Alika & Mindy

Friday, May 24, 2014
Ilikai Hotel
Kakaako Park
Fort Street Mall/Plaza Club

Do you remember Chris and Carolyn's wedding a few years ago?  Well his younger brother Alika got married yesterday and his mom Adleen asked me if I was free to take a few pics.  I convinced Jalna to take herself out of wedding retirement and to help me out.  Thank god she did...I would've been a mess without her!!  Besides the weather being extremely muggy, it was a fun day, and everyone's hair and makeup held up for the most part.  Sorry about the long post, it was a looooong day.

The family watching all the action

I'm home!!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

We did quite a bit of shopping up in Japan.  I actually think I bought more when I went with Jalna...can you believe that??

Thanks sooooo much to my cousin Susie....she got us some cheap airline tickets!   You da bestest!!

This is only my stash.  Randy has his own!

Here are some really good finds...

Ume from Yufuin.  Good thing had samples cause I probably wouldn't have bought this.  It was DELICIOUS.

Ume Pretz!  These were really hard to find.  I first found them in a supermarket in Yufuin and there were only 2 left.  I bought them both.  I then found it in another supermarket in Hakata Station (after looking in EVERY store that I passed) and there were only 3 left there too....yup.  Bought all 3.

Ramen Pretz

I could only find this at one store at Hakata Station

We found cool tea bag style coffee near Tenjin Station (3 stops away from Hakata).  They also have an origami style drip coffee, you open up the filter and these little paper arms are attached to it where you rest it on your coffee cup.  Pour the water in the filter and you have instant drip coffee!  I bought these for the guys at work cause it's easier to use than the drip one.  We don't need people pouring hot water into coffee mugs.  They'll prolly burn themselves!

Yummmm...these chocolate marshmallows were from Hakata Station (we lucked out, the station had some great finds!)  A little pricey, 350¥ for 5 marshmallows, but sooooooo worth it

I forgot where I bought this but it's a spicy nori paste that you can put on rice, pasta, etc...

And of course...Mentaiko pretz!

Comin home...

Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Fukuoka

We had a lot of time to kill before our 9:00 flight on Wednesday night.  Check out was at 11:00 so we had to figure out what we were gonna do to pass the time.  Since it was 11:00 all the ramen shops at Hakata Station were open!

We saw this place the other night and decided to give it a try.

We both got a ramen set, Randy got the mentaiko rice and I got the gyoza

It was pretty good...but I liked last night's ramen better

I guess this place was popular cause this was the line when we got out

This is where we ate last night.  Randy's noodles were really good but I liked my broth better

I took a picture of mines too but I messed up the exposure cause I wasn't paying attention >:(

They're all vending machine restaurants around here I think

Yup, he was still hungry so we went to a little coffee shop and got mentaiko pasta.  Cute yah?  She brought a little bowl on the side for me too

We needed to digest our food and since it was still early we hopped on the subway and went to the park to hang out.  We were supposed to go yesterday but the rain killed that idea

It was really pretty

kawaiii!

I think this little guy was lost...he was about 100 yards from the water.  I wanted to take him back but Randy wouldn't let me

Isn't this a cute name for a shopping mall?

Mentaiko, mentaiko, everywhere!  Yup.  Everywhere you turn it's mentaiko this, mentaiko that.  It's crazy!

even stuffed animals and socks!

Kumamon is everywhere too.  I guess he's their official mascot

I'll show you all of my stash tomorrow...boy, there was a lot that I bought!!

Our last day sucked!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Fukuoka

This was our last full day in Fukuoka and it was raining cats and dogs alllllll day.  All we did was get lost, walk in the rain, shop, get lost, walk in the rain, shop....i'm exhausted!  We leave tomorrow night so I won't have anything to blog tomorrow.  See ya when I get back!

Onsen Time!

Monday, May 19, 2014
Yufuin

Finally!  I can get my soak on...our original plans were to go to Beppu, soak in the onsen, then go see some monkeys but I was reading a post somewhere that we should go to Yufuin instead.  I looked up some pictures and I was ready to go!  Yufuin is about a 2 hour train ride from Hakata.  You should make your reservations early for the train ride, when I went this morning Randy and I had to sit in two separate cars because it was all sold out.  Our train was leaving at 9:24 and the next two trains were completely sold out.  So we had to ride alone on the way over.  We bought our return tickets right away for the 5:07 train (which was perfect timing by the way, just enough time to enjoy everything without rushing) and we were able to sit together.

