We spent the morning getting to Mt. Misen on Miyajima. We took a ropeway up and I could head monkeys. Unfortunately, I didn't see any monkeys and we had to leave to check out. We got the ferry back to Miyajimaguchi and then realised we could use our JR Rail Passes to take the JR line back into Hiroshima. On the way to Miyajima, we were a bit dense and used the crowded tram for an hour.
We were only changing at Hiroshima as we were heading to Fukuoka, so we Shinkansened our way down there pretty speedily.
At first, I didnt much like Fukuoka. Its pretty much the same as all the other cities, as soon as you get off they all look the same - long busy crossings and rows of convenience shops. However, our guest house was nice but for some reason the floor was slightly vibrating. I don't think the water in the flask stayed still our entire stay, kinda like in Jurassic Park. We decided to venture out to see some sights of Fukoka. We were in the main sightseeing part. Funnily enough, we never made it to any sights. Fukoka is very confusing. Well actually, Japan is very confusing. We finally found the building the art museum was set in, or rather the collection of 3 20-floor buildings it could be in. After about 40 minutes of wandering around the complex, we found it. Closed Wednedays. So we went back to find the folk museum which was meant to be part of a mini old-fashioned town next to our guesthouse. We went down every street in the block, no sign of an old fashioned town. I was starting to get a little annoyed. We decided we should go back for a rest and decide on the next location.
I fell asleep a little and then it became nighttime. Thankfully, Fukuoka really came alive at night. All the scaffholding was hidden amongst the neon signs and we decided to head to Canal City for sightseeing and dinner. Canal City was amazing. I stopped off at HMV to see the J-music they were selling. I found quite a few things I wanted but decided I should do my impulse-buying during the second trip in Tokyo so I didnt have to lug a rucksack full of CDs around Japan for the next 6 weeks. Im very much eyeing up an M-Flo live tour DVD though...
After HMV we gradually headed up the floors to Sega World where I had a go on the Taiko Drumming game. It was good fun. We then headed to the ramen stadium, a floor of ramen shops that were apparently all different but they all seemed the same to me. We ventured up to a Ramen electronic-ordering machine, it was pretty easy to use and the pictures helped. I liked my ramen a lot, it was really salty which I like. However it had fish in so Ed didnt like it so much. I think Ed is beyond saving now, he will just have to stomach some fish on occasion. When we were walking out, they announced the fountain show was beginning so we rushed to the balcony and watched. I had never seen one before, it was fun!
Liking Fukuoka now, we went back to the guesthouse. Our room was huge but the vibrating floor, noisy downstairs and the crap pillows (what is it with pillows filled with beans here...something soft would be nice?), I didnt sleep so well. But all in all, Fukuoka is fantastic....but only at night.
