Kumamoto to Fukuoka on a short bullet train ride
Hotel photo lovers rejoice, for today you are in for a treat with three (3)! photos of my hotel room!
The journey from Kumamoto to Fukuoka takes about 40 minutes on the bullet train, so feel free to purchase a 3 course meal with enough packaging to wrap an elephant. It seems most people cannot face sitting on a train for 40 minutes without choking down 2 days worth of food.
Once I arrived in Fukuoka, I had to kill 3 hours before I could check in, so I walked laps of the station, judging people with 4 wheel spinner cases with missing wheels, of which there were many.
Now for my hotel. It is the Hotel Wing International, which again is a chain brand with hotels in most cities, it is about $100 a night and 2 streets away from the Hakata station. On my previous visits to Fukuoka I stayed in Tenjin, which is the other city centre, walking distance from here. Anyway, it is the weirdest hotel of this trip, and my floor is the 'Roma' themed floor, stay tuned to find out what that even means....
This is Kumamon, the mascot for Kumamato, where bears are extinct. He will appear for free at any event if you pay for his transport and accommodation. His likeness is also free to use for any product advertised in Japan, but costs money to use internationally. He is by far the most successful of all the yuru-hara (marketing mascots). Without Kumamon, Kumamoto would no longer exist. Fact.
Here comes a bullet train, yeah, you have seen them by now.
Now for the first of 3 hotel pics. My room is Roma themed, I expected a Colosseum. What I got was walls coloured like someone has vomited wine onto them, and a sink next to the bed / desk.
Nice head rest and wallpaper, just like Caligula had in his room.
The bathroom looks suitably dire. I now do not need to go to Italy.
Hakata to Tenjin and back
Tonight I avoided both the main areas of Fukuoka by walking between them and back.
The main part of Hakata is behind me, I walked away from it, then I walked a loop around the main area of Tenjin, without really going into it. This means the photos are a bit boring.
There was no specific reason for my avoidance of busy areas and other people, except I was looking for somewhere to eat without a line, then I just kept getting sidetracked, and once I found somewhere to eat, it was time to scurry back to my hotel, before the young folk come out and start enjoying themselves.
Does everybody know what tomorrow is? Hiking day.
Fukuoka has many canals, with the giant ramen streeted shopping centre named canal city. I will no doubt go there soon, but until then, here is another canal.
Only one option is realistic. Interestingly, is this a public safety warning of some kind? The red light district is to the left (the no side).
Fukuoka is also the city of many very large department stores. Here is one.
And here is another. Mitsukoshi wins this round.
There are a grand total of 4 people in this protest, for which the police are escorting them through the streets. This is exactly what happens now in Melbourne every weekend.
A war of the worlds alien is roaming the streets.
Here is my dinner. Lately the most famous ramen style is Hakata, although I just googled it, and the actual origin of tonkotsu style ramen most often called Hakata style is the nearby city of Kurume... controversial. It is thick and porky.
Look, it's properly dark! I crossed a few more canals on my way back to my hotel.
I had to wait a while to get a clear shot without girls bent over with their asses sticking out looking over their shoulders giving duck face (seriously, there were 3 groups I waited for!).
I avoided the busy area, but here is a busier area of the not so busy areas.
And finally, yes, Fukuoka does have covered shopping streets, they lead you to the Canal City shopping centre.
Tomorrows hike is shorter, I think, I thought that last time too and it wasn't.