Business Hotel Hakata Seagull (Fukuoka, Japan)

This was the cheapest hotel we could find in Fukuoka, and believe me, we looked.

Rooms were spacious and clean – we stayed in two different twins whilst here. The first one was larger, with a small couch. The second was a little smaller, but without the couch it was actually more spacious. Both had tv’s, aircon and private bathrooms (small tub/shower and toilet). On the fourth floor there is a large (traditional) bathroom that you can lock, so you can have a shower in a larger room. Free wireless internet.

The checkin staff didn’t speak much English, but was more than willing to help us, and made checkin very smooth. Also helped us book another room. Attached to the hotel is a great Korean/Filipino restaurant with a Pirate theme – fantastic food, and the guy there spoke great English (we managed to get vegetarian food, a reasonably hard feat in Japan).

Scarily Good…

Australasia ~ Australia ~ Gold Coast and Asia ~ Japan ~ Osaka

“Your bag is over weight, but when we combine both of your luggage allowances, it’s fine”, “no need to worry, buses run all night from Surfers back to your hotel”, “even though you’re amongst the last to checkin, I’ve assigned you emergency exit seats”.

The trip over to Japan wasn’t bad, not bad at all. We flew Melbourne to Coolangatta (Gold Coast) on Friday via Tiger Airways, and despite my bag being slightly overweight (oh come on, it’s not easy to pack a years worth of clothes into 15kg!), they combined our luggage – and as Matt has an amazing ability to pack lightly, we were fine. Our stay in Coolangatta was short but sweet (the hotel was a 5 minute walk from the aiport, right next to the beautiful beach and a 40min bus ride from Surfers Paradise). Checkin for our Osaka flight was quick and trouble free – and we snagged the emergency exit seats on a half full plane. Arrival into Osaka was great, as we stayed at a hotel I had previously stayed at (New Chuo Hotel) so finding it was a breeze. All in all it was a wee bit scary how easy it all was, but our confusion of Osaka’s subway over the next few days certainly levelled the playing field.

Beach near our hotel

Whilst in Osaka we’ve done the standard tourist activities, such as walking around Den-den Town (street full of electrical shops), stroll around Namba, watch families fish off the central pier at night (and see the sun set over the city) and visit a temple in Kyoto (Rokuonji Temple). But, as per usual, the most favourite activity was definetly people watching – for Osaka (and indeed Japan) has it’s own collection of distinct characters – from young girls in kimonos to teenagers with mountains of facial peircings, to salarymen, to old grandmas tottering around in floral print, there is always something different to see.

At the Golden Pavillion

Tomorrow morning we’re off to Fukuoka – we managed to book our first two nights in a cheap hotel (despite leaving it to the very last minute), and intend to start hunting for an apartment straight away. Fingers crossed please! Flight doesn’t leave until 5pm, and a reference website assures us that the trip from our hotel to the airport should take 50mins, so we are assuming that, with our incredible ability to catch trains that terminate before our destination, the trip will take at least 3 hours. So we will be leaving when our hotel kicks us out, 6 hours before our flight. Better to be safe than sorry!

Spa Hostel Khaosan Beppu (Beppu, Japan)

I stayed here for 2 nights, and thoroughly enjoyed my stay. The rooms and beds were clean and quiet. The staff went out of their way to help me find local baths and things to do, and organised a “party/fireworks” night, with free food and drinks. Free internet is available from the four computers in the lobby, making it easy to keep in touch with home.

There are quite a few common areas as well, letting you chat with other travelers. The hostel is close enough to the train station (about 10 minutes), and certainly walking distance to the sand baths and other attractions. A special treat is the onsen right at the hostel.

Khaosan Fukuoka (Fukuoka, Japan)

I stayed here between touring southern Kyushu and leaving via Fukuoka airport for Osaka. This hostel was well located for me to get to the airport (about an 8 minute walk to the closest metro stop, which is only one stop away from the airport), however not so well located if you’re sightseeing in Fukuoka – it is a good 15 minute walk from Hakata station.

