Come Away with Me

Fukuoka here we come!

I took 3 hours of leave (yes, you can take by the hours here) and left school earlier on Wed, 18th Oct to catch the afternoon ferry to Nagasaki city. Arrived in the evening and headed straight for a haircut which turned out to be surprisingly affordable at only 2100yen though it was nothing to really shout about. Spent the night at Ellie's place (the Canadian-Japanese ALT) before taking the first bus at 6am to Fukuoka to pick Alvin up at the airport, whose flight was scheduled to arrive at 8 in the morning. Or at least that was my original plan.

As i waited and my bus failed to appear even when the clock said 5:55am, i realised that i must have been waiting at the wrong place. The bus station that i was supposed to board from is called 駅の前ターミナル　(Terminal in front of the station) so i simply assumed that it's right at the station only to be told that buses to Fukuoka actually leave from the terminal opposite the station! Shouldn't they name it 駅の向いターミナル　or something to the like? I did not had time to give that much a thought before dashing across the overhead bridge, with Ellie slightly in front of me as she did not have to carry a heavy backpack around. Knowing the Japanese knack for following a time schdule down to the seconds, i know inside me that i could not make it on time for the first bus.

So it was with thumping heart that i enquired if i could take the second bus even though there was no reservation made. And i was so relieved to find out that they are quite flexible about the situation as long as they have enough seats to accomodate. As such I boarded the second bus at 630am and bade farewell to a tired Ellie. Unlike the first bus which actually make a stop at Fukuoka International airport, the second one simply stopped at Fukuoka bus terminal which meant that i had to get off and changed to subway before i can reach the airport. All this just meant that i would be really late in arriving at the airport and poor Alvin would be 'stranded' there for at least an hour if not longer, wondering where in the world his girlfriend was as he stepped out into the arrival hall anticipating a warm welcome.

After three and half mind-griping hours, i finally arrived at the airport at 930am, a good one and half hour after the plane landed. As i scanned the hall anxiously, i saw this guy nodding off in a corner with a huge luggage by his side. There was no mistaking it this time round! And such was the beginning of our exciting Kyushu trip =)

The first stop was Dazaifu Tenmangu, a shrine venerated by the Japanese throughout the country as the God of Scholarship or Literature. Students typically visit Dazaifu around exam seasons to pray for good results for their entrance examinations.

As with most tourist places in Japan, the stretch of road leading to the main attraction is generally lined with shops selling foodstuff, local sweets packaged in the most fanciful ways imaginable and many other stores selling cute Japanesey souvenirs. The street was nice but it was not quite as compatible as the nakamise-dori to the Kaminari-mon at Asakusa in Tokyo. If you've been to Asakusa, you will know what i mean.

Stores in the shrine selling お守り which are little amulets that people usually buy and keep as good luck charm.

Alvin enjoying an ice-cream or what they called soft cream :) It was really tough deciding on which flavor to choose from but I finally settled on ume or plum flavor while Alvin had strangely opted for macha even though i couldn't really remember him being much of a green tea person. Anyhow, both tasted really great!

Night scene in Fukuoka.

As both of us were tired from travelling the day before, we took our first day at an easy pace and enjoyed the sights and sound of the bustling city and each other's company. Afterall, we there were still much more travelling to be done on day 2 when we would be headed to "the Land of Fire", Kumamoto!

posted by テレサ @ 2:35 PM