Having the chance to visit such a beautiful country as Japan, three times in 2 years is a dream come true! I am so blessed. To be able to go a 2nd time with Aaron is even better! :) On Friday, after field Day, we jumped in a taxi and headed to Gimhae Airport.
We flew from Busan to Fukuoka... It's only a 50 minute flight! This was my first look at Fukuoka - from the sky!
We arrived at the airport in Fukuoka at 5:50pm. We followed the directions from our hostel and headed down to the subway. For whatever reason, Japan's subway ticket purchasing kiosks are the MOST confusing things I've ever seen! We always try to do it on our own, but end up calling over one of the subway attendents - EVERY TIME! This time was no exception!
We made it to Khaosan Fukuoka Hostel, dropped our bags in the room, and headed out on the town! In Fukuoka, you can purchase an all day couples bus pass for 1000 yen ($12.00). So, we got one of those and took full advantage of it! First, we headed towards a street along the river, lined with traditional food stalls.
We ducked into a local market and spotted this old man, who had dozed off on the job!
I loved all the hand written price signs at this corner stores. It's so Trader Joes'!
As we walked further into the market, the alleys began to get darker, and the shops began to close... That was when I spotted these 2 girls, wearing black bunny ear headbands. I asked if I could take their picture, and they happily obliged. The first picture was out of focus, so I asked if I could take another one. They smiled and began to unzip their jackets to show off their lingerie! It was at that moment that I realized Fukuoka had a red light district and we were smack dab in the middle of it.
We stayed clear of the hooker streets and headed to the riverwalk instead.
While we would have loved to plop down and experience one of these food stalls, we were really looking for some Japanese ramen!
Traditional Japanese architecture and decor is one of my favorite styles! Not necessarily for my own home... but you know what I mean! I loved the look of this restaurant along the water.
In Korea, shneesh are eaten all the time! They're basically eel-fish. This was the first time, however, that I had seen a place where you could go fishing for your shneesh?
Then when you finally caught one (Which was quite difficult actually) this old woman would grill it up for ya!
The streets of Fukuoka.
This restaurant was SUPER fancy and right, smack dab, in the middle of the red light district - hench the red lights!
We walked through a couple small alleyways and found this little bar with a REALLY little door.
Japanese love their ainme!
We had dinner at this place, because we thought it looked cool.
There was no English listed on the menu and the one guy working there didn't speak a lick of it! So, we took the menu, pointed at something and this is what we got! Luckily it was DELICIOUS!
This is definitely the freakiest looking street performer I've ever seen!
Fukuoka is filled with bikes! This one caught my eye though! What a beauty!
At this point, we were exhausted and the buses were about to stop running, so we decided to head back to the hostel. As we were waiting for our transfer bus, I saw this costume girl! She must have been on vacation from Tokyo! I always thought these girls would be stuck up and prestigious, but she was the sweetest little thing! She was so excited that I asked to pose in a picture with her!
We got back to the hostel and went up to the common room for some barley tea and a little e-mail checking on the comfy couch! It was the perfect way to end a great first night in Japan!
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