Ark Hotel Hakata Royal 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 ...

... it's suffered from decline from its glory days as a cruise ship port, and there has been a major investment in public improvements. It probably needs a few factory outlet stores to fill up some of the remaining vacant old buildings. But even as-is, this is a community that deserves a visit! <br><br>I did not have time to visit Cha Cha Town, a shopping center in Kokura, another community that's part of Kitakyushu ...

... get off the train by looking at your watch rather than the station signs! Last week, when a typhoon hit, there were unavaoidable weather delays--my train was 35 minutes late. That would be just a normal day for most U.S. train systems. This was a typhoon that was the main story on the tv news! <br><br>And nobody takes cell phone calls while in their seats. If you get a cell phone call, or need to make one, you head for the area between ...

... the other stuff was!! But glad we did as it was the best noodle soup we have had all trip. Then we decided to be brave and order some other little bits - Rob ordered some chicken skewers, which although this is what it was, we had no idea what part of the chicken it was from as it was hard and crunchy!!!! Lesley then pointed at a few things that could not be identified but thought it might be ...

... eingepackt. <br><br>Was ich noch vergessen habe zu erwähnen, wir haben hier den besten maguru (thunfisch) unseres lebens gegessen. Zugegeben es war nicht billig und eigentlich war es nicht der hauptgang sondern nur das Gedeck (das man hier auch zahlt wie in Italien, nur kriegt man hier noch ne kleine Vorspeise diese bestand eben aus besagten Maguru der eingelegt oder so war und etwas ...

... and visited a very beautiful shrine in nearby Dazaifu. I wasn`t happy to see a man with a performing monkey in pink silk pyjamas there though. I then went to the Fukuoka tower and got some amazing views of the coast and the city. My throbbing head got the better of me and I had to head back to the hostel again. If I get chance to pop back here on my way back from Nagasaki, I may well do because it seemed really nice.

... all, so we weren't likely to balk at a trip to Kyoto, not for the sake of ¥53,000 (printing it in Japanese yen doesn't hurt as much as &euro;330 or CND$480). As I said in a previous entry, Meg was on a mission to see Geisha, those traditional, white-faced, doll-looking Japanese hostesses'/entertainers (Geisha means 'artist'), and even she knew the chances of seeing them on the streets of Fukuoka were slim to none. Sumo wrestlers yes ...

... I found rather weird was the amount of people drinking alcohol! The people behind us polished off a bottle of red wine and I saw someone getting a pint of lager. This is at 7:30am! The people behind also ordered a meal and didn`t touch it at all, perhaps it was the wine..... Went back to the hotel and collected our bags before heading to the station for the 9:36 Shinkansen to Okeyama. Got lost at Ueno trying to figure out which subway to take to get to Tokyo station and ended up missing ...

... tree from Portugal. It was so named because it was at this location that the Portuguese first set foot in Japan, so I understood. It might also be a tree from Portugal. It was supposed to look like an "oribe" or olive tree. In the castle grounds there was also a "momiji" tree, or maple tree. The momiji tree change colours in later fall, and the Japanese are proud of this event as they are proud of the cherry blossoms in Spring.