Heiwadai Hotel Kyujomae Fukuoka

... The next morning I wandered the side streets and lanes, and found myself at Yusida Shrine, welcomed by a Nandi on the left (later learned there is also a sacred cow/patron god in Shinto)

Then to the blast of the main streets, and ticket on to Yufuin. (I fly out of FUK, so will explore more of the city when I return).

... like? I have no friggin' idea. I've been trying to research it on the internet but have come up with very little as to what kind of life we'll be living there. Which is one of the reasons I've decided to revive the travel blog and maybe somewhere down the line, someone else is moving to Salalah and will actually have some idea of what it's like before they get there. Here's hoping it's good!

-M

... telephone. Ten years ago this was hi-tech, state of the art stuff.

Built one year later, TMSUK-04 is a humanoid super-remote-controlled robot with a head, arms, and tracks. She sorta reminded me of Dot Matrix from the movie Spaceballs, but without legs.

I checked out some other display robots, including BANRYU, and Wall-E, then finally actually went inside the "square"...

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ROBOSQUARE FACILITY:

A group of young Japanese women were excitedly ...

... will have to wait for my next trip!

What better way to finish off my retro day than to stay at the Comfort Hotel in Hakata. The carpet in the rooms has a pattern that could be Polynesian art, a Rohrshoch ((?)) test, or an artifact from a well-preserved 1950's American living room. It's located across the street from the Hakata railroad station. Compared to the other hotels where I've stayed in Japan, this ...

... to try, but even after eating we knew it was fish but that was as far as it went!! One of the Japanese eating at the stall offered us some of his gyoza (little parcels of chicken) and we enjoyed it so much that we ordered some of our own - we weren't expecting about 10!!! Absolutely stuffed and it ended up being the most expensive meal in Japan, ironic as it was a street stall, but the ...

... marchar para Hiroshima.

Isla de Miyajima
El hostal estaba en Mijayimaguchi - la entrada a la isla templo.
Mija: templo.
Yima: isla
Guchi: entrada
Teniamos que coger el ferry a la isla. El hostal esta convenientemente situado junto a la terminal. La hora de marea alta, cuando el torii esta flotando en el mar era a las dos de la tarde y la marea baja a las ocho. Cuando llegamos era hora de marea alta, asi que nos hicimos las correspondientes fotos ...

... coming down the path now. Anyway, I continued and reached the crater rim at 13h50, after 3½ hours of almost continuous climbing. I was completely soaked by the rain yesterday and also very cold. Because of the rain and clouds there was nothing to see at the top. I rested a bit in a restaurant and could barely move my fingers to unwrap some bread out of plastic. I decided to go down as quickly as possible. Going down I felt my knees hurting, but figured I would still feel ...

... had quite a chat about Canadian vs Japanese vs. Korean culture and it was very interesting. I suppose it was so interesting that, just when we were about to leave, he persuaded us to stay for free drinks of our choice. Ahh just when you think it couldn't get any better eh? So that was pretty much it for that night... the next day was a near disaster though. First of all, I spent all my Yen the night before and had to visit a bank to buy some more. Then, when I made it to the ...

... people doing Tai Chi. People seemed to be having a good time. I always like going to parks in other countries. They're beautiful and they always seem to evoke good feelings. After a time we came to a garden with an admissions fee. It looked like a neat place to go, so we paid the small amount of money and wandered around inside for awhile. It was very nice, though it quickly became clear that the setting was catered towards romantic dates rather than tourists. As we circled a small pond ...

... they may be fined up to Y 20000. But inside certain bars and restaurants in this area, smoking is allowed. The area has three main department stores called Mitsukoshi, Iwataya and Daimyo. On top of that there are many restaurants, bars and a variety of shops. I will be telling about these shops in the future, but would like to concentrate only one the Mitsukoshi and Iwataya for now, which are the two ...