Hakata Day 3

Cute strawberries.

Time for shopping!! That's what we did on the day 3. haha. Among all the places we've been to (Hakata, Karatsu, Yobuko, Kyoto and Osaka), Hakata is the best place to shop at, especially Tenjin. But we didn't buy alot since buying alot would mean a heavy luggage to carry around. We certainly don't want that so early in our trip. And we regretted it. i regretted it. One word of advice: Buy what you like, don't wait and see. Although prices don't vary much in Japan, styles vary. Once you've missed the style of clothing you like, it's quite impossible to get it elsewhere in Japan. Trust me.

Day 3

Morning. Outside Kashima honkan. It is a lovely little place. 3412 yen per person per night. Weather is very fine. Temperature average at about 12 degree celsius. Cool breeze coupled with warm sunlight, perfect for a shopping day.
A 2min walk from a ryokan is the Hakata History Museum. It is made up of beautiful quaint little shop houses. We paid 200yen per person. It is worth it.
Look. Extremely real figures imitating life way back in Hakata. Life imitates art.
I am supposed to look like one of the comedians of the past. I guess i look retarded here. Please ignore.
Kushida-jinja, just adjacent from the museum. It is famous for its displays of Hakata festival floats.

That's the float. Every year there will be a float race round the temple. The first group to arrive back at the temple will get to display their float here. Chie told me they had a pikachu float once. So much for traditions.

Lunchie at Canal City.

Yakiniku don. That's originally my mum's. She gave it to me.
Itadakimasu!

After lunch was shopping at the underground labyrinth shopping which connects the entire Tenjin. Real cool.

This is what we had for tea. Green tea ice-cream and mochi set, and a slice of cake made entirely from crepe and cream topped with vanilla ice-cream.

This is what we wished we had the stomach capacity to consume. Displays are all real. Ice-creams are substituted by whipped cream. Very smart.Outside Mitsukoshi, a beautiful garden and pond awaits. Haa.
Naked fairy playing the violin. Today's dinner was so disappointing that i didn't bother to take a picture of it. We originally wanted to try out the yatai stalls that sells ramen. Hakata is the capital of ramen after all. But they were so far from the shopping area. And when we finally found them, they were full house. It seems that the yatai culture is disintegrating, thanks to economic growth and city-planning. In the end, we had salty ramen in this small dingy little shop. Luckily they serve not bad dumplings. There goes my ramen.

End.