I remember my Japanese language teacher telling us to go to Nagasaki and/or Hiroshima if we have the chance to. "It's not pretty," she said, "but it's a good learning experience." I'm not sure what I was expecting, but Nagasaki had a very sombre and solemn feeling to it. Looking at the clean city with its pretty views, it was a little hard to believe that an atomic bomb had been dropped on it and decimated the lives of countless people. Near the epicentre with all the monuments dedicated to the victims and to world peace, there was a hush-hush, sacred quality. The memorial hall, with the pictures of the victims, made the whole A-bomb episode become more real, more substantial. It's not just something to be read about in history textbooks, something removed from our own lives; It's something that can be felt. People actually died here.

Urgh, I remember Aso as the place where my stomach hurt for hours, which rendered the first day miserable, and where it rained non-stop the second day, which made the cold and dreariness unbearable. Going up Mt. Aso (2 degrees celsius, mind you!) to see the caldera and the volcanic crater was... interesting. I'd never thought I would be able to see into the crater!

The bus journey from Aso to Beppu was the most scenic ever. In Aso, I'd noticed that there were numerous mountain ranges that were so flat they looked like many plateaus all lined up. And what do you know, the bus travelled on all those mountains! The view was gorgeous. Of all the places we'd visited, Beppu may just be my favourite, for the Beppu hospitality and the numerous pamperings available there.

Hiroshima seems to be the place of focus when you think "atomic bomb". Going to the memorial hall and the museum, I realised it really is a bigger so-called attraction than Nagasaki. Usually I'm not a big fan of museums, but all the artifacts there such as the singed hair/clothes, deformed fingernails/roof tiles/glass bottles etc had me riveted. They were tangible evidence of the damage the atomic bomb inflicted on objects and people alike, and gave life to those victims long dead. Instead of being mere statistics, I can now put names, faces, and belongings to these people. Just like in Nagasaki, these victims became real for me. After spending hours near the epicentre, we pulled ourselves away from war and headed to Miyajima, famous for the floating torii. As it happens, it was low tide, so the torii wasn't floating, and we could actually walk right up to it. Due to my ignorance, after a whole day out we went back to our love hotel to stay the night. It was really an accident that I made reservations at such a place! Having said that, despite its tacky exterior with the sign that showed different prices for different durations/times, it was surprisingly pleasant, and the bed was big. No kicks in the ass from sharing the bed that night! :D

monument for children, which came about after the death of sadako sasai

the atomic bomb dome, preserved to look as how it did when the city fell apart

And that concludes about 11 days of my travels, with the other days spent in Kyoto doing not-so-touristy things. To me my four nights there were simply to spend time with a good friend, not to run around seeing more sights. Being able to do both was a bonus. :)

For all the hotel-hopping, butt-numbing bus journeys and walking, I'm glad that we took this trip, and that we took this together. Paired with any other companion, the experience would have been totally different, I'm sure. After all, how many people can be like Shuying? =p

p.s. My goodness! This post took me four hours to complete!