Back on it….so…we arrived in Fukuoka unscathed. We stayed at our good friend’s, (Kenta) place-Khaosan Fukuoka. He also took us to an awesome Izakaya where we dined on sashimi, seafood, baked tuna and tons of Shochu-really was a blast. Khaosan Fukuoka is a really established and successful guesthouse also, so it’s good for us to learn a bit from a pro!!
Our plan (initially) was to take the shimanami kaido from Honshu (Onomichi) back to Shikoku (Imabari-Matsuyama), but because of the rain and the god-awful humidity; we decided it would make more sense to check out Kumamoto then Beppu; taking the ferry the next morning back to Shikoku.
This is part of the story where the flood comes in. We buy our train tickets to Kumamoto and on the train we hear that there is flooding in the region and that the trains are not running at all to Beppu. So some quick thinking on Nori’s part brings us back to Fukuoka (we somehow even got a refund for our ticket to Kumamoto!). You might of heard of the flood, over 30 people died in middle Kyushu-scary stuff for sure!
We change our plans yet again and decide to hang out in Moji; a very “retro” little port city that has some “retro” buildings, “retro” beer, and “retro” souvenirs. In Moji, we did have the best Japanese curry that I’ve ever had. It was a Yaki beer curry that was seriously just delicious-washed down with a homebrew they make in-House.
That night we took a night ferry from Kita Kyushu (near Moji) back to Matsuyama. This was definitely the nicest night ferry I’ve ever been on, complete with huge ofuro, cafe, multiple decks and pretty comfortable space to lay your tired head. Arriving at around 6, we took the limousine bus back to Dogo and Sen Guesthouse (good to be home I tell ya!)
Of course, we did it up right when Chris was round. It was hiking, onsening during the day; eating good food and drinking good drinks in the night. Really such a pleasure to have a good friend here-it’s pretty essential to be able to share thoughts and experiences with someone you know and who knows you. He stayed for 4 nights and he ended up taking that Shimanami Kaido bridge bike trip that we were planning to all do together back to Korea; and he said he’d write a blog bout it also (no pressure bro).
During Chris’s stop over, one of my Osaka friends, Charlie, pretty much rented out the whole building for one of his infamous “mystery tours”. It was a blow out party; which Chris ended up crashing; drinking their super nice Yamazaki Whiskey (good job man). The day after he left; we had another stellar visit from our friend Christope and our run-in with chicken…but, you guessed it, that’s all for this blog…till next time….