Apa Hotel Hakataekimae Fukuoka

... all the stuff we didn't carry in backpacks for the last 8 months so here we are, unpacking and repacking boxes, and shifting our necessary items to suitcases to bring with us to Oman... which is, tomorrow! Yep, our flights have been booked and tomorrow we leave Japan to fly all the way to Muscat, where we're staying for a couple days until we do the short jump to Salalah our new home. <br><br>What is ...

... the little ad said at the bottom of the 'NOW Fukuoka' guide map I picked up in Hiroshima. I inquired at the Information Center upon arriving at the train station in Fukuoka... my LAST stop in Japan; my LAST DAY in Japan!<br><br>"It's open till 6 pm tonight," the assistant informed me.<br><br>I checked the time. It was not even 2 pm yet.<br><br>"I can make it to the hostel, catch a bus, and get there with several hours to spare," I thought to myself excitedly. "I might actually get ...

... end of the line, that is, the Japan Rail Kagoshima Line. From Hakata, it's only about 45 minutes by rail if you do the Hakata to Kokura run by Shinkansen. Between Kokura and Mojiko, there is only one choice, the slow train. Mojiko is located at the Kanmon Strait which separates the island of Kyushu from the island of xx. According to myth, at one time, the two islands were connected, but at a particularly strategic ...

... It's not my style, but I'm glad I got to see it. <br><br>The train trip between Saga and Karatsu was about a hour. There were a lot of students, in school uniforms, on the train, as well as an unusually high number of very elderly passengers. My guess is that this is a sign that this is a declining rural area--with an aging population and not enough school children to justify a school in every town. <br><br>A number of passengers were ...

... and experience was worth it!<br><br>The next day we boarded the Beetle - a high speed Jet Foil Boat which lifts out of the water and skims on ski-like foils. It took less than 3 hours to do 120 miles across the sea to South Korea which is pretty quick. It felt like you were on a place or a train but was even smoother, so no sea sickness, even after having an early morning beer - well, it was free!!

... Pilzen cremig und mit Fleisch das einen Fettrand hatte, aber sehr dünn geschnitten war - ich tippe mal auf Schwein oder Rind - aber nachdem es andi probiert hat und meinte man schmeckt das Fett nicht hab ichs auch probiert und es war echt sehr sehr gut und man konnte kein fett schmecken...) echt lecker sowas. Der Hauptgang war auch sehr lecker aber der maguru bleibt unvergesslich ^_° <br>

... yet another food outlet and eventually giving in and ordering a few snacks, we happened upon the ever-reliable staple of every city in the world - an Irish bar... This was run by a New-Yorker called Mike and covered in paraphenalia from the Emerald Isle. He seemed a nice enough chap and entertained us (in the absence of any other customers) with tales of his time in Japan, before worrying us with demonstrations of his cellar management methods (barrels in a standard room ...

... the corporation(whom you spoke with the day before you flew out) is never going to be seen. the travel plans in asia have to be put on hold cause you can barely afford food. what a start. life after college sucks. you suck it up hoping for the best thinking that a multi-million dollar company cannot fold. the ...

... cultural, and visual distinctions. It was even more interesting to come back to Korea and go through all those emotions and realizations. I like the laid-back, slightly-crazy feeling of Korea. But Japan is equally fabulous for such different reasons. I am going to get this blog caught up through December now, and hopefully all of 2006 will be up shortly!

... items are fished out using a net or hands after each use. But there did not appear to be such a system at this house. At around 7 p.m. two friends of Chihomi came. They were to cook a special dish called Takoyaki. It was octobus baked in some flour batter on a machine that looked like a poached eggs making machine. These balls, once baked, were covered with a number of herbs and some sweet sauce. Some of the balls were also ...