked more confused and said to wait until her husband gets home and he'll sort it out and in the mean time she showed me to my room.

When the husband came home half an hour later he said that they thought I was there from the 15th for 3 nights, but I had actually booked from the 16th for 4 nights. We eventually sorted it out and I do have a room for the next 4 nights although I have to keep changing the room I'm sleeping in because they have other guests that have booked. Oh man, what a day! The place isn't even all that. I had heard good reviews about it from my travel guide and the internet and other people that had stayed there but so far my experience hasn't been the best, the old guy seems really nice and he kept apologising, he is 70 something years old but still... The rooms are big enough but the bathroom is shared for guys and girls!! And the toilet is a traditional Japanese hole in the floor which looks fairly dirty and I have to be back by 11pm or they'll lock the doors and I believe that!

I wasn't going to write an entry today because I didn't think it would be very interesting, just train travel, but it turned out that so much happened that I had to share it! I suppose if I'm travelling for 2 months I can't expect everything to go as planned, and now that everything is sorted it's OK. What an experience! I know this is going to sound bad but it was actually quite exciting not knowing what I should do and whether I had a place to stay for the next 4 nights, I wasn't worried at all, I should have been, now it's dark I realise that it wouldn't have been fun, I would have had to go to a hotel and pay through the roof or something...But it's quite funny now. It's always the most unexpecting things that you'll remember forever, this will definitely be one of those!

Oh and by the way, I didn't feel that earthquake that was here today, I didn't even know about it until Glenn emailed me in the arvo. I was on a train all day so I wouldn't have felt it and I'm in the most southern part of Japan so its too far away anyway. That would have really topped my day off hey, an earthquake aswell!!!

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