An hour and a half from Hakata is Huis Ten Bosch, a Holland-styled resort which looks fabulous at night in Nov and Dec (because of Christmas ma). They all Japanese like ang mo things one... LOL
The station reminds me of Malacca… I donno why LOL
The top picture is ANA JR Huis Ten Bosch Hotel which we WISHED we stayed at -.- if you get the rooms facing the right direction, you’ll have wonderful view of the village and the sea ^^
The whole place is a complete replica of Holland (i assume... i have never been to Europe) with Dutch street names, canals, ferries, windmills all that... we felt like we were in Europe except we were in Japan LOL not bad leh... no need to travel so far can feel like in Europe.
The staff at Huis Ten Bosch speak some English... er... but not very well k... the baggage girl (in Japan, there are "bellgirls") wrote my name as "Dear Ann" cos on the email print-out it was written as "Dear Ann" LOLLLLLLLLLLLLL
and hor, you better pee properly hor! wait police catch you er!
Although the shows are mainly for kids, we found some of them rather enjoyable, especially the House of M.C. Escher, which features the works of the genius Escher using 3-D computer graphics... As a Math student, I find it very cool... We also learnt from our visit to the Teddy Bear Museum that the name “Teddy” is to commemorate Theodore Roosevelt (whose nickname was Teddy)… cool. Since it was a weekend, the entire Nagasaki came here, young and old, families and all.
Family bicycles are available for rent… (papa, mama and two kids, usually one boy one girl... both super cute... standard Jap family)
people come here to get married… this couple is pushing their page boy and flower girl... totemo kawaii desu
te blah te blah la…
We strongly suggest making a seat reservation on the train way in advance (like a few days) cos we didn’t and had to stand for a while til the masses alighted at Saga, another touristy spot. We also recommend staying at ANA hotel, Hotel Amsterdam or Hotel Europe. ANA hotel is outside the resort while the latter two are inside. One-day passports to enter the resort (incl. of entry to main facilities) cost JPY5000+ and if you stay at one of the Huis Ten Bosch hotels, you’re allowed to extend the pass for another day. Just ask the hotel for a re-entry pass when you check-out. We stayed at Hotel Nikko Huis Ten Bosch. It’s a bit CMI… no internet =P and they put us in a room facing the carpark... -.- basket
In the months of Nov 2008 – Feb 2009, the entire resort is bathed in magnificent illumination and there’s a 5-min fireworks display every night at 8:45pm but GAH, the location of the bursts is so unpredictable so I did not get a single decent shot of the fireworks -.-
The light-up at 5:50pm in front of the Glass Museum
Hotel Europe
Route to Palace Huis Ten Bosch (modelled after the palace of the Queen of Holland)
Starlight walk at Palace Huis Ten Bosch
Palace Huis Ten Bosch
Oh oh oh… we had lunch at Chocolate House in Huis Ten Bosch and the Curry rice is v good ^^ the hot chocolate…WAAAA!!!!! Is REALLY chocolatey ^^ every mouthful I sipped made me think of my cute colleague CC and how she’ll love it too so I bought her a box of sweet chocolate, hope she likes it ^^
