Kyushu #3: Fukuoka and Dazaifu Shrine

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11th Feb: Well I didn't have the greatest night's sleep. The room was pretty cold, even with the thick bedding and having the heat on all night. Get me back to Korea, with its (genius) underfloor heating. We went along to the breakfast room to have our breakfast. it was beautifully presented like yestersay's. I don't know sausages and scrambled eggs were part of a traditional Japanese breakfast, but the tofu, fish, rice, and miso soup were. The breakfast was good. We took a last few photos of the ryokan. After checking out, we were back on the bus.

It was a short drive to Dazaifu Shrine. We parked up in the car park and it was a 5 minute walk up a street lined with shops to the shrine. Me and Mel made a mental note of the shops we wanted to visit on the way back so we could spend some of our yen. When we reached the top of the street the shrine was off to our left.

Dazaifu Shrine is a Shinto Shrine and is built over the grave of Sugawara no Michizane. It is one of the main shrines dedicated to Tenjin (Tenjin is Michizane, in his deified fom, yes I don't understand either). It was founded in 905. When we entered the shrine area, we crossed over a cute bridge and there was a gorgeous pond next to it. I must of taken millions of photos. Then it happened I spotted another fella in a white tracksuit with a handbag type thing, so I stalked him for a bit trying to sneakily take his photo. The grounds of the shrine were gorgeous. We stopped at a little kiosk and I bought what I think is a good luck hanging charm thing, like the ones we had seen at the temple the night before in Fukuoka. It now has pride of place on top of my fridge.

We walked over to watch the prayes going on but we couldn't really get that close as loads of people were watching and joining in, I did feel like I was intruding a bit by taking photos. The religious scholars reminded me of being at the Cao Dai temple near Saigon in Vietnam. Also Melissa and Daphne did this really cool thing, where you buy a wish (we think) written on pink paper and then tie it to a fence type thing. We tried to get someone to translate one of the wishes, but no one spoke English, bugger! I would of got one too, but I didn't have any change left in my purse. The cherry blossoms were also out, which is amazing. It's February and still well below zero back in Korea, but it felt like a nice spring day here in Japan.

After the shrine we took a walk in the opposite direction to the shrine as there was meant to be some gardens there. Well we didn't really find any gardens, but there was some pretty building and their small grounds to walk around. Then it was time to hit the shops. Time to spend the rest of our yen. Melissa and I did go quite mad and I ended up with some random Japanese sweets (for work) and some cake thingies, which weren't as good as I thought they would be. I alos bought an expensive Hello Kitty doll, well I was in Japan, I love Hello Kitty, and it was dressed in a cute kimono. Honestly, you would think I was a child not a fully grown woman.

Then it was back onto the bus to head back to Fukuoka city for lunch. We went to the train station and ate there, or near there, we wandered a bit and I had no clue where we went. We split into two groups those who wanted shabu shabu and thoes who wanted conveyor belt sushi. I had to have sushi, as I'm still mad with myself for going to Tokyo last May and not eating sushi, when I was there. There was about a 15-20 minute wait for space, so we used that time wisely and headed to the 105 yen store that we had spied nearby in the department store. I bought mainly sweeties, cookies and cream Pocky sticks are delicious, I still have to try the coconut M&Ms.

When we got back to the restuarant our spaces by the conveyor belt were ready. I was sooo excited. We got sat down and got tucked in. I had some gorgeous minced tuna sushi. As well as the conveyor belt going round we each had our own touch screen computer above our heads where we could browse the menu and order stuff to be made. After having about four dishes off the conveyor belt I decided to order some of the chef's reccomendations. Salmon cooked in garlic butter and shrimps cooked in garlic butter, mmmm, they were delicious. I also had some smoked chicken sushi, that was okay, but a few too many onions and a bit too much mayonnaise. The best thing about ordering sushi and having it made for you, was the way it was delivered to your seat. A little yellow train would shoot out of the kitchen and stop right infront of where you were sitting. Amazing! And then when you took the food off you pressed a button on the side of the counter and the train sped back to the kitchen. I was very proud of myself as I managed to eat 10 plates of sushi. I did feel a bit sick after, well more like there was a big rock of rice in my stomach.

It was a quick drive after lunch to reach the ferry terminal. We spent a bit of time waiting aorund and getting our photos taken in this special photo booth, that was meant to email them to you. Well I and none of the others got them. Grr! We went through immigration and customs quickly and panlessly and before we knew it, we were back on the dream boat. The same bloke that bowed at us when we arrived, bowed us off, too. I wonder if he gets sick of his job.

After settling down on the boat and filling our customs cards in for Korea it was time for a sleep. So happy! I'm such a crap sleeper in general, and the rocking motion of the boat works wonders for me. I had about a two hour nap and then watched some crappy Korean talent show. We arrived in Busan not long after five o'clock. Arrivals at immigration was crap as there was only one foreigner desk at the terminal. It took ages. Then we had to wait around for a bit before we got on the bus back to Seoul. The bus journey wasn't bad and was qucker than anticipated, as the Seolnal traffic wasn't too bad. And I made it home for midnight. Perfect!

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