We ate our breakfast of bread and jam in the lovely rose garden before taking the easy ride down to the Hakata Ferry Port. Fukuoka is a modern and neat city with its major roads being wide and well laid out. The port area is particularly impressive. When we arrived there, there were groups of school kids seeming to get ready for some or other performance. One group was a brass band that was busy with an amazing medley of classic songs. I don’t think I have ever heard young kids this well before.

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

While getting my first cup of coffee for the day at a 7-11, a fellow started chatting to me. Once again, not much was understood, but he soon came back with various pamphlets on Fukuoka, including one showing us where we need to catch the ferry. Then, just before the ferry port, we met a Japanese cycle tourist with whom we had a chat and posed for photos. The friendliness of the folk on Kyushu has been a delightful surprise for us.

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

During check-in, a Korean couple chatted to us, indicating that they would also like to do some cycle touring and gave us a gift of fresh tomatoes, so we’re enjoying Korean hospitality before we even get there.

Passing through immigration at the Busan ferry port was quick and painless and we were on the road on a lovely cycle track just before quarter to seven. The chaos started soon after that. The cycle track soon disappearedand we found ourselves on a incredibly busy multi-lane road with no shoulder. Eventually we managed to get to a point where there was a sidewalk and the lovely lady in my smartphone directed us first up an incredibly steep hill (the sign said 20% !!!), then got us to do a U-turn at the top and then directed us up the next steep hill parallel to the first. Ah well, its good for the legs. From then on it was a relatively easy ride, physically speaking, for the next few kilometers. All we had to do was avoid the zillions of pedestrians sharing the sidewalk with us. By now it was dark but we only had a few kilometers to go. when we got to where we thought our hotel was, it wasn't. I asked the first person passing me on the sidewalk if they knew where JJ Inn was and, with the help of his smartphone, located it a few hundred meters away.

The lady at reception at JJ Inn was incredible. She made sure we got our bicycles into a store room on the second floor, heated up our plastic 7-11 supper for us and just made sure we were feeling comfortable.