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| Canal City Fukuoka |
Meeting Sam and Emma at Haneda airport (dressed in matching
sushi-cat tshirts) we flew south to Fukuoka together. It wasn’t long after our arrival
that we indulged in the local dish tonoktsu
ramen (ramen in a pig bone broth) embarked on a stroll through the city
that took us to the Canal City mall.
We stumbled across the Hard Rock café, which provided the best mojito that I have had in a very long time, and found an Izakaya for dinner, where Emma discovered that some parts of a chicken are less edible than others.
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| Japanese Garden near Ohori Park |
We continued on to Ohori-Koen park, where Fukuoka castle
once stood and spent a good couple of hours wandering around the gardens and
lakes (and getting attacked by mosquitoes).
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| Fukuoka Castle Ruins |
We graced ka-ku, a
fountain pen and ink shop with an attahcd café for a breather before treating
ourselves to a peruse of Forever 21.
On researching what to do in Fukuoka I found a number of
sites suggested trying the canal-side yatai
food stalls. Not quite like the food truck style we have back home, the
Yatai were effectively a trailer with a central kitchen/hotplate around which
benches were stationed for patrons to sit at. From there we continued to ‘Off
Broadway’ for a few not-so-quiet drinks….
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| Yatai Food stalls |
After the antics of Saturday night, it was beyond us to do anything
more than venture out of food missions before retreating once more to the air conditioned
Hostel room. I did however managed a stroll through the mall and alongside the
canal, returning triumphantly with a Jasmine bubble tea. Fortunately it was
this day that the typhoon that travelled the length of the country came through
Fukuoka, trains were cancelled so we couldn’t have done much anyway.
After our self-inflicted immobilisation on Sunday, we were
determined to cover some ground.
After a minor navigational error *raises guilty hand* we
made it to umino nakamichi koen a
park located on a peninsula a little north of Fukuoka city. We strolled through
the park and small zoo located there and caught the ferry back across to
Hakata.
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| Reclining Buddha at Nanzoin Temple |
Having spent a decent amount of time in Japan I have seen my
fair share of Buddhas, I hadn’t however, ever seen a reclining Buddha. The
statue at Nanzoin Temple depicts Buddha at the point of his death, in his
entrance to nirvana. It contains sand from each of the 88 temples of the
Shikoku pilgrimage and despite its horizontal orientation, its curl convered
head can just be seen from the station, making it rather easy to find.
We graced another izakaya for dinner before bussing out to Fukuoka
tower to catch some night views of the city, deciding not to invest on one of the
￥1000 heart shaped locks to hang on the rails of the ‘lovers
sanctuary’…
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| Finally found the bloody pagoda |
The next morning I saw the other two off at the airport
before training around the city, visiting the Aratsu bridge, Café Brasileiro
(where I was presented with whipped cream to add to my coffee, the result of
which tasted like coffee ice cream – which I am not complaining about-), and the
temple grounds of Soufuku-ji. I had spotted the gold rings of a pagoda from the
street and followed a temple wall until I found an entrance. This didn’t turn
out to be the right complex but with the sounds of the city muffled by the
walls and trees, the moss covered ground and stray cats wandering around, it
made me wish I that I could have say there for a couple of hours with a book.
It really felt like a little piece of paradise in the middle of the bustling
city.
One last crawl through the arcade and stroll along the canal
side later and it was time for me to start the trek back to Akita.
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| Chilling in the temple grounds |
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