Last night we walked past a restaurant that we heard before we saw it. We decided to get in on some of the fun tonight at Ni-No-Ni on a rainy night in Fukuoka.
We ordered eggplant, green vegetables, pork and garlic shoots and dumplings. Sesame balls with red bean paste and almond tofu with black sesame seeds topped off the meal.
Ohori Koen is host to birds, turtles and large carp in the lake. It’s a great open space incorporating many attractions and old ruin sites. Unfortunately, Fukuoka Art Gallery and the Japanese Garden were closed today, the former due to a large-scale renovation which will be completed in 2019.
Kouroken was once an ancient guesthouse which was only discovered less than forty years ago. They excavated the site and uncovered many artefacts belonging to migrants from Iran who travelled along the old Silk Roads.
There is not much remaining of the old Fukuoka Castle save for some ramparts, which provide a great view of the park and the city.
Kushida Shrine is the centre of much of Fukuoka’s festival activity. Behind the scenes today, preparation for the Hakata Dontaka Festival, which begins in a couple of days, was evident.
Hakata and Fukuoka were once two townships. The Hakata Machiya Folk Museum recreates a piece of Hakata Old Town and has some delightful exhibits including an old Kinetoscope with painted back drops and holograms to beef up the technology.
The Museum has a display of beautiful Hakata dolls which are hand-painted ceramic pieces. Today, a Hakata-ori weaver was on site demonstrating her craft.
We took a stroll out to find something to eat at Fukuoka’s night food stalls (Yatai). It’s not the cheapest food you’ll find here, but the atmosphere is worth the inflated prices.
Half the fun is walking along and making a selection.
We chose our stall based on the fresh asparagus and large mushrooms on display. The asparagus tempura was so delicious we opted for a second serve. We ordered a set grill of squid, fish roe roll, pork and another meat item which was unfamiliar yet tasty, and some grilled mushrooms.
We swapped islands today – from Hokkaido to Kyushu, but not before taking the scenic route to the airport via the town of Mikasa, Lake Katsurazawa and a very large dam created from the Pankemoyuparo River. It was quite a chilly morning as you can see from the third photograph below.
After a two and a half hour flight from Sapporo this afternoon, we are in Fukuoka having successfully paid for our accommodation by inserting our room key followed by a credit card. The airport is within the city boundaries and the subway ride to our hotel was only 3 stops.
There is laundry on the go before we head out for tonight’s meal. Tomorrow is a full day exploring what Fukuoka has to offer.
