Udon for lunch, and my eco friendly chopsticks

Today, I went out with M and YT to Halata station. YT wanted to find the Gintama series at the BOOK OFF next to the station.

We got there and had to walk a lot before reaching the store. THere were already a lot of people standing-reading. Tachiyomi (literally stand read) is when you go into a shop selling books and start reading it from the cover to the back without the shop attendant breathing down your neck.

It’s cool that they’re not afraid of people messing up their books or things like that. But it’s annoying when the book rack that you want to read already has a batallion of salarymen reading the shonen manga (teenage boy comic) that you want to read.

Of course, in other countries, there are standing-reading, but then Japan’s the only place you see a row of people reading at the book rack.

Then we went to the Hakata station building. M went off to buy food souvenirs while YT and I went to the DAISO and the bookstore there. She bought a magazine. And at Daiso, we shopped like mad.

Then we took a 100 yen bus to Canal City. And YT brought me to the JUMP Shop.

What a nice place. But of course, the one in Tokyo’s much bigger.

I got an USOPP at the egg machine.

What parents dress their kids like this???!

Then we visited the ramen stadium, which is just a tiny space with lots of ramen stalls. I called back to say that I won’t be having dinner.

We decided to eat at a roadside stall — the famous Fukuoka yatai. I remembered reading that they have the most concentrated yatai at Nakasu-Kawabata.

We were quite near there so we walked. We passed the yamakasa temple. The souvenir shop was closed.

When we got to Nakasu-Kawabata, there was one lonely yatai. The price was crazy. And since it was still a bit too early for dinner, we could afford to look. We decided to go to Tenjin coz there confirm got yatai. (wow, my hybrid English)

Then we walked a long long way before taking the bus. I’m Girl on a Budget, you know!

We passed a pachinko. Never been in one, coz it’s freaking loud even from the outside. We waited at the bus stop and saw heavily made up ladies walking into lanes. Hostesses???

Found a book on Hosts at Nakasu-Kawabata. Super eww

WHen we got to Tenjin, we found a nice looking yatai and sat there.

N told me that no girl would eat at yatai alone, good thing YT was with me, or I would never get to eat at a yatai.

Ramen was at 500 yen. Not the cheapest meal in Japan. But we’re paying for the experience.

Then we decided to go to youme town because YT needed shoes. We stopped one stop earlier so we won’t be charge extra for just that stop. Ha ha

I love UNIQLO, bring it to Singapore!!!

YT bought a KFC slurpee. ha ha

Caught a bus back just in time. :D

Went to 007 with YT, C and Z.

Finally bought Ouran comics

10 ouran comics at 2,300 yen. pleased

Lunch

Someone’s lunch

cute board at train station

Got a ticket for Aug 9. Leaving Fukuoka at 9:39am and arriving in Himeji at 11.54am.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeji_Castle

http://weblog.xanga.com/YQtravelling/667937885/friday-july-25-2008-folk-museum.html

 http://weblog.xanga.com/YQtravelling/667939695/july-27-sunday–lavendar-bus-tour.html

blue berry farm

Peach farm

cute boy with bug (and girlfriend)

beer can!

Lunch

Souvenirs

sunny!

http://weblog.xanga.com/YQtravelling/667938443/july-26-saturday-omatsuri.html

thanks to Moe and Sakiko with yukata wearing

Super fantastic Japanese drugstores

went with Wawa around the city using the 1,000 pair all-we-can-ride bus pass

Got my reflective JR pass. all i can ride!

 Fireworks during summer is a custom for the Japanese. It’s a time to dress up in your yukata and sit on the ground, making your behind ache

train station

Lunch

Ho-chan the cuter cat also in pic

Meri at background

another make-your-own-meal party at Sakiko’s place

return tickets to school and home

coffee flavoured!

Hot cakes with butter (from a tube!) and syrup

*it’s been a week since I’ve updated the blog. so looong. so lazy*

Woke up at 6am because slept at 11pm last night. French toast for breakfast with vitagen flavoured yogurt.

There was no language class today as we’re having our Japanese culture trip in the afternoon. There was pop culture class though, but it starts at 10.30am. Went to the school lib to update my blog and to bid for modules.

Today’s pop culture class is our mid-term exam. THe prof said he only gives A’s or B’s, so it didn’t mattered how well you write (according to me, anyway).

We watched a short film called <Yasashisa no kuni>. Sypnosis:

I wrote something really crappy. I’m a bit worried for my last year in university if my writing is this terrible.

FInished early and went for lunch. Had soba instead of udon for lunch. I conclude that udon is tastier as noodles for a soup dish.

After lunch, everyone waited at the international student centre for the culture trip. We talked about howw our host families are very eager hosts and sometimes read a bit too much from what we say.

For M, she accidentally said, “Oh, my friend went to a waterfall.” And she realised they were looking over maps and saying, “waterfall… waterfall…” Oh no!

My example would be when I said, “How I wish to see a field of lavendar.” after seeing some lavendar plant while walking the dogs. I expect okaasan to say, “That would be lovely.” but  okaasan went silent for the rest of the journey. Is she thinking abuot Hokkaido??! I didn’t mean that seriously!!! IN the end she found a day trip to a lavendar field. Thanks!

Be careful of what you say!

Then around 1pm, we went on our bus and off to Dazaifu.

HY had this cool thing to use as tripod, one end goes to your camera, the other to be screwed onto a bottle

A quick history of Dazaifu. It used to be the centre of government for the Kyushu region during the Nara and Heian period. Around year 1000, if I’m not wrong. And as it’s closest to Korea and mainland China, people travel to and from Kyushu to the Asian continent through somewhere there.

ON the bus, HY showed her tripod. The metal is screwed to your camera while the rubber yellow part is fitted over those regular bottle caps. And then you’ll have a water bottle tripod. Super cool!

We reached Dazaifu after about 40 minutes. Our meditation was in an really old temple. Back in the old days, this was one of the three places to go if you want to be “certified” as a monk.

#will continue once I’m in the mood, for the time being, will post only photos

Some very old wooden statues

YT and I half ran to the Kyushu National Museum because we only have less than two hours before it closes. We showed our Kyudai student card and explained that we were foreigners taking classes in Kyudai. The lady at the counter called someone, and I thought she was going to charge us the normal 420 yen, instead of the high school and uni student 130 yen. Oh my money.

But it turns out, we were given free entrance to the museum. And the audio guide thingy was lent free of charge too. I heart Kyushu National Museum.

My current favourite way of taking photos: reflection