Kyushu 2023 - Dazaifu Lunch

After almost an hour of hiking, it was almost lunch time! And we were so hungry. But we weren't sure what was there to eat around here. We walked back to the picnic area, and a path lead us to what seems like a small restaurant. I normally won't eat at touristy places, but I guess we didn't have much choice here. It was still early for normal lunch for the general public, so the places was quite empty. So we decided to go in. 

What a lovely restaurant it was! Empty, but so delicately decorated with unique art. 

It was very traditional inside, the deco, the tools used etc. I just love it!

There were even very traditional looking table and seats and lamp area. Everything just feel so natural, so down to earth. Love the wood and concrete feeling of the whole place.

It was more of a cooked food restaurant, so I decided to order the namba chicken. Above was the whole set, for maybe around 10sgd or so! I would say that was quite a value for money meal in such a nice ambiance! And it was one of the nicest chicken namba I've ever tasted too! After eating here, this because my benchmark for the dish. I usually won't order fried chicken in a Japanese restaurant, but apparently this dish was famous in Kyushu. I was not disappointed at all! We had a lovely slow lunch, and the owner left us to ourselves to enjoy it. 

When we finished, the lunch crowd started to trickle in. Lucky us! I would highly recommend dining here if you ever find yourself in Dazaifu near the Inari Shrine.

Me, signing off with my lovely lunch and beautiful deco of a restaurant. 

I am always happy in a place like this.

:)

Kyushu 2023 - Dazaifu Inari Shrine

 

Exploring Dazaifu was quite a blur for me. It was more of a 'have to do' tourist spot than a 'want to do' tourist spot, hence the frequent distraction along the way of even reaching the main temple. So while heading toward the main temple, we ended up in a small forested area, and the red torii gates in the middle of the forest kinda lead us off path again. (note: see the picnic platform on the left side of the photo? I've always wanted to sit on one and enjoy a meal there. Guess what? I finally did it in 2024 in a temple somewhere in Kyoto! Hopefully that is coming up next after this Kyushu Adventure).

I love these gigantic torii gate. It usually means there is a nice temple up in front. And the red and white flag seems to indicate that it will be a Fox Shrine (Inari Shrine). Inari Shrines are usually on top of a mountain or some high places, and to be honest, I haven't done much research on this place to know how high that hike was gonna be. But it was such a beautiful day, so we decided to follow the red torii gate and see where it lead. 

Here is me at the bottom of the steps before our hike. This photo should give you some perspective of how tall the torri gates are. And deep high inside were more and more red torii gate. 

Here is a different view point. I just love the colour combination here. 

And the red and white flag ran through the whole forest, leading us closer and closer to the temple.

And as expected, there were a lot of stairs involved at the last leg of it. After visiting Kunisaki, these stone steps were a piece of cake for me! Lol. Fun fact, the most famous Inari Shine is probably Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. I hiked it half way once with my husband and friend, and guess what, I managed to climb to the top of it in 2024 when I visited again with my friend! I can't wait to blog more about that trip cause it was just an amazing 2 weeks in Kansai and Hiroshima area!

Finally, we reached the main shrine. For Inari Shrine, the journey is always more fun than the destination. 

Another beautiful concept of Japanaese culture, the fox spirit, messenger of the Gods. 

I am always confused whether fox spirit is good or evil. Cause in Chinese stories, they are always evil or up to mischief. And some Inari in Japan can also looks kinda fierce and scary. Still, I think I would always be fascinated by Inari Shrine. Their red torii running all over mountains or sea caves are always a sight to be amazed by. 

Ending this most with some candid photo of me along the hike. Look at those lovely trees!

Me signing off here.

Kyushu 2023 - Dazaifu and Kyoto Museum

Dazaifu isn't just about temple. There are actually quite a lot of things you can do when you're here. Here is a vague map for your to zoom into. At this moment, we were headed to the right side of the map, where Kyoto Museum is located.  

Again, along the way, beautiful trees! I love gigantic trees!

Did I mentioned the road we were walking on was upslope? And there were even stairs to climb? Basically we came up at the side of the museum, and wow, what a beautiful sight the museum was!

The building looked more organic that structural. And the reflection of the sky and sunlight on it was just modern and stylish. We didn't actually go inside to the museum. I didn't want to spend such a nice day indoor. We did went in to take a look at what was free, and after that made our way down, via escalator (yes there was an escalator going up and down the museum! We didn't have to climb up!), to the more touristy area.

Here is a souvenir shot of us in front of the museum. I just really love the design of the building, that's why I wanted to visit to see it for myself.

At the bottom of the escalator, we found the crowd, but mainly  locals as the first attraction was a local amusement park for kids! It looked really nice from the entrance, but inside was mainly kid's ride. 

Kyushu 2023 - Arriving at Dazaifu and Tea House Snacks

It was getting more and more crowded at Dazaifu main street leading to the temple, and I though it would be wise to get our free snacks first before the crowd get too much for me. We went to the nearest snack shop to redeem our free snack. The shop itself was sooooo pretty!

The free snack was a mochi red bean cake, and you get two per ticket. So we ate one at the start of our trip, and another one before we leave the place. Clumsy me actually dropped mine on the floor when the lady handed it to me. I was shocked, but somehow it was also a deja vu moment. The shop lady kindly gave me a replacement snack for free. And this is why I love Japan!

