Mount Homan from Dazaifu
Today was my third time climbing Mount Homan, it is the main hike to do near Fukuoka.
It is located near the main tourist area of Dazaifu, it is about a 2km walk along the road up a hill to the trail start from the main area of Dazaifu.
It is normally a very very popular hike, but it was supposed to rain today, and I returned on a lesser used trail, so all in all, I saw 2 people, and had the whole summit to myself.
Because I did not put on sunscreen, there was no rain at all while I was hiking, just a huge amount of fog. So prepare for fogshots, but first, the last set of stats for this trip -
26,900 steps
14.05km - amazingly almost exactly the same length as the previous hike
4 hours 40 minutes
1,525 calories burned
932m vertical ascent
Here is Dazaifu station. The total journey from Hakata with a couple of train changes is only about 30 minutes.
Too early for the shrine gift shop street to be open yet, but I will be back later to not buy anything.
This is Kamado shrine, right by the start of the hike. Last chance for the public toilets and vending machines.
OK, this is Kamado shrine, the above was the shrine gate.
The very start of the trail is a trail. You do cross a road twice very early on, and you can walk up the road if you wish, but it is longer.
Threatening clouds in my direction of travel.
The ravine section is already rewarding.
The main trail up to Mount Homan is a whole lot of steps, there is basically no let up.
There is the occasional garden bit with a gate, but also note the steps behind it.
A huge number of steps.
As close as we will get to a view today, dense fog coming right up.
But first more steps.
Probably was a rest spot many years ago.
Here comes the fog.
There are steps cut into the rock, and a lot of fog. It was damp but not raining, thankfully the rocks were not slippery.
A brief bit right near the top of relatively flat rock.
A sure sign you are about to get to the top of anything, a wall and a staircase.
Summit shrine.
This photo normally has a view, I have taken it on both my previous visits. No view today.
It is me, possibly for the last time on this trip. The wetness is all sweat.
I continued past the summit to take a different way down.
A strange bit of the trail, as it is still a section used by a lot of people. There were rusty chains and ropes, but it is just a stone cliff to rappel down.
Just beyond the cliff with chains is this somewhat shielded picnic area. Just me today.
The fog was the thickest in this bit.
Time to head down a different way, this was a brief wrong turn as there are many trails, I doubled back to go a slightly longer way.
Once more below the fog.
The last bit was piney.
It never actually rained, despite those black clouds.
On the walk back down the road I took this little shortcut through a tunnel into Dazaifu shrine.
Here is the main shrine. Enjoy. They built a plastic cover and planted trees on it. Very weird.
The grounds are still quite nice.
There were a lot of people playing dress up having their photos taken here, so I photo bombed them by standing here to take my photo.
Then it was just a short walk down the gift shop street back to Dazaifu station, and the last hike of this trip was over.
Canal City Hakata
It is properly raining now, so lower your expectations for exciting photos of the night life.
Since I have no more hikes to do and am leaving the country tomorrow morning, bring on the rain.
Because of the rain, I did an almost entirely undercover evening, first along the surprisingly long Kawabata Shopping Arcade (Shotengai) which seems to go to a new place that might have not been here the last time I was here (Hakata River Rain Mall by Takashimaya).
Then I did an about face, back up the Shotengai, and arrived at Canal City (home of the ramen stadium) just in time for the fountain light and music extravaganza.
An overpass, great for rain photos.
The overpass connects to a conveniently placed shrine, with undercover bits.
I stepped out into the rain to take a photo of their giant demonic collage.
Tonight's canal shot was extra gloomy.
Here is the River Rain Mall by Takashimaya, I believe it is also an art gallery. Some say it opened in 1999, but I also think it maybe reopened in 2021, which makes sense because I was last in Fukuoka in 2018 and I don't recall it being here.
Here is the inside of Kawabata shotengai, longer and busier than I remember, quite a few restaurants.
Now for a couple of shots of Canal City. The fountain show was going on but I had the upper level view point to myself.
There were quite a lot of people watching, down at canal level.
And for my last dinner in Japan... a boring eggplant doria. Almost all places in Canal City had big lines, Ramen stadium (which is just a food court with about 10 ramen restaurants) was way too busy. The doria (burnt cheese on rice) was nice enough, fairly small serve.
Tomorrow I fly direct from Fukuoka to Singapore. Fukuoka airport is walking distance from the city centre, but there is also a subway train that goes 1 stop to the airport. It is a 6 hour flight. Then I have 4 nights in Singapore.