Football

It was time to leave Beppu for the next destination, Fukuoka. I planned 4 days in Fukuoka so there was no rush to get there. I checked out 5 minutes too late and took a short detour through the shopping arcade for some sugar orange peels. Rinasan had told me this was the local Beppu specialty and so obviously i had to have some. It took some searching as the shop's name was in kanji only but comparing the shops facades with a picture got me to the right place. The sweets is basically an orange peel prepared with a lot of sugar so it has a bittersweet taste. Probably not very healthy but really tasty. A local train took me straight from Beppu to Fukuoka and it was a good time to get some shuteye. I have taken up the habit of just walking around town the first day to get a feel for the city and directions and just to watch people. I walked to the canal street shopping mall as it was on route to the hostel. It was just another shopping with a lot of the same brandstores you would see everywhere so i was quickly on my way again. Meanwhile the rain started pouring down and i figured this would be a good chance to catch up on my blogging as i'd been lagging behind for almost four days. I walked into the nearest coffeeshop and after getting me a macha latte I and some newfound inspiration i got rid of the backlog of blogwork. Meanwhile it had gotten time to check-in at the hostel so i picked up my stuff and walked there through the rain. After checking in and freshing up i was in the common room of the hostel where i met Mark from Hong Kong and Revvy from Taiwan. They were also about to have dinner and i joined them to try one of the famous Hakata ramen. Just about every town and city here has it's own specialty in food and in Fukuoka it's the Hakata ramen. There are just so many delicious ramen restaurants in this place. They all have their own variety of ramen and they're equally delicious. This time we went for a pork and fish broth with spring onions, pork belly and noodles of course. Utterly mouthwatering stuff!
Back to the hostel we met Simon from the UK and i suggested to him to watch the England-Wales match somewhere in a bar on a TV screen. Chuto from the hotel staff suggested a sports bar in the Tenjin area and so we were quickly on our way. A little bit of asking around quickly led us to the bar which was slightly hidden and in the basement of a building. It was loaded with locals and to our joy the game was already on! The locals were cheering for both teams and the atmosphere was really nice. We ordered a pitcher or two and watched England win the game in overtime. We got a couple of beers from the konbini as we went back to the hostel, where i quickly fell asleep in my bed.Read more