Found a Miffy shop at the main road too. I love looking inside, but somehow everything is always too expensive for me. I just can't bare to spend that kinda money to buy these cute things.

As the crowded headed to the main temple seems to build up, I didn't really feel like heading there after all. I don't really do well in crowds. So not knowing where to head to, we just decided to head the opposite directly of the crowd. We ended up in a more quiet garden, and living area of the nearby residence. Sneaking a look at their garden, we found oranges on trees! 

The space was also quite empty, with smaller temple here and there. 

But what was super lovely were the old tress found around the place! Almost magical! Lucky for me, it was also a good day for photo taking, with the beautiful sky behind. It was such a lovely spring day!

Here's a photo of me with all the greens and nobody around me! Lol. Love it!

We found a small tea house, and for some reason, I really wanted to try amazake. So we went in, and spend around 7sgd on a tea set each that came with a snack, a pickle, hot amazake which was the most delicious one I've ever drank in Japan, and a cup of clear tea to wash it all down or clean your palate.

For some reason, I really love this tea house experience. It was quite with no one around. The amazake and snack was delicious, and the whole place was just so pretty. The trees outside was green, and the beautiful sun light just shinning in to warm the room. Perfect start for a lovely day, away from all the mad crowd!

After a nice stop, we continue on our walk into the road, lol. Yes the road, that according to my map, leads to Kyoto Museum. Along the way, we saw some Jizo and paid our respect for smooth journey :)

Kyushu 2023 - Train to Dazaifu

 

Morning breakfast at the hotel. Most times when I am travelling, I prefer to have breakfast in the hotel. It's convenient, and I can eat while my travelling companion is spending hours in the toilet :P At Tokyo Stay Hotel, I love the amenities inside the room. Look at that beautiful white kettle! It's something that I would have loved for my own home but I always ended up buying something cheap and functional instead of aesthetic. The hotel actually came with a washing machine inside the room that has a washer and dryer too. It is an amazing place to stay!

Just for scale, this is how big my dorayaki was! I especially bough it because of the size. I wanted to feel like a child again eating such a huge pancake!

After breakfast, we took a walk through the connector of madness again to the more populated town area.

There were some nooks and cranny that looked interesting, but everything was closed as it was still too early when we set out to find the train station. Anyway, long story short, we made our way to the station to buy a combination tickets to Dazaifu, but was told that they don't sell those tickets anymore. We were told to go to another station to purchase the tickets. Luckily for us, we still have our 1 day bus pass, so we quickly made our way to the bigger station to get our tickets.

This is what the ticket looked like. I wanted this ticket because it came with return ride on the train, entrance tickets, as well as free snacks! all for just 1,000 Yen! Which is less than 10sgd at that time.

There is even discount coupon that came with it. It was fun to have! I love these local combination ticket and would always search for them whenever I am travelling by bus or train. Even though we hardly use any of the coupon, we did make use of one to visit the doll museum :)

Anyway, maybe I was still suffering from lack of sleep from previous day, but I found I didn't know how to navigate the train station! Lol. I couldn't read the signs, and I couldn't understand the announcements. But we managed to ask around, and managed to board the correct train. We had to change train along the way, and thank goodness the transit station was a lot more tourist friendly. It has been a while, what with covid and all, since I  was back in Japan. After this trip, luckily my solo trip and the trip with my friend was a lot better.

See! English words! 

The combination ticket was curtesy of Nishitetsu Company that runs the train and buses in Fukuoka area. Love the minty green and orange colour of the train!

Finally, we arrived at Dazaifu station. Problem was, so did every tourist in Fukuoka! -______-

Kyushu 2023 - Fukuoka First Dinner, Supper and Street Art

After walking around Ohori Park, we made our way out of the park to look for a bus home. One of the wonderful thing about travelling on our own is, we can go anywhere we wanted at any time. So while looking for bus stop, we also went to explore some convenient shops and bought some snacks for our supper and breakfast. Taking the bus back also allows us to sight see more of the local area. Night scenes came alive as the sunset, and restaurants and shops lighted up. Fukuoka is actually famous for their mobile hawker cart called Yatai. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to try any during this trip :(   Maybe next time....

For dinner I told my husband I wanted to eat at Sukiya. I always have problem spending too much money when I land in a foreign place. Sukiya was a budget restaurant so I though it would be a safe bet to save money. Plus, I saw while on our way out that they have Unagi rice bowl! Unagi and beef rice bowl for only around 10sgd!

So that was what I ordered. It was a satisfying meal, just kinda too little to filled me up, lol.

So between our hotel and the main road where we took the bus from and where all the local shops are, we have to walk through this weird looking underpass road. It was busy or anything, mainly bicycles commute through it. But it looks kinda weird and frankly rather eerie. It reminded me of Japanese urban ghost story. I am pretty sure I would meet with some weird ghost at midnight if I was walking here alone!

It didn't help that they decorated the walls with paintings to brighten up the place. The painting itself was rather freaky themselves!

Here are more samples. I think I have more as we had to walk through this road the next day as well!

The rice bowl wasn't enough for me, so when I got back and showered, I made myself some supper! Or dessert depending on how you look at it :P Free hot coffee from the lobby, and these lovely affordable canale from a pharmacy shop we went to earlier on our way back from Ohori Park. So there you have it, how our first day in Fukuoka was like. We were staying two nights here before heading out to explore the rest of Kyushu!