The rooms and beds were clean, and the staff friendly and informative (they recommended a great ramen restaurant around the corner). The common areas were well set out and the kitchen had plenty of utensils to use. Enjoyed my stay one night here.

Are the gods out to get me?

Asia ~ Japan ~ Kyushu ~ Kurume, Beppu & Kagoshima and Asia ~ Japan ~ Koyasan

Everyday over here seems to present new challenging situations, and yet each day also seems to present unbelievable experiences.

After leaving Hokkaido, I traveled down south to Kyushu via Osaka. Due to the entire country being on the move (and despite the fact that I booked my tickets two weeks in advance), I was unable to secure seats on a fast shinkansen. Instead, I went on the “SuperExpress Shinkansen” that stopped at all stations to Kurume. Sheesh. In Kurume I once again met up with previous host families and had a fantastic time. Our days were spent lazying about in the air conditioning (unbelievably hot down here in Kyushu) and going out for dinner. My first night out was at the local Chinese restaurant, where the owner still remembered me! Second night out was at a yakitori (grilled foods) restaurant. Plenty of (ice cold) beer to be had, fun times had by all. As always, leaving was difficult (sob!), but I’ll be back soon…

From Kurume I headed to Beppu. However, due to a problem with buying my rail pass in Kurume, I first had top head to the bigger city of Fukuoka to take care of my rail pass. As I’m flying out of there in 5 days time, I thought I would leave my big backpack in a coin locker there, and just cart around my small bag. So off I went to the coin locker place, and asked the guy how long you can leave a bag there, was 5 days ok? He said it was fine, so I put the bag in a locker (had to struggle to make it fit, I wasn’t going to pay the extra $1 to get a bigger locker!). The way it works is you pay the first day when you deposit the bag, then you pay whats owing when you come and get your luggage. So I paid for the first day. I then went all chatted to the girls at the information desk, and they then told me that its a max of three days for the lockers – after that they make you pay heaps of money to get your bag back. Bah! I had to go back and get my bag, and take it with me to the next place. Put it in a locker at the station when I got here, so I didn’t have to lug it to my accommodation, but still had to get it in and off the trains, very annoying!

Kagoshima

In Beppu, the capital of hot springs in Japan, I spent my first day wandering around, attempting to keep out of the sun. While strolling down the main street, I noticed an ATM that would accept my card, and thought I may as well get some money out as backup. Big mistake – half an hour later, after many “discussions” with the guys at the bank, my credit card had been frozen, and it appeared they had $500 of my money. The rest of the night was spent on internet chat to Australia trying to sort it out. Appears to be sorted out now, but was not fun! Whilst in Beppu, I also went to a hot sand bath (in an attempt to relax after the credit card dramas). Amazing! You put on a cotton yukata (summer kimono), and then lie down in the hot black sand whilst they shovel hot sand over your body. The feeling is amazing. Afterwards, you wash yourself off and soak in a big onsen bath. My second night was spent in fear – put a bunch of drunk foreigners together with a big bag of fireworks, and what do you think is going to happen? We’re just lucky that the rain dealt with most of the blow from the crackers.

Fireworks in Beppu

From Beppu it was down to Kagoshima, one of the most south points (other than the islands) that you can go in Japan. My first day was spent in agony – the trip was 6 hours of changing trains, and as it is the Obon holiday, tickets were sold out in most carriages. As a result, I ended up in a smoking carriage – couple that with the 3 hours of sleep I had the night before, and the copious amounts of Japanese sake and shochu I drank the night before (FREE, it was free!), I was a sorry sight by the time I made it to Kagoshima. Luckily I had the foresight to book a hotel rather than a hostel, and spent a good majority of my time asleep in my hotel room…

My last night in Japan was spent at a buddhist temple – an unbelievable experience. After checkin, I wandered about the neighbouring mossy antique cemetery – with an estimated 500,000 graves. Dinner was at 5.30pm, with an 8pm lights out! With a wake-up bell at 5.30am, the early bedtime was just as well. The next day was spent traveling to get back to the airport (with a few pre-planned stops for souvineer shopping 🙂 ).

Once again, my travels in Japan are over, but have no fear, I’ll be back again!

Sun setting on my holiday