From the moment we got off the train I knew I was gonna like this town.  It was beautiful!  A quaint little place surrounded by green lush mountains...

Streams along the way...

The main part of town is very walkable but most of the onsens are up the hill so you're gonna have to catch a taxi

With such a short time to research the area I found it hard to find a place that had private baths open to the public.  Most of them I read were for the guests of the hotels.  But luckily I found this one:  Shoyanoyakata.  A private (family) bath costs 3000¥ per person for one hour, and you can buy a towel for 100¥.  The cab ride cost us 880¥.

It was perfect. It even came with a little shower with soap so you can wash off before and after your bath.

 After our bath we were gonna walk around the property, it was really pretty.  But a taxi pulled up to drop off more guests so we grabbed the cab instead.  We had him take us to Lake Kinrinko.  It wasn't much of a lake, more like a big pond.

 

A big pond with some big ass ducks!

 

On the way back to the station I noticed that there was a snoopy restaurant!!  Soooo cute!  I wanted to eat there but there's no way Randy would've...

It was a pretty hot day so I stopped for an ice cream cone.  I guess I didn't understand what the guy was asking me, maybe if I wanted a kid's cone?  I almost died laughing when he handed me this.  It was about half the size of a McDonald's cone!

Don't ask.

And in case you're wondering, yes.  He does eat.  A LOT.

 I saw this train when we walked past the station.  Cute yah?

The hot springs are so abundant that there's fountains all over town

I saw this online and was looking all over for it.  Can you guess what it is?

Ohmygawwwwwd.  It was HOT!  I could only last 5-10 secs at a time.  Pretty neat though.  In case you're looking for it, go to the big store on the right once you get out of the station.  Go past the bakery into the courtyard and you'll find it back there.

Yes.  It was that hot.

Sayooonara Yufuin!  Hope to visit again someday...maybe I'll spend the night next time :)

That little container is cheesecake.  It was very good.  Almost like Zanze's in San Francisco

Beware of the fox when getting off the train!

This was one of the prettier commutes.  I still fell asleep but at least I got to see some of it!

Back to Hakata

Not sure what's in store for us tomorrow, it's our last full day here.  You're just gonna have to come back and see! :)  G'night!

 

Kumamoto for the day...

Sunday, May 18, 2014
Kumamoto

So we're off to Kumamoto...it's only a little over a half hour train ride from Hakata if you take the Shinkansen.  The rail pass covers it, so, yay!  We get to ride in comfort!  I slept most of the way.  So what else is new?

I didn't really plan to come here today so we went straight to the the visitor information booth.  Since we had to take the tram to Kumamoto Castle anyways, the girl at the desk recommended that we get the day bus/tram pass for 500¥ and it also gives you a discount to certain attractions.  We got 100¥ off at the Castle!  Normally it's 500¥ to get in.

When you walk out of the station the tram stop is just a few feet away

 

Cute yah, my water bottle!

Don't worry about missing your stop, they'll announce it in English that you've arrived at the castle.  Take a short walk up to the entrance...it's a pretty view!

I was watching these Chinese tourists doing the jumping thing...they failed terribly...

I was wondering where all my pics went from today then I remembered that we used Randy's camera for most of the time.  And crap.  His phone took some nice pics!

Not far from the castle we noticed that there was some kind of festival going on.  There was beer and food so we were there!  Of course the beer table was his first stop...

I tasted so many samples I didn't have to eat lunch!  Oh and by the way, if you're planning on gong to one of the arcades on a Sunday then don't even bother.  It was  practically dead!

Since we had the city pass we hopped back on the tram and headed for Suizenji Park.  It was a bit far, maybe a dozen stops or so, so I took a little nap :)

This place was really pretty

He was trying to get the koi to suck  on his finger.  Gross.

This was hilarious.  We jumped back on the tram to go back to the station so Randy sat by the two little girls.  You shoulda seen them jump and squish themselves as far away from him as possible! I was cracking up!

Dinner for tonight!

Off to a much needed soak in the onsen tomorrow.  I hope everything goes smoothly!