March 9th - Fukuoka Japan

Landed and got offloaded to a shuttle bus which took us to the beginning on the walk and queue to and through passport control.

A short line and then a short wait while luggage showed up.    During that time there were three drug sniffing dogs that came by 

and made their rounds.    I guess coming from Thailand I should not be surprised.

Got in a short line for customs (baggage) check and they actually must have "profiled" single guys traveling along coming from Thailand

because I got selected for them to go through my luggage.    Not a problem.    They looked at each of my medications that I travel with

(none of which needed to be declared) and I let them know what each one was for.    The drug dogs were not interested in any of this.

They were friendly and repacked everything nicely.

Got on the curbside shuttle to the domestic terminal and subway station -- long ride (they really put the international terminal way out there!).

Got the subway and bought a ticket from the machine (I still had JPY coins from my inbound, so no trouble there).    About 5 or 6 subway stops later

made it to Tenjin Station and used my iPhone to find Hotel MyStays Tenjin -- only about a 5 minute walk, but it was raining, so a bit damp.

Too early to check in to hotel but they took my bags and stored them (it was now about 10:30am and checkin isn't until around 3pm).   The guy

at the counter loaned me an umbrella and gave me a tourist map which he was nice enough to highlight the location of a really good Unagi (eel)

restaurant for me on.   It was a subway stop back and a little walk, so I headed in that direction and checked things out.

As I got near the location of the restaurant I had to walk over a little "river" bridge.   Good place for a picture:

Much cleaner than the waters of Bangkok, but I still would to want to bath in them!

Anyway, found the place (which was a feat as it was fairly nondescript -- though there was a menu placard out front 

showing the set lunches they were offering.   The place itself was on the 2nd floor, so nothing to "see" other than this

at the street level).

Anyway, went upstairs and ordered a $29 set lunch which came with rice, grilled eel and a whole bento "array" of 

other stuff.   Of course they also provided a constant flow of tea during the whole meal, which I drank of repeatedly.

After this amazing lunch I walked around the area, which has a number of temple grounds and parks, all very beautiful.   Several cherry blossom trees

were also in bloom.   While it had stopped raining it was still much cooler than the rest of south East Asia, so a good day for walking and burning off

some of the huge lunch that I just ate:

As a came to another temple a bit further along my walk I found that the information booth for it was being manned by the "correct" type of guards!

There were 4 of them, and they hopped right up and walked through the little sliding glass window into the booth.   The actual person was outside and

he was nice enough to let me know there names, but none of them wanted to come out play as I did not bring them any fish offerings!

There were several more garden like temple areas -- I will add photos later...

You want a ride, Mister?

Almost time to checkin, but not quite yet.   Found a coffee and dessert place near the hotel.   Some nice coffee and a combo of soft ice cream,

some custard/jello like substance and some fruit.

Went back to hotel and finished checking in.   Luggage was already in the room, so I took a nice hot shower and passed out for a few hours.

Awoke still tired but hungry again.    Went down the lobby and asked where the Yatai stands were.    These are Fukuoka's equivalent of 

hawker stands, but a little different it seems.    Followed the directions (well, actually I got lost and asked someone, so I eventually got to 

the street nearby with stands on it).

Basically these turned out to be tent like structures with wooden sliding doors on many of them.   Inside was a cooking area for the vendor and

seating for 8-12 or so people around the inside of the stall (counter like).    You'd go inside, sit down and order, eat your meal and perhaps 

socialize with the other people.

So I went inside and sat down.   This was still 'early' (6:30pm or so) and there was initially only one other guy in the stand along with the 

"Mom & Pop" running the place.    Later on another two guys showed up, but unfortunately none of them were very talkative to me, so no real

socialization happened.   But still a fun experience.  I ordered the 8 piece set tempura meal -- got 4 pieces of fish (fish & shrimp) and 4 veggies 

(mushroom, taro, green pepper and some type of sweet beans like green beans).   It was quite good, and definitely "hot off the tempura frier").

After this I walked around a few blocks and snapped a few other stands, but one of the problem was that all the stands were really tented up with plastic

(probably because it had rained earlier in the day, but maybe they're always that way).  So it was really difficult telling what any given stand was making.

They seemed to have a lot of "big bowls of soup with seafood in them" stands and several wok-fried stands, a stinky tofu (type of tofu) stand, 

a grilled organ meat stand, etc.  

 Nothing "lept out at me" as something I had to eat after I'd had the 8 pieces of fresh tempura, so I decided that I would

look for a restaurant to eat at for the rest of my dinner.    I found a "sushi conveyor belt" type of place right near my hotel and got in line for that.

Actually, when I walked in there was a machine setup (computer touch screen) that you were supposed to use to select the number in your party and

if you wanted a table or the conveyor-belt-bar.    It would then print out a ticket with a number on it and the screen would let you know the "current number

to be seated".    Fortunately there was a group of American 18-20 year olds right there that saw me and stepped in to help.   Actually, they were interesting 

in that they told me they were with "the circus".   I asked if they meant "like ringling-brothers..." and they said no, that they were actually part of Circ-du-soleil!  

I was impressed.   They said they had just finished a one year Japan gig and were now all heading home (the guy I talked to was from Ohio).    Interesting the people you

meet!

Anyway, my "number" was finally up and I got seated.    Like other places I've been to in Japan there were cups and hot water spigots and a bowl with matcha for tea

along with dishes and soy for seasoning.    The belt had plates which came by and you were free to take any plate you wanted except for the ones on "red" dishes.

These, my American guides told me, were "ordered" food that you only took if you ordered it.   The ordering was done via individual touch screens and when you order

showed up it would "ding" at you to take your plate!   Very high-tech and amusing!!

Here's a video of the world going by along with a few stills--

Well, I'd filled up, so I clicked on the "done ready to pay" button on my screen and a waitress added up my "plates" and confirmed on a portable device that this is what

I ordered.  She handed me a plastic thing with a barcode on it and I took it to the cashier to pay.   The 4 plates of sushi + dessert only came to about 720 JPY, or $6 USD-- wow,

almost as cheap as Thailand!

Walked outside and stopped at one of the infinite number of Japanese "vending machines" to buy some bottled water for 120 JPY ( 99 cents ) so that I'd have it in the room

in case I got thirsty.   Still have some snack food I'd packed in Thailand (cookies, nuts, crackers) in case I get hungry in the middle of the night.

Walked across the street to my hotel, entered this and now ready for more sleep.