Terraced Rice fields on Fukushima

There is an extremely picturesque view of terraced rice fields on Fukushima in the Nagasaki Prefecture.

The picture above is apparently what the rice fields look like at sunset early in the planting season.

Keep an eye out for the camera sign and the rather large parking lot. It's a popular viewpoint.

Shiraito Falls... WOW!!!

This waterfall is a very worthwhile side trip should you happen to be near Takashima. Right before you cross the bridge over to Takashima. Just look for the signs leading you to Shiraito Falls. Back in September of 2008 - pre-blog, I visited Shiraito Falls near Mt. Fuji. That waterfall is beautiful, but you are always surrounded by tourists, food vendors, and gift shops. This Shiraito Falls is extremely beautiful, but there wasn't another sole around!

It's only a 150 meter walk from the parking area to the falls.

Loved it!!!

Below is a picture I took of the Shiraito Falls near Fuji san. What you can't see in the photo below are all of the people on either side of me.

Shihondo... the other side.

I've posted about this park before... a couple of times, but I had never been down to the beach part. It's a nice place to visit.
The beach is just below the camping area.

Those fish are apparently known to local fisherman as the rats of the sea. I'm told they are some form of blow fish. There were tons of them!

Part of a trail that runs along the water from the beach to the playground. Very pretty!

A five-lined skink up near the observation castle.

The best directions I can give are head south toward Nagasaki, past BioPark and turn left at the gigantic Dutch girl on your left.

Milk Tea Oreo Bars

I almost missed these Oreo bars in 7-11 today. They have similar packaging to the other flavors. This one, however is milk tea. I'm not interested in trying them, but I'll have someone in my house test them and see how they compare to the Royal Milk Tea Kit Kats.

Pepsi Baobab

So this is the newest Pepsi released here. It's apparently named after an African tree. I gave it to someone else to try and they said they prefer it to regular Pepsi. It's not as sweet tasting.

'twas a foggy morning

I took a friend to see beautiful Saikai Park. Unfortunately, we couldn't see much of anything... but it was pretty cool! I took the picture above of the resort that you can see from the drop slide and the picture below from the walkway below the bridge. It reminded me of the Swiss castles that are photographed in a perpetual fog.

The other... other side of Osaki Park

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a brochure for an Onsen near Osaki Park. One of the pictures of the park itself featured a Cycling Monorail course, so we went looking for it.

When we got to the park, the part of the map where the cycling monorail was supposed to be was covered over with tape. We hiked up the hill to where it used to be and there was nothing there! I didn't even see remnants of the old track. There is a gorgeous view and places to have a picnic, but don't go for the monorail.

I think that water fountain is on the field where the monorail was.

If you are looking for the field where it used to be... park in the first lot inside the park on your right and hike up the hill. If you want to see the peacocks, don't turn off the road, just follow it to the end.