Blogs from Fukuoka, Japan, Asia - page 2

The alarm rings at 8:00AM for us and we quickly packed to head out to the Osaka Castle. Before going to the castle, we stopped by and ate at Japan's most famous burger chain called most Burger. See photos on how different the portion is vs. the USA. The Osaka Castle sits on top of the main city of Osaka, and has 3 moats. I don't know why it has 3 separate moats, but just imagine storming the castle and climbing the walls, only to find out there are two more moats to cross over. The castle itself has some great restoration work done on it. The place was packed with tourists and the castle itself originated from the 16th century. After getting a few photos of the castle, we sat down and then this happened... ... read more

Friday, 23rd October 2015 Following my 3 nights excursion in Kagoshima with a brief stopover at Kumamoto, I was back at Hakata this afternoon. It was the same JR Station that greeted me when I arrived at 2pm - choke full of people, suffocating at times and yet full of energy and convenience as I made my way to my hotel. Hakata Green Hotel was where I was going to stay following the not-so-inspiring stay at Hotel Nikko a couple of days ago. This was a good hotel with newly refurbished rooms and a very welcoming lobby and staffs. I was given a room on the highest possible floor which commanded a nice view of the city through the somewhat smallish windows. I was going out again, making full use of my Kyushu Railway Pass for ... read more

Monday, 19th October 2015 Day two of my Japan trip. I decided to get out Fukuoka and visit the Kitakyushu district this morning. This was made convenient with my handy Kyushu Rail Pass. My express train ride from Hakata to Kokura was rather smooth as it passed through most of the minor stations along the way. Alighting at Kokura station some 40 minutes later, I continued my journey to Mojiko Retro Town where the Kyushu Railway Museum was located. This was about 15 minutes of local train ride from Kokura. As soon as I got off from my train, I was greeted by a retro station building. Some upgrading works were on-going and the façade was concealed by the hoardings. There were signs pointing to the Railway Museum. I stood outside for a while and gathered ... read more

Saturday, 17th October 2015 This is my first time taking a Singapore Airlines flight from Changi Terminal 3. And this would also be the longest duration for me on a SQ flight. My flight time to Fukuoka (Hakata) would take about 6 hours and 30 minutes. Checking in on a late Saturday night for my red-eye flight is not something I thoroughly enjoy given that I'm a relatively light sleeper. However, since the SIN-FUK route operates on this ungodly timing, there was not much of a choice as far as direct flight goes. Hopefully, by the time my flight touch down in Japan at 8.35am the following morning, I would not be too exhausted from the whole journey. I was lucky to be seated along the emergency row with a wide leg room. Breakfast was served ... read more

And so, after some two plus weeks, it was time to bid farewell to wonderful Korea, and say hello to enigmatic Japan, as I took the overnight Camellia passenger ferry from Busan to Fukuoka. Long ferry trips always cause some apprehension in my mind, given my past less-than-pleasant experiences in the likes of Myanmar and Indonesia, but I was of course fairly confident that this would be a much more comfortable trip. And how so! Despite purchasing the cheapest available 2nd class ticket, which pretty much entitled me to just a mattress in a room, the ferry ride was as pleasant as I could have conceivably hoped for, and I arrived in Fukuoka satisfied and hoping it's a sign of good things to come. Fukuoka is considered a relatively large Japanese city, and certainly the largest ... read more