Morning Walk and Curry

Today, we had planned to meet up with Joel and his children for a walk in the hills followed by an onsen.  However, the weather forecast didn't look good and he cancelled.  We then got in touch with Ben and asked him if he and his children wanted to meet up.  He said yes, and suggested a little hike followed by curry - perfect.

Swinging

We set off to Hakata station when suddenly Tom said 'Look Daddy, Dr Yellow!', we all looked up to see his nose disappear behind a building.  We then ran to Hakata Station and the shinkansen tracks in the hope to see him - we got there just after he departed - poo!  So near, yet so far!!!!!!!!!!!


Oh hum, we carried on with our day and got the bus to Sakurazaka where we met up with Ben, Louisa and Max.  We did a little hike in a park and ended up at a view point over the city which was nice.  Max who is 12, then decided he was too old to hanging out with us so returned home, however, Louisa and Tom seemed to get on well and had a good time together.

Panorama of Fukuoka

Curry

We came across some swings, so they played there and then we headed to the curry restaurant.  The restaurant was an Indian curry restaurant, not a Japanese curry restaurant.  We were curious to see what an Japanese Indian curry would be like.  I went for a medium vegetable curry (note the word curry not a rogan josh or dupiaza or tikka etc - none of those were on offer) with rice and naan.  The rice was Japanese rice, not basmalti and the curry was a very mild butter chicken sort of a sauce with some bits of vegetables in it - very nice but not what I would call Indian.  However, it came with a naan bread which was pure heaven - really good, freshly made proper naan bread which was so delicious that for the first time in ages I actually over ate because I couldn't leave a scrap!

Tom and Louisa

We then said our goodbyes to Ben and Louisa and headed back to Hakata to get a Shinkansen to Kokura - we stayed there for an hour and then got a Shinkansen back.  The Shinkansen we got back was no ordinary Shinkansen, but a 500 series that has been decked out in the livery of a well known manga cartoon called Eva to celebrate its 20 year anniversary.  It is a purple beauty.  There is only one, so we were very pleased to be in a position to see it and ride on it.  Oh and it had the usual play area that a 500 has, so we sat in that carriage so Tom could play.  A Japanese family took a liking to Tom and plied him with gifts - a sweet, then a chocolate, then a whole box of chocolates - he still works his magic!!!!!!

Tom and Eva

We then got a limited express to a city just outside Fukuoka called Tosu.  Why?  Well, Matt wanted to 'do' something in the prefecture of Saga as it is one of two prefectures he hasn't been to.  (The other being Okinawa).  There is literally nothing to do in Saga, but the nearest city is only 2 stops out of Hakata, so we went there, found a shopping centre, had tea and came home.  He was satisfied.  Tom and I were sceptical whether it counted or not?! IT DID! We also went shopping, remember!