So I went to Fukuoka last weekend.
Tell us how it was, Matt.
I'll do just that, dear reader.
We decided that the best way to make the most of this trip was to start on Thursday. That said, we made our excuses to our teachers and woke up at the crack of dawn. Actually it wasn't the crack of dawn, it was about an hour before that. It was early, get it? So, we were up and headed off to the train station to catch a bus over towards Osaka airport. The bus ride was around an hour and a half long and once we ended up at the airport I fell asleep as we had another hour and a half to wait. Starting to sound fun, right? Well wait till I tell you this bit! We had a hour long flight to go as well! In terms of length of time spent on a plane, this would be the least, but traveling is still traveling.
We landed in Fukuoka's airport, made the quick trip to the hostel, arrived there and set about to figuring out what we wanted to do. First on our minds was lunch, so we trekked out for a meal. We found a department store, went to the top floor and found a conveyor belt sushi place where we stuffed ourselves full with cheap sushi. Afterwords, it was off to the arcade to game it up. I was expecting maybe a quick thirty minute play time, but we ended up staying there for an hour. Not exactly what I was planning to do for my first day in a new city, but whatever. We rolled on to a particularly famous shopping center, called Canal City. A small man-made river runs through the lower level (man, it's like it has something to do with the place's name) and offers a fountain and light show. The night we came seemed to mark the start of the Christmas season as there were a great deal of seasonal decorations up. That's right, Japan also celebrates Christmas. But not in the same way that we do back home. As I'm told it's just another couple based holiday, much like Valentines. Now shopping aside, at Canal City is a particularly excellent cafeteria. It's called Ramen Stadium. Can you guess why? Cause it's full of ramen shops. Every type of ramen you can want, and there are a lot to want. I decided to pick up a bowl of the local Hakata creation, a particularly meaty dish with soup that is made with a ham bone. I left stuffed and happy. Went to bed early that night because the flight left me exhausted.
The next day was slow but filled. Started off by heading out to find some of the local temples around. First one we did housed a giant Buddha statue made out of wood. Were I to estimate the height I would have to guess at around thirty or thirty-five feet. The point being is that it certainly dwarfed me. If anything it makes me want to go see the one in Nara all the more. The second temple we went to was being used that day for other purposes. Apparently, the locals were celebrating particular bits of their culture and this temple was being used for locally made traditional clothing. The buildings on the temple grounds were stuffed with robes and silk garments. They were interesting by there own rights, but a small tea ceremony being held in the temple gardens. It should be noted that the temple was really small, so too were the gardens, but the experience was nice. Not truly a tea ceremony, my friends and I were given manju, a Japanese sweet bun filled with red bean paste, and green tea afterword. The hostess loved to question us as we sat there and our most Japanese competent friend was answering her so I did my best to enjoy the experience itself. It was quick, and afterwords they showed us the Japanese tradition to tea making then showed us out.
The lunch that day was my first experience of ぎゅどん(beef bowl), which is basically beef in a sweet sauce with onions topped on rice. It. Was. Awesome. Served along with that was a bowl of soba noodles, which are really thick noodles but soft, and we left full. After that, we wanted to make a trip over to Ohori Park. The remains of the Fukuoka castle are there along with a large lake with small islands in the center. The castle itself was interesting, but I was only able to see a small part of it. The rest of the day light was spent around the lake. Ohori park is a very picturesque local. Tranquil lake, long Japanese bridges, koi fish and cranes in the water, a Starbucks that almost looked like it belonged, I was struck by how perfect it would be to bring someone here for a date. I wasn't the only one. The other members of my party took to calling it romantic. We decided to end the sightseeing there, and find dinner. We wanted to find an all you can eat Korean barbecue, this would be our second attempt to find it, and yet we failed again. Instead, we went to a Japanese burger joint called Mos Burger. It's a better burger place than McDonalds, but much more than that, I cannot say.
After that, we made an attempt to go clubbing. A quick train ride later, we arrived close to were all the clubs were said to be but we had no idea how to get to one. So we pulled aside a couple of girls passing by and asked for directions. They gave us a couple to look for,really pressed on us a particular club, the name of which I can't remember, as the place to go and were off on their merry way. We walked a bit further down, realized we still didn't know where the clubs were and stopped again to ask a street vendor where we could find one. He laughed when we told him the club the girls just moments before highly recommended to us and told us it was a gay bar. Needless to say, we didn't feel like going there after hearing that. Instead we ended up splitting apart. Two continued on to the clubs while I took the two girls back to the hostel. As it turns out, clubs are only good for drinking in Fukuoka. Dancing is illegal and doing so will get you thrown out. It didn't seem to be worth my time or money.
The next day was spent going to Fukuoka tower, a tall glass tower made to be a tourist viewing platform. It offers a good view of the city and the surrounding sea and land. Now let me tell you this, there are some mountains in Japan. Looking towards the land, you can only see so far before you're meet by a wall of green against the sky. It's impressive to say the least, especially when considering the flat land that stretches before them. It was spectacular but we quickly had to leave. That night we were planning to go to an onsen (a Japanese open-air, bath house) and to get there we had to catch a bus. I won't bore you with the details, but I will say this. We got lucky. In any case, we shipped out to the onsen.
Now let me say this, the onsen is not for the squeamish types. To put it delicately, it's like an extended stay in the locker room. To put it bluntly, you and everyone else there will be naked. It is a bath, after all. Before entering the waters, you are expected to shower off. Our place provided shampoo and body wash and I would assume that most other places would do the same. Now in the in door area, there are already a lot of baths. One is cold, another is lukewarm (I assume it was meant to wash off the sweat from the saunas because it was really small) and two warm baths, one of which was outfitted with various massage jets. The out door area was quite different. There was a bath that had three different spigots dumping water directly onto to you. It was great to help get those kinks out. A regular temperature bath with a odd number of places to sit was near the door inside. Up on a wooden landing there were three tree trunks filled with water that you could rest in and get a pretty good view of the sky. Furthermore were another cold bath, a sauna in a cave and two hot baths further up. One of them was in front of a waterfall. Pleasing, no? Now, I had fun. It was terribly interesting to lather up, rise off and relax with out ever really leaving the water. The downside is that you can't stay in there for too long. Perhaps after 45 minutes of all that soaking you'll start feeling a bit light headed and decide that it might be a good idea to get out. That's what I did, but fortunately the Japanese have a tradition for what they do after they get out of the baths. They get a cold drink. Milk is usually the way to go and man do they stock up on it. Just on the other side of the locker room, there was a vending machine stocked with the stuff along with other bottled drinks, from sodas to coffees. That's the one thing that really puts you in that feel good mood after that heat. After a while of hanging around, I went back to the baths and soaked up again until the last bus back. If you ever come to Japan, I have to recommend the onsen as a must.
The next day we got up early again and headed off to the airport. We were quickly back in Osaka and from there it was just a matter of waiting to get back home. Enjoy the story. Need to soak my hands. Got blisters on my fingers.
