Day 6 - Kyoto to Hakata (Fukuoka)

Today was another travel day. We had to leave Kyoto to go to Fukuoka, where we will stay for the rest of our trip. We took another bullet train (Shinkansen) today. This time we actually had to transfer from one train to another. The first train took us to Shin Osaka and it only took about 25 minutes and then the next train took about 2 1/2 hours. Who can guess what I did on the long journey?

 Our train coming into the station.

 The people getting off the train.

 Here comes our next train to Hakata station.

 We arrived at the Hakata station in Fukuoka and went to check into our hotel but we were too early so we went to wander around the area. In the train station, there are 10 floors. The top 2 floors are filled with little restaurants, serving a huge variety of different types of food. On the bottom 8 floors, it is filled with small shops and big department stores.

 These people were taking a class to learn how to make their own ukulele. It only cost 1000 Yen!

 This girl was finger painting on a canvas bag. This looked like fun too!

 In the busy train station.

Just outside of the station they were having a rose sale. There were many roses and other plants for sale. A few people were selling crafts as well.

Roses for sale

They were having an auction to sell some of the rose plants.

Beautiful rose!

Later in the day we decided to try the subway system in Hakata. It turns out that it is a lot less complicated than the subway in Tokyo! There are only 3 or 4 lines. We had read about an area that was recommended for tourists so we bought a day pass and hopped on the subway. It turns out that we only had to go 2 stops and then, once we got there and walked around a bit, we discovered that we were only one kilometer away from our hotel so we didn't need to use the day pass after all! We had a beautiful walk along the Hakata-gawa, which means Hakata River. Who knows who to say river in another language?

The floral shop in Hakata was selling a bouquet of a dozen teddy bears and roses.

Another teddy bear bouquet.

Night views of Hakata-gawa, which means Hakata River

Another view of Hakata.

Don forgot his baseball hat so he was thinking of this as an alternative.

A modern neoprene rice field hat (or sugegasa). How many different languages can you find for the word hat? Send me your answers!!

We found a huge shopping centre called Canal City Hakata. This was the view from across one part of the centre..

The Japan Rail train station at Hakata. It is about a 6-7 minute walk to our hotel.

Don enjoyed the Okonomiyaki that we had last night so much that we found another restaurant right beside the train station. The Okonomiyaki are also known as Japanese pancakes. They are delicious and made from flour, water and cabbage. We were sitting at a counter right in front of the grill where this chef was cooking them. He would start with a layer of the cabbage, flour and water mixture, then he would add an egg, or seafood, or cheese. Then another layer of cabbage mixture and cook for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Finally, he added some Okonomiyama sauce, which is a sweet thick soya type sauce and cut it into pieces and put it on a plate! Don and I shared one, along with some chicken stir-fry and some fried rice and the whole meal cost about $17. I think we will be going back!