Day 3:  14 Oct 2006

Today is the day I don't have to walk up and down the streets of Fukuoka.

I have joined a day tour (apply for the trip way before hand and paid the day trip fee before hand. 6,980 yen)

with Hankyu Travel agency.　So I can rest my feet and hand and let the tour guide bring us around!

Itinerary
　　　　　　　
- 博多(9：00) - 基山PA(9：30）
- 【俵山の風車を車窓見学】キムチの里【キムチの試食あり】
- 俵山コスモス園【約100万本のコスモス観賞】
- ランチ: 阿蘇ミルク牧場
　【約60種類の自然食バイキング・かわいい動物たちもいます】
- 熊本ワイン【ワインの試飲】
- 植木農園【メロン食べ放題30分】
- きくすいの里 -【夕食はおにぎり弁当】- 基山PA(18：40頃) - 博多(19：10頃)

The day started off with me arriving at the meeting area at Hakata just on time at exactly 9:00AM!

ぎりぎり間に合った〜

I was the late person to arrive and the bus departed soon after my arrival. 　

The tour guide, Mr. Ryu Tenjou, knowing that my surname is "Tan" was curious to know if I am

Japanese (haha) and whether I understood Japanese. He's quite an interesting guide.

I always thought that tour guides are mostly female so it's interesting to have a male travel guide around.

The excitement of the day tour started off with sandwich and orange juice on board the coach!

It's part of the day tour package! Just nice! I need food to calm my nerves (for being almost late) ! ! !

There was also free sampling of 1 piece of horse sashimi (馬刺し) as well as 1 piece of mustard lotus root (からし蓮根).

I have tried mustard lotus root before so I know the taste. I like it and would love to buy it but since it does not keep well

without refrigeration (2 days), I am not able to buy some so I cannot make use of the order form! *sob sob*

It's such a pity. karashi renkon is a speciality of Kumamoto prefecture!

As a substitute for mustard lotus root, I bought a box of mustard lotus root chips...better than nothing, right?

Free sampling of karashi renkon & basashi                        Order Form for horse sashimi and raddish lotus root

One of the many places we stopped for toilet break                   karashi renkon chips

I guess that for me, the highlight of the day trip was to see cosmos flowers! Well, Singapore has not much flowers to see, except grass and trees so I look forward to a garden of brightly coloured flowers! I saw cosmos flowers at two different places - 俵山コスモス園 and 阿蘇ミルク牧場

The first place that we went to view cosmos flowers was not exceptionally beautiful as the flowers were apparently affected by a recent typhoon. So the flowers collapsed. It was only when we went to the second place, Kumamoto Milk Farm, that the cosmos flowers were really attractive and breath taking! The Kumamoto Milk Farm was also where we had our buffet lunch! Yum Yum!

Place 1 to view cosmos flowers --> 俵山コスモス園

What is this?  A kind of fruit? I don't recognise it! Seems a bit weird to me! The name is stated in Japanese.

Place 2 to view cosmos flowers --> 阿蘇ミルク牧場

One cute little girl (on nursery school excursion) trying to pluck flowers!

Our second last stop was to Kumamoto winery where we had free sampling of wine. I was intrigued by the ice-wine made from Kyohou grapes! Only 2,000 over yen a bottle. But circumstances did not permit me to get a bottle and anyway I am not a wine lover! This winery was so-so. I've seen more enchanting winery in Australia. Now, that's breath taking!

Our last stop for the day trip was a melon farm where we could eat melon for 30 minutes! メロン食べ放題！！！ The melons were not in season yet so they did not taste very sweet. Nevertheless, I ate two pieces.

The tour guide bought me a melon and give it to me as souvenir! What a lovely gesture! I was so touched! As I was going to travel out to Seoul for the next 3 days, I was wondering if the melon would be spoilt by the time I return to Fukuoka. It did not. I thought it was awkward to borrow a knife from the Hotel Floral Inn hotel staff so I went to 100yen shop on the last day in Fukuoka and bought a fruit knife! See how I managed to eat a melon alone over 1 dinner and 1 breakfast?!? :)

The day trip ended at around 19:00 when the coach brought us back to Hakata station. However I could not return to the hotel as I had to wait for my Japanese friend, Kyoko, who would also spend the night at the hotel. We were to embark on a 3 days Seoul trip together. Kyoko's express bus from Sasebo city to Hakata would take 2 hours and she would only arrive at 21:00! Tired and carrying many things (boxes of food/miyage, obento dinner courtesy of the day trip and a small but heavy musk melon!), I went to buy a 1,050 yen bag to contain all my shopping bags! Exhausted, I went to Hakata bus centre and sat/slept there from 19:45 - 21:00! At least I felt refreshed after that long rest! When we finally met, we took a bus together to the hotel, rested a while before we left the hotel at 21:40 in search of dinner! We ended up at Canal City's ramen stadium! I wasn't aware that there is a ramen stadium in Fukuoka. I only thought Yokohama has it! I'm not a big fan of ramen and if I do eat ramen, I prefer tonkotsu ramen.

Halloween decoration at Canal City

There ends a long day for me. How inviting the bed in the hotel seems to be!

The next 3 days in Seoul will also be exhausting...

DAY 4 (SEOUL)