Fukuoka - Dazaifu

David decided that he would be better to stay at home in bed, so Steve and I headed off together.
We caught a local train for about 20mins through the suburbs to the town of Dazaifu, which was the capital city of Kyushu for over 500 years. There were crowds of people, tourists and pilgrims to the shrines and temples.





We hired push-bikes, and toured around for about 5kms,

to temples, shrines and ruins. We saw the oldest bell in Japan,


and one of the three Buddhist ordination temples in Japan. Then came back to the station area for lunch, and a walk past the souvenir shops. We caught the train back to town, did a bit of shopping, and took icecreams back to the invalid. He had slept quite a bit, and was feeling much better.

We all got organised, and went out for early dinner. Kaori had gone home last night (about 60km), and today came back with her mum, who wanted to meet us. (Her dad had to work.) So after they finished shopping, we met them at a Thai restaurant, and had a happy meal, with various people translating for others, sign language, and laughing.


After tea, mum went back home by train, and we have now come back to Steve and Kaori's for internetting.


Friday 13 Feb

Fukuoka

David is getting a cold, so he stayed in bed for a while, and we didn't get going until after 10:00.

Both Steve and Kaori were working, so we had planned to see the city ourselves. At the local bus-stop, we found that there is a hop-on/off bus, so off we went.

First stop was the station, to get some more tourist info. Then we went to a shrine, and a small craft and culture museum opposite.




Then the bus took us along the bayside expressway,

to the Fukuoka Tower, but it is very expensive, so we didn't go up. At the next stop we found a shopping mall, had our compulsory McD meal, and then went off to the big park in the centre of the city. Here we walked through the old gateway which is all that is left of the Fukuoka castle,

and then found some more ancient rock walls, remains of the ancient administration centre. Spring is coming in the south, and the plum blossoms are coming.



David got out of the bus as we got back home, and went home to bed, while I went back to the station to make our next travel bookings and go to the ATM. I wandered around the shops around the hotel, and after checking back with David, went out and got take-away dinner.

Steve called in after work, about 21:30, and we planned for tomorrow.