Day 2

flying through time zones is really irritating. although we were served breakfast at 0430, it was actually 0630 in japan. so yes, we got little sleep. met a really kind lady who lives in singapore and was returning to japan to visit her parents. she really helped us navigate and we got along quite well on the train ride to hakata station. found comfort hotel where we deposited our luggage before chionging out to the outlet mall.


Marinoa is a seaside leisure complex and Marinoa City Fukuoka is the largest outlet mall in Kyushu, housing about 130 shops and Asia's largest ferris wheel. unexpectedly, it was less thrilling. mayb bcos it was bangkok shopping + flight fatigue but i wasnt very keen on shopping and tobias, while he had his eyes on a few things, they got ruled out pretty quickly. and we went back to our poor bloke days where we had to hunt for cheap eats. scringing and spending only 400Y on a gelato cone shared among the 2 of us (but the tiramisu flavoured one is really nice!). ohwells. ended up with sunblock at a huggeee bargain before heading down to nishijin to sight-see.


went to the Fukuoka Disaster Relief Emergency Centre, a museum of some sorts. this center is designed to help visitors acquire knowledge about and skills for disaster prevention. experienced a 5 and 7 degree earthquake in a makeshift home. i hit my head against the table during the turbulent shaking cos i was hiding under the table. we also experienced typhoon with winds going up to 110kmph. check out the hilarious photos of us getting blown away. a mighty nice lady showed us around the centre and operated the "rides" for us even though we were the only 2 persons doing it and they were like 15mins to closing. God is really blessing us with all these nice ppl we meet along the way.




went to the museum but there was a 100Y admission (after discount) so we decided to skip it. took a photo of the sign though. just so u know we've been there. haha~

walked to Hawk Town which is an extensive entertainment area and includes the yahoo! dome, home to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks professional baseball team. tobias was misled by the travel guidebook to think tt there would be a great seaview but we were kinda headed in the wrong direction. but no worries, im more interested in rushing back to check in and bathe and have dinner anyway.


so yes we came back to hakata and had yichiran ramen. which was definitely better than anything we've had in singapore. he finished the entire bowl including soup to reveal their sincerest gratitude toward an appreciative customer - a message printed at the bottom of the ramen bowl. ok im leaving out alot of details here but i want to sleep already! its 2220 japan time!




DAY 1

we actually woke up at 0430 just so tt we could catch the first train to the airport frm tanah merah mrt. it was at 0519 but we missed it by like 2mins or sth so we had to get the nxt one. tobias was damn high as usual and u can imagine what a wreck i was with very little sleep (refer to photos for crazy poses for proof). had lots of time to kill before boarding so we visited terminal3 (which i feel is a mighty waste of space) and used their free internet service.


flight was ok. we had duck noodle for breakfast. wasnt very appetising. i have a funny problem with airline food. i never seem to be able to eat much. then i get hungry afterwards. then i have to pay to get food. which was what happened when we got to bangkok. grabbed a taxi to platinum mall. and got chicken thai noodles frm the food court. it was surprisingly good considering it was cooked by some girl who's like younger than me i bet.


raided the mall aftertt. or tried to, at least. first buy was belts and i got a really unique brown one. really happy with tt. then i got three hairbands. i know. i only have one head. but they have this irritating buy 3 pieces at wholesale prices tactic which makes it irresistable for kiasu singaporeans like us. anyhow, i figured after i get my perm, i'd need more hairbands. tobias found nice jappish shirts which suited him nicely. a very very rare situation (actually, it never did happen before), he bought 3 pieces frm tt shop alone. more raiding and eating.


rushed down to asia herb association for spa session but was late. thank goodness they still had slots. had the foot massage first in this luxurious arm chair. it was so comfortable we both fell asleep. then it was the head and shoulder massage before we got ushered into a different wing of the complex to complete the oil massage and herbal ball. i thought our usual place opposite D'Ma is better at massage but their foot reflexology totally rocked. 4hr session for like 1620B only!

caught the midnight flight but was really hungry cos we had alot of situations cropping up tt had to be settled. first, collection of our luggage deposited at the terminal. tobias' cranky suitcase acted up and when he tried pulling out his key, he totally yanked the entire lock portion off the luggage. scary huh. so we had to go get a manual lock for him. then we had to change into jeans cos night flight is gng to be cold. plus packing and mailing all the buys back to singapore.

by the time we ate, it was close to 2330. which means 0030 singapore time. first time grace had supper! anyhow, the food was terrible. my spaghetti