Spur of the moment decision to go on the Sasebo bus tour this morning, which includes a guided tour around the city on a coach, followed by a tour of the Naval museum, a cruise on the Pearl Queen around the 99 islands, a trip through the Sasebo aquarium and then up to an observatory before heading back to the station. So we leave the hotel at 9:15am, and powerwalk down to the Sasebo train station and bus terminal in an attempt to join the bus tour, which is scheduled to depart at 9:40am. We got to the station, and line up in the ticketing queue only to be told when we get to the front of the line that the bus tour tickets aren't sold at the ticket counter, but for some reason can be purchased from the information counter. Superb. The time is 9:37am. Quick dash to the information counter, and we purchased the tickets right on 9:40am, and we realised that standing next to us was the bus driver of the tour, so good news that the bus hadn't left yet. So we followed the bus driver, and we were surprised. A fine sunny Sunday morning, and when we got to the bus we had difficulty counting the number of other passengers taking the tour with us. The reason we had difficulty was because there was nobody else. The poor bus driver had to run the whole 4 hour tour just for us. I'm betting at 9:37am the bus driver thought he was going to get Sunday morning off. But he was very friendly, and did his best with what little english he knew. We firstly headed through the town, accompanied by an audio track highlighting interesting buildings and sights, and throwing in tidbits of Sasebo information and history along the way. When we arrived at the Sasebo Naval museum we were were introduced to a museum curator/tour guide. He also knew a sparing amount of English, but enough for me to understand what he was talking about, and more than enough for himself and Veronica to have full conversations in a hybrid language of English and Japanese with no problems at all (or so it appeared). We started on the 7th floor, and instantly it became very apparently that this guy was very very passionate about naval history. The way he discussed many of the points on the tour, I wouldn't mind betting that he was ex Japanese Navy himself. Most items on the tour were as you would expect in a naval museum, details of past battles, details of navy vessels and planes etc, and as a result the tour of the museum was relatively mundane. A few notable points of interest caught my attention though. They had a very interesting Pearl Harbour exhibit, including a full videography of the events, and mounted in a display case was the actual order to the Japanese Admirals to commence the attack on Pearl Harbour. It was just a piece of paper, but a pretty important part of world history. There was also an actual Japanese WWII torpedo, cross sectioned and mounted on display. So with the 7 floors of the naval museum done, we boarded the bus again and headed around past the Sasebo shipyards and harbourside warehouses and onto the port. Once there, our bus driver guided us to the Sasebo aquarium, which was a small but moderately interesting display of rays, small sharks, some tasty looking fish, and some giant sea turtles and a rediculously large 8ft long cod. This was by far Charlotte and Angelas favourite part of the tour though, as they had a touch pond filled with starfish, hermit crabs, small spanner crabs and small spiny crabs, which the kids were free to pick up and handle/poke/prod/throw and bash against rocks (all of which I witnessed the other kids doing while standing there with the girls). I'm guessing that the spanner and spiny crabs quite often get to latch on to the soft fingers of unsuspecting kids, but I didnt see it happen. I was quietly hoping that it would happen to some of the pushier kids around the tank, but it never did. So after 20 minutes in the aquarium we dragged Angela and Charlotte away, and proceeded through a series of back alleys and tunnels behind the aquarium and shops, and emerged at the back door of the boarding hall for the Pearl Queen cruise. Handy when the tourguide knows a shortcut. So after a brief stint of waiting in line, we boarded the ship. As we lined up to board, the other side of the ramp was being used for the previous group to depart, and Angela waved to every one of the passengers getting off, and had 80% of them waving back. The woman beind us said in Japanese to her friend "She is like an idol. Everyone is waving to her", and I'm guessing that she assumed that neither Veronica or I spoke a word of Japanese. She was half right. The cruise was 50 minutes long, and was very pretty, but in the end it got very repetitive. One can only look at so many small rocky islands, trees and oyster leases before One gets bored and wants to jump ship. Half an hour tops would have easily covered it. It seemed as though the other passengers agreed with me, as the railing around each of the decks was prime pickings as the ship departed, and the cameras were out and flashing, but by the half hour mark virtually everyone had found a seat and holstered their cameras. So we arrived back on terra firma, and met back up with our driver, whom Angela now seemed fascinated by. She now wouldn't leave his side. I probably should have been offended that my daughter preferred to hold the hand of the bus driver over that of her father, but I was too hot to care. Back to the bus, and up into the mountains overlooking Sasebo to the observatory. The driver did very well to pilot the bus up what was the most twisty road I have ever encountered. If they ever add a Japan to the WRC stages, this road would be a fantastic tarmac stage. We eventually made it to the top of what is apparently known as Sasebo's Mt Fuji. That sounds a bit too generous to me, but at around 380m the view was pretty spectacular none-the-less. The observatory had 360 degree views from the mountains, over the city, the naval bases and out to sea, which was a superb way to get an overview of the city. With the observatory done, we headed back down the mountain and through the city back to the train station. Thanked our driver very much for giving up his morning for us, and went on our way. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at one of the shops selling the apparently famous "Sasebo burgers". And boy did they suck. $20 later for 2 burgers and some side dishes, I wont be hurrying back there. I chose a "Chirri Prawn" burger from the menu, which was blatant false advertising. It had virtually no chilli, and virtually no prawns. The sauce was chilli coloured, and the prawns were individually placed on the burger, each prawn occupying a few square inches of bun real estate to itself. Back to the hotel for afternoon naps, as the heat and sun had taken its toll on our energy levels. Dined across the road at the same Japanese restaurant we went to last night for a similarly excellent meal, for almost the same price as by "Chirri Prawn" burger I had for lunch. Having a quiet morning tomorrow, followed by a trip to Veronica's old High School which she attended while over here on Lions Club exchange in 1995. We are meeting one of her old teachers there, who is now retired from teaching, but from what I can gather is still involved with the school in some capacity.