Roving Minds

I get far too caught up in my work life to forget to balance it out with my writing. As an apology, here is the way-too-long overdue Day 2 of my Fukuoka trip, and yes possibly day 3, assuming my tiny brain is willing to cooperate to come up with the suitable words and to create a suitable post.

Honestly Brain.

On the left is my beautiful room, that was intensely comfy for two people. I believe it was 2 queen size beds because my single bed at home is definitely not this big. I slept near the wall because I have an irrational fear of falling off the bed- also I like having my back against the wall because it's nice and warm against my back. Generally, it was a very comfortable room at a very comfortable price, and I would tell anyone to stay there because it's above a Shopping Mall and there's Nana's Green Tea downstairs.

Day two was originally meant to be a day spent at Ohori Park, but from the word "Originally" you would already realize that this plan did not materialize because it started pouring from the heavens and made it absolutely impossible for us, wet and cold, to continue any attempt at enjoying the park at all. So we gave in and went back to Hakata Station for the second day in a row.  Because let's all be honest, we adore shopping in Japan simply because it has everything.

And by everything I sincerely mean Hakata Station has EVERYTHING. Besides the Pokemon Centre and the huge bookstore ( Maruzen ), it sits on top of a tokyu hands that carries every single beauty product imaginable and something that the trip girls and I christened "Miracle Soap". Although it was hideously expensive we couldn't deny how amazing the soap was and we ended up buying some. There are even leather craft workshops held in the store, along with kits you can bring home and make yourself. As if that weren't cool enough the entire mall stocks brands that are native to Japan, so don't expect to see anything like Uniqlo in there. In essence, other than being the main station in Fukuoka that connects to the major JR line, it's a giant shopping stop. You'd need 4-5 days just to finish going through all the shopping outlets there!

As you can tell a major problem was the sheer amount of good food there was there. We had Japanese-Western for lunch and it was, as you imagine, amazing. Hamburger steaks in demiglace sauce, mentaiko mayo omurice- basically a wonderous combination of foods that made us generally very happy people. Because we walked so much, the almost insane amount of carbs we ate was largely diminished by the end of the day and I ended up losing weight after the trip (phew!). The rest of this post is likely to be peppered with food photos, as a general warning. More shopping ensued and then we headed back to the hotel, near collapse. We had tons more to see and my friends and I desired to return to the wonder that was "Jumble Store". I have little hope that this store exists all over Japan, but it's basically a store that buys second hand clothing items or bags or shoes and resells them at a super low price, which made me a very happy person for many days of the trip.

We had Hoshino Coffee while we were in Japan- first of all, significantly cheaper. Second of all, I'm not even sure whether the one in Plaza Singapura is even there anymore. All in all, another wonderful dinner that we for sure were not counting calories for, because we had two servings of their french toast - something now known to me as "Diabetus" for the sheer sweet maple-cream glory of it's existence. Which is bad for my waist line but when ever have you seen me care about that in the face of good food.

The evenings are spent really well- we buy breakfast or go visit the pharmacy where a bunch of things are sold. There were even nights where we split up, and some of us stayed at the hotel and some of us went out and ventured! It is really that safe. There was also a Christmas market where M (for lack of better nicknames for her) bought an entire french loaf and finished it in 45 minutes on her own. First of all, I will forever be in awe of her ability. Second of all, the bread, even in it's cold clammy unglamorous state, was delicious.

Among the handful of funny things hat happened was that I chanced upon a tiny cow- well not me but my friends saw these miniatures, and by miniature I mean seriously miniature figures. They were on a tiny rotating stand and they literally had everything, including (yes, believe me when I say it) Babies. I mean, I literally had handfuls of tiny babies. Of tiny, human babies. I was kind of freaked out but it was also hilarious because I just had a handful of squishy rubber babies that were about the size of a twenty cent coin.

**

Digressing away from the Fukuoka Trip recollection that is fun and amazing and great to think about after long days at work, I'm thinking seriously of getting a ukelele. After all, I've gotten back into playing the guitar quite seriously.

I'm also afraid I may be catching the flu. Ugh.

Either way, that was my small recollection for the day, while I'm still awake enough to play the guitar, I think I'll devote a bit more time to it.

xoxo