After spending a few awsome days in Busan with my friend Brett hiking mountains and attending the craziest baseball game I’ve ever seen, it was finally time to say goodbye to our bikes which we stored at Brett’s, and head on over to Japan.
We originally intended to take the high speed ferry across the Sea of Japan, but it turned out to be twice as much as buying a plane ticket for some reason, so we went that route instead.
It was a short subway ride from Brett’s apartment to the Busan International Airport, and we arrived a few hours before our 2 PM flight. We orderd some bibimbap for lunch, which is a traditional Korean dish of rice and vegetables with an egg on top, which has been a go to dish for us several times here.
The plane ride was a little rough, starting with a strange ascent that had us turning left very rapidly upon takeoff that I have never experienced before. I got nauseous and thought I wass going to throw up, and fortunately the plane leveled out before I reached that edge.
We were flying to Fukuoka which is in western Japan. It is a large city and the only real reason we planned on going there was because that’s where the ferry terminal was. Since we weren’t on the ferry, we could have really flown in anywhere, but it was still the cheapest option to fly into Fukuoka so that’s what we did.
The flight was short at 45 minutes but this turned into an hour due to “heavy ground traffic” at the Fukuoka airport (which is abbreviated FUK by the way). The plane made several circles around the airport before finally landing. And just like that, we were in a new country and had to learn everything all over again.
Upon arrival we went through customs and then exchanged some currency, bought a new SIM card to use the Internet (primarily for Google maps), and then headed to the subway to go to Hakata station to obtain our Rail Pass.
The Japan Tourism board sells 7 or 14 day rail passes to foreigners at a discounted rate, and we bought the two week one to use as we traveled around the country. It wasnt cheap but it was way more economical and easier than buying individual passes every time we wanted to use the train. When you buy the pass online they send you a voucher that you need to trade in for the actual pass, and that’s what we did at Hakata station. They check to make sure you are actually a foreigner and have a visa before giving you the pass. The discount isn’t available to the Japansese.
Once we got our passes we headed to the hostel in town. It was a cute little place and we had our own room, which consisted of a single bunk bed. I grabbed the top and let Carolyn have the bottom. We threw our bags in the room and then left to get something to eat at an udon noodle shop recommended by the hostel.
It was a small shop run by a husband and wife and you sat at the bar looking into the kitchen where the noodles were made and cooked. They were home made noodles and they cooked them in a big pot of boiling water in a big net. When the noodles were done cooking they transferred them to a cold water bath and then put them back in the hot water for a few moments before assembling the soup bowls.
They were really good and it was probably the best food we’ve had on the whole trip. The soup broth had a tremendous amount of flavor and I didn’t want it to end. It’s the most delicious thing I’ve eaten in a long time.
We went to Canal City after the noodle bar, which was kind of a crazy outdoor shopping mall. There was an old shrine nearby and we walked through. A man came up to the alter and put a few coins in a bucket, bowed and said a prayer.
We headed back to the grocery at the end of the night and bought a few snacks for the train ride tomorrow. We are going to go to Tokyo first and then slowly make our way back to Fukuoka via Kyoto, Osaka, Hemeji, and Hiroshima.
I like Japan so far. I can’t quite put an exact finger on it yet, but it is very different from Korea.
