Trip Report *COMPLETED* I've climbed the mountain, I've crossed the river, and I'm almost there!

Introduction

We've only been back from Japan since Saturday night but I am just itching to get started on this report! We had an absolutely AMAZING trip and I'm not ready to let it go, and writing my TR is one way for me to delay the inevitable return back to "the real world." :) This was the longest vacation I've ever taken, and like any long trip-or any new experience, for that matter-there were ups and downs, good moments and not-so-good moments. There were mistakes, mishaps, mountains, and monkeys. Yes, monkeys! There were surprises and there was DRAMMA!* There were things we will do differently next time we visit Japan, and believe me, we knew less than halfway through the trip that there WILL be a next time someday!

In case you missed the PTR, here it is: Bee's Big Birthday! There you can read about the cast, the general plans, and the reasons for planning this particular trip.

Now about the title: It's a reference to this song from The Princess and the Frog:


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I have been kind of obsessed with this song lately and I found myself singing it in my head repeatedly during the trip. You'll see why soon!

So, if you're ready for a journey halfway around the world, thousands of photos, and Double Disney bookends, keep reading!

EDIT: The Tokyo Disney stuff starts here.

*I've mentioned it in previous TRs, but I like to spell "dramma" the Italian way because I'm an opera singer and what's more DRAMMAtic than Italian opera?? So please don't think I'm an idiot (for that reason anyway :hilarious:)!
 
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bee

bee

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 12, cont.

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We guessed that on a sunny day this one would create cool shadows.

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We went back down the flower stairs and to the Hypocenter Park.

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@Rista1313 they don't look so weird here...

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Hypocenter Park:

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Up next: More Hypocenter Park, and the A Bomb Museum.
 
bee

bee

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 12, cont.

To me the highlight (if you can call it that) of the Hypocenter Park was this beautiful scupture:

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A bit about the art:

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Next we walked to the museum.

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I did not take any photos inside the museum as I wanted to be respectful and also just take it all in. It is a very well done museum and really focuses on the innocent victims of war, especially children. If you are ever in Nagasaki I highly recommend a visit.

On the way out of the museum you can take a paper crane or paper hydrangea to remember your visit.

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Up next: The end of Day 12. Fast food and a movie!
 
bee

bee

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 12, cont.

We headed back to the car to begin the drive back to Sasebo. I got a hot bottled tea from a vending machine.

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We passed this on the way:

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LOL

We had plans to see a movie at the cinema on base. We needed a quick dinner so we decided to go to the food court on base.


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Taco Bell! TB is one of the more vegetarian-friendly fast food places out there.

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Fries and a biscuit from Popeye's. So healthy, lol

We then went to the theater and saw Mary Poppins Returns. If you liked it, don't hate me...but I didn't care for it. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't do anything for me. The music was not memorable and the story was very predictable. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't need to see it again.

We had big plans for the next day, so we called it a night.

Day 12 Stats
Distance: 5.1 miles
Steps: 11848
Flights: 23

Up next: Day 13! The day with the kangaroos!
 
Rista1313

Rista1313

Well-Known Member
bee said:
Day 12, cont.

We headed back to the car to begin the drive back to Sasebo. I got a hot bottled tea from a vending machine.

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We passed this on the way:

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LOL

We had plans to see a movie at the cinema on base. We needed a quick dinner so we decided to go to the food court on base.


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Taco Bell! TB is one of the more vegetarian-friendly fast food places out there.

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Fries and a biscuit from Popeye's. So healthy, lol

We then went to the theater and saw Mary Poppins Returns. If you liked it, don't hate me...but I didn't care for it. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't do anything for me. The music was not memorable and the story was very predictable. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't need to see it again.

We had big plans for the next day, so we called it a night.

Day 12 Stats
Distance: 5.1 miles
Steps: 11848
Flights: 23

Up next: Day 13! The day with the kangaroos!
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Respectfully disagreeing about the music not being memorable! I liked it, but I was not crazy about the male lead.
 
bee

bee

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 13: Saturday, December 29

This morning as we were getting dressed, I heard an, "ow!" from M. Something had stabbed her in the foot. She took off the sock she'd just put on and pulled out:

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...a bee earring!

Before the trip I misplaced the two pairs of studs I wear almost every day (I have two holes in each ear). I found one complete pair (some little flowers) but could only find one of my bees. We looked EVERYWHERE and couldn't find it. I only brought the flowers and wore those the entire trip. But SOMEHOW, this other bee got into M's sock and made it to Japan with us! 🤦

J had the day off since it was Saturday but he decided to stay home and relax instead of going on today's adventure with us. Which was totally understandable since he had been living with two extra crazy women for a week! So, S drove us toward a nearby shrine.

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She didn't know exactly how to get there, but she told us to look for a HUGE Torii gate and we'd know we were ther.

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Looks huge to me!!

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That's me for reference. I am 5'5" and wearing boots with a 1 or 1.5 inch heel.

We met up with some of S's friends and all walked along the path toward the shrine together.

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This appeared to be offices of some kind.

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Up next: the shrine itself!
 
bee

bee

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
93boomer said:
Such pretty pictures. Love the tree colors!
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Thank you!

Rista1313 said:
That was a big spider!
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Haha, yes! Side note: at my teaching job I have become known as the go-to for getting rid of spiders because everyone else is too afraid to do anything but run away.

Darstarr said:
Yeah! Bee should have stood next to that for size reference!!!
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If only I'd thought of that!

FlaggNL said:
Wow this looks exactly as my home country. This is a mill in my city of Delft (old picture, look at the cars ;))

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Thanks for the share :)
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Thanks for sharing the windmill photo! There were quite a few European-style structures in the area.
 
bee

bee

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sorry this report is taking me forever! Life has been crazy! I've taken on a bunch of new students in a short amount of time, and I'm preparing for a new opera role to be performed next month, so I am working way more than usual with very few breaks. And because I'm just a crazy person who can't sit still, I've also started a Disney podcast with my brother, who incidentally is moving back to Florida this week so I'll probably be seeing both him and the Mouse more over the next year. At this rate I'll be back in WDW before I finish this report! 😝

Day 13, cont.

After a short drive we arrived at Nagasaki BioPark.

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At 1700 yen per person, this was the most expensive admission fee we paid (besides Disney of course). Still, that's way less than American zoos charge.

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Throughout the park each exhibit had a little cartoon girl mascot dressed like the corresponding animal. I thought the drawings were a little weird for the setting, but I guess the Japanese don't agree?

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These guys were out in the parking lot.


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Also in the parking lot

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Here we entered the park.

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Throughout the park most signs were in several languages including English.

Near the entrance was this river with a house of monkeys built in the middle, and an aggressive swan swimming in the water.

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After we saw everything at the main entrance, we began walking along the main path, which took us by all the major exhibits. It involved some more climbing, though nothing like what we'd done for Monkey Mountain and Mount Inari!!

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Up next: More animals!
 
bee

bee

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 13, cont.

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Lots of the animals were out in the open where humans could feed and interact with them. I guess the Bio Park is like a hybrid zoo/petting zoo. The guys in the photo above were not in the mood to interact with humans! They only wanted sun! I should mention today was quite chilly, despite being mostly sunny with a few fluffy white clouds.

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Some were very curious!

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WE WANT SUN!

Up next: My favorite part of the park!
 

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