Day 5. Part 2.
ok, I'm running a little behind in the updates. So much to do and see and so little time to update. Taking a breather today as there was a drinking session last night and well, I'm still genki while my host has skipped school and is now snoring away.
Ok, part 2 of the 27 July. After we visited the cafe, we wandered around a bit and found book store. The shop name was pretty interesting so we decided to check it out.
Little did we realize that the name of the bookshop was very aptly named, probably by design.
After that refreshing visit, we found a place to cleanse our souls. It's weird to find a temple amoung all the shops and internet cafes.
The street opposite the temple.
I think it's kinda hard to read so I put up the original pic in its full size for you to read. There's a really funny ghost staying there... haha...
The tranqil temple grounds contrasts with the city beind it.
Some temple shots. It started to rain... again. The pic's too small to make out the rain drops tho...
It was about 3pm and a monk opened the main doors. At first I thought it was for us to enter and visit but then he suddenly went to sound the bell and a whole bunch of them came running out. It was time for their prayer service, I guess. They didn't stop us from looking and taking photos so we stayed.
Wonder why he didn't use the bell ringing stick thingy... He used a portable hand held one.
Before they all came running out...
Their chants went on and on... like those you see on TV... The fan seemed out of place there tho...
These 2 poor guys must have done something wrong to be excluded from the main chanting... That or they are juniors?
After that we walked around a bit more before deciding on dinner at the roadside stalls. According to the travel guides, there are more than 2000 of these stalls around in Fukuoka.
Yatai (the food stalls) are one of Fukuoka's most famous attractions. As the sun begins to fall, yatai workers bring wheeled stalls to their designated locations, and a long row of yatai slowly forms. Fukuoka's most famous yatai dish is ramen noodles, but yatai now offer a rich variety of foods, including tempura and yakitori (roast chicken). Yatai are most concentrated in the Tenjin, Nagahama and Nakasu areas.
I don't know how we decided which stall to eat at but after we came, it became very crowded. The food was delicious, probably with the added taste of the cook's "secret recipe" dripping from his/her face. I mentioned his/her because in the end, we still could not come to a conclusion. I was more inclined to naming him but my 2 friends did not agree... Decide for yourself.
And as usual, here are the food pics...
The oden. Of course we didn't order all of this. This is the main cooking pot... Fantastic...
We each had a noodle and shared the rest. We forgot to take pics of the oden. That itself was already 2 bowls full. 100￥ per piece. I think we ordered a few times. It roughly came up to 1600￥ each.
Friday was Aida night. Stay tuned.