Two days in Hiroshima went by so quickly, but was the exact right number to accomplish everything we wanted and more. Our next and final stop in Japan is Fukuoka. We woke up early to check on our shinkansen reservations (for some reason, between 11:30pm-5:30am you can’t book tickets on the website, instead giving your top 2 train preferences and they confirm in the morning). Thankfully, they got back to us right at 5:30 with great seats at the time we wanted. We made sure our room was packed up, and with rain pouring down and train and railcar stations far away, we ordered a taxi in uber. He arrived in no time, getting us to the station with well over an hour to spare before our bullet train arrived. It may have been a combination of the taxi ride and anticipation of the train ride, but David was sadly feeling a little nauseous again. We found some good seats and went to check out the snack options for a breakfast on the train.
Caitlyn got herself a curry bun and we shared 3 of these strange, sweet, gummy bean paste-filled pastries. We also grabbed a few drinks for the train, including some sweet fruit juices that David likes when he feels nauseous. We boarded and found our seats quickly. Caitlyn worked on the blog some while David tried to distract himself and get through the ~1hr ride without getting sick. We watched as the grey skies and clouds rolled over the Japan mountain tops between train tunnels.
Arriving at Fukuoka, we checked our directions and had to navigate all throughout the building to finally find the subway system that will take us towards our hotel. We got to our stop, but unfortunately, we got off at the wrong exit, putting us a little further from our hotel. We decided to just keep walking, but it was pretty warm out and with our heavy bags, we were feeling very hot and sweaty by the time we arrived. We tried to check in, but the attendant said that check-in isn’t until 4 and it was only 12:30. They happily stowed our bags, this time in a roped off area guesys are not allowed to access. Without the opportunity to refresh in our rooms, we sat at a table outside the hotel planning our day out and using our fans until we felt ready to explore Fukuoka. We first walked to the Tochoji temple, which was very close to our hotel. This was a lovely temple with a few beautiful tall pagoda buildings, but we noticed some mosquitos feeding on us and got out of there ASAP (lots of stagnant water and plants in the temple complex).
We had another temple in this part of town on our to-do list, but with the clouds getting dark quickly, we went to a covered shopping arcade that was on our list instead. Along the way, we passed by the ruins of the Daijoji temple, which we stopped to admire before continuing.
We walked the entirety of the arcade, stopping in shops and passing the time. It was raining far too heavily to want to go back to the uncovered streets, so we decided to kill some time at a tempura cafe style restaurant. This restaurant was the kind where you put coins or paper money in a vending machine, make your selection, and small slips of paper for each item get dispensed. We shared a pork cutlet tempura, a squid tempura, and an onion tempura while trying to get some work done. Caitlyn did her best to keep uploading pictures to the blog while David worked on some paperwork necessary to enter South Korea. The public wifi in this arcade was terrible, so we did what we could and eventually just gave up.
It was just about time for check-in, so we made the quick walk back while the rain had paused, getting there around 4:10 or so. We got into the room, which was nice enough, with a small desk and a bed on an elevated wooden section of flooring which did offer some extra space to open and adjust our bags.
We freshened up some and headed back out to the arcade to a good looking happy hour spot we found earlier. Happy hour was discounted beer and sours, and very cheap gyoza (a little over a dollor for 7 pieces!). They played the same happy hour song about gyoza whole time, which was a little annoying, but we grew to like it. We shared some gyoza and got the grilled stingray and a beer each, enjoying the last hour of their happy hour.
We left and walked around for a while, eventually deciding we didn’t want a formal dinner with our snacking and that we would check out some small items somewhere.
We wanted to check out one of Fukuoka’s famous food stall streets and found a relatively famous one nearby. At this point the rain was uncomfortable, but we found a popular looking stall with 2 open seats. We sat down on some super uncomfortable stools, David being sat where rain kept dripping on him. The food and drinks were insanely overpriced (2x normal beer price, much more expensive food). This stall served some noodle dishes and some yakitori and some pork wrapped veggie skewers. We tried to order one 4 piece skewer set, but were told that we had to get 2 dishes each by their rules, so got a 4 piece yakitori set and a 3 piece pork wrapped vegetables. All of the food was awful. The yakitori was overcooked and poorly seasoned, and advertised an assortment such as “chicken neck, beef, pork belly and duck” when what we really got was a sardine, rolled fat (literally just a chunk of not really cooked fat), maybe heart? But it was incredibly tough and overcooked, and what I can only describe as a soft Japanese hot dog. The veggies tasted like very simple vegetables wrapped in the smallest sliver of bacon we would get at home, with only some salt and maybe pepper added, and vegetables inside were tough still and not cooked well. For the first time in Japan (if you don’t count the infamous goo), we tried a few bites of our dishes, decided “nope”, didn’t finish our food, and tabbed out as soon as possible.
Next, we walked around through different areas, realizing not much was going on today, so we swung by an izakaya in a shopping mall to finish our meal on a good note. We got a couple to share, and the skewers were some of the best David thought we had in Japan. Caitlyn liked them but didn’t share the same sentiment.
Tired and ready for a nice early night, we went home and went to bed hoping for better weather tomorrow.
David’s thoughts of the day: Fukuoka is such an interesting mixture almost between Tokyo and Hiroshima. A small port town with massive buildings and bustling markets while still having an old charm and small stalls selling foods and goods. The only disappointment was the hawker stalls, but we may have gone to a more touristy area that didn’t allow for a more authentic and tasty experience.
Caitlyn’s thoughts of the day: every city in Japan seem to have these large shopping arcades (covered but not what I would call “indoors”), some extending forever and in multiple directions and others for a couple blocks. It’s a great way to kill some time during bursts of rain.
Steps walked: 10,779
Miles walked: 5.13
Bluming Travelers 