Fukuoka and Nagasaki 2-21-2008 to 2-23-2008
The travel starts at Kibana station. Anthony and I wait in the cold for the train to come at ten to seven in the morning. We hear it coming before we can see it. The ringing of the train crossing guards are easy to hear in the still morning air. Once on board we welcome the heat of the train, taking of scarves and gloves, only to put them on again two stops later when we exit at Minami Miyazaki station. We wander over to Miyako city bus station to wait for the bus to take us to Fukuoka at 7:40am. We pop into a little fast food/cafe in the station to pick up a bite to eat before we catch the bus. We finish just in time and board the bus, showing the bus driver our SunQ bus passes (a three day anywhere in Kyushu bus pass for roughly 100 U.S dollars). On the bus we find our seats and settle in for the four hour bus ride. Anthony drifts off to sleep and I pull out The Golden Compass and start to read. Time flies and re arrive in Fukuoka around 1 in the afternoon.
First thing on our agenda is food. We head over to the canal city near Hakata station and, after looking through the extremely expensive restrant side, settle on a KFC and Basken Robbins for dessert. The Japanese Basken Robbins has some of the most awesome flavors and they all rotate through the year. Half of their coolness is the names which are all slightly odd but fun.
There were also a bunch of small fountains and things around the
area as well as a water show with music.
Once rested up, we headed over to the Fukuoka botanical garden and zoo. It was fun to see the animals, but sad because non of them had enough room or interesting things to do. Some of the animals were shows signs of boredom by walking in the same path over and over. This is the second zoo that I have been to in Japan. I really with that I could help the zoos here by becoming an animal behavior specialist and work on habitat enrichment for the zoos. But that must be put on the end of my list of things I want to do in life.
This snake was doing some pretty
nifty acrobatics
nifty acrobatics
After the busy day of traveling we headed back to our home base of heiwadai hotel for the night. We watched some Japanese TV which is always interesting... and a little odd... It was about two guys fishing in the snow and ice in Hokkaido I believe. Just kinda an odd TV comedy/talk show thing that there are a lot of here in Japan.
European on the outside......
(awww look it's Anthony :)
We also visited several temples and China town while we were there. Sadly we didn't have enough time to visit the peace park and the atomic bomb museum because they were on the other side of town :( The China town was interesting though. It is different from the China towns found on the west coast I think. I also asked a few of the Chinese exchange students about what they thought, and they said it is very different from China. They said it had more of a Japanese taste to it, kinda like the U.S has more of a U.S taste to it I guess.
This is kind of the main street into the
the China town.
After exploring around for quite a few hours we hoped back on the bus to Fukuoka. We arrived back in Fukuoka at night and visited a few of the more busy night parts of Fukuoka, particularly Nakasu Kawabata. I haven't been to any of the super flashy night places in the U.S like Vegas or something, but this was pretty intense. (See Anthony's blog for more pictures) We walked to the river front and saw plenty of signs for hostess bars and "soap lands" they weren't trying to hide what they were, a specially when they have their prices underneath the name of the banners. I don't think a bath would cost over roughly 200 dollars with out a few extras :P (The average price for an onsen, Japanese public bath usually around hot springs, is about 500 yen including soap). It was a pretty neat experience walking around though, but not what I would be drawn to every night. There were the little ramen and odon shops along the river with people packed in and a long line waiting. It was the other side that can't be seen during the day.
These are the little stalls, the people waiting in
line are way back in the back of
the picture.
Once we walked around there for a while, we headed back to the hotel to get rested up for the next day's adventure to Dazaifu.
Nagasaki
On Friday we headed to Nagasaki. It is about an two and a half hours south east of Fukuoka. After grabbing getting our bearings and grabbing some lunch in the main station, we started out sightseeing. We had an all day pass for the tram, kinda like a train that runs on the road, so we were able to ride with out paying each time. We first visited Dejima, the island where the Dutch stayed when they came to Japan. It was quite interesting to see the mixing of Japanese and European architecture.
European on the outside......
(awww look it's Anthony :)
Japanese Tatami mats on the inside~
We also visited several temples and China town while we were there. Sadly we didn't have enough time to visit the peace park and the atomic bomb museum because they were on the other side of town :( The China town was interesting though. It is different from the China towns found on the west coast I think. I also asked a few of the Chinese exchange students about what they thought, and they said it is very different from China. They said it had more of a Japanese taste to it, kinda like the U.S has more of a U.S taste to it I guess.
This is kind of the main street into the
the China town.
After exploring around for quite a few hours we hoped back on the bus to Fukuoka. We arrived back in Fukuoka at night and visited a few of the more busy night parts of Fukuoka, particularly Nakasu Kawabata. I haven't been to any of the super flashy night places in the U.S like Vegas or something, but this was pretty intense. (See Anthony's blog for more pictures) We walked to the river front and saw plenty of signs for hostess bars and "soap lands" they weren't trying to hide what they were, a specially when they have their prices underneath the name of the banners. I don't think a bath would cost over roughly 200 dollars with out a few extras :P (The average price for an onsen, Japanese public bath usually around hot springs, is about 500 yen including soap). It was a pretty neat experience walking around though, but not what I would be drawn to every night. There were the little ramen and odon shops along the river with people packed in and a long line waiting. It was the other side that can't be seen during the day.
These are the little stalls, the people waiting in
line are way back in the back of
the picture.
Once we walked around there for a while, we headed back to the hotel to get rested up for the next day's adventure to Dazaifu.
Next entry: Dazaifu and the return home.
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