Come Away with Me

Nagasaki orientation

Made my maiden trip to Nagasaki city for the prefectural orientation 2 weeks arriving on the island. Especially looking forward to this trip as the ferry transportation and one night hotel stay were paid for. Took a picture of my apartment as i was making my way to the terminal.

This is a tunnel is across my place. To get to the terminal, i just have to walk through the tunnel and the port is just right opposite, a short 5 min walk away, very convenient!

This is Narao ferry terminal. It's my gateway to the outside world! :P

First stop in the city, Nagasaki Chinatown.

And of course i had to try the famous Nagasaki chanpon! A little food history here... Nagasaki chanpon was created by a Chinese restaurant owner for visiting Chinese students who lived frugally at the time. It's really Chinese yellow noodles with seafood such as squid, oysters, and shrimp harvested from Nagasaki's coastal waters and lots of cabbage and bean sprouts. Apparently from some Nagasaki tourism website, the origin of the word "chanpon" is from Hokkien "jiapeng"! (meaning have you eaten?) I was a little surprised when i learnt about this but then again, Chinese people like to ask if you've eaten your meal as a form of greeting isn't it?

The other famed Nagasaki must-eat is sara udon, which is really a Japanesified version of our "san mee". Ingredients on top of crispy noodles =P

Me and some new Nagasaki ALTs i met at the orientation.
Riddhi is from Bombay, India. This is the first year the program has Indian participants actually. Ellie is Canadian Japanese from Vancouver.

And this is Ellie, me and Joe. We had a lot of fun hanging out that night,just chatting about anything under the sun. The different countries we come from, the education system, cultures and religion. It was hilarious to share stories on how me and Ellie were always mistaken as Japanese. Ellie got it worse cos she has a Japanese surname as well so sometimes when people talked to us real quickly or expect us to behave in some ways and we don't, they'll give us the queer look. As for Joe, well he's a guy, he's American, he's white, enough said. Everywhere these people go, they are bound to get curious stares and appreciative giggles from Japanese girls. I can probably understand if they are astoundingly dashing but many are just well alright only.

We strolled along the Nakajima river after dinner and reached one of the must-see site in the city, Meganebashi (Spectacle bridge). The reflection of the bridge in the water makes it looks like a pair of spectacle thus the name. This is the first Chinese-styled stone bridge built in Japan by a Chinese monk in 1634.

posted by テレサ @ 11:05 PM