Fukuoka Day 4 - bike tour

We had booked to go on a half day bike tour of the city today. The company contacted me to delay the start time from 9 until 11.30 to avoid the rain.

We took our rain jackets and met our bike guide, Mei. We started with a Hakata style ramen lunch on the nearby shopping street. It was good to learn a bit about the background of this popular ramen style, and it tasted really good.

The rain had stopped, and we set off to visit a famous local shrine. Mei showed us how to cleanse ourselves and properly enter the shrine. There's plenty of photos as we had Mei taking photos of us - not just selfies. We then visited a temple with a very attractive pagoda and a huge wooden Buddha. We also learned about budhist heaven and hell.

The rain was coming in batches but didn't last long. We rode to the castle ruins, visiting a cool archaeological dig, and then rode past Ohori Park to an old, covered shopping street. We stopped for a snack of Mochi.

We also cycled along the seaside and back to a high school that also housed an old 12th century defensive wall - how cool, that they built the school around this site! We hit a bit more rain, and Gayle hit a pedestrian! No one was hurt, but that lady would think twice about jumping sideways in front of bikes in the future.

Even with the rain, we had a really great day. Mei, who was a lady in her sixties, was so friendly and spoke amazing English. She had studied in Missouri, of course.

In the evening, we walked to a small local restaurant where we ate yakitori and pizza - I also had some very good sake. We enjoyed our last day in Fukuoka!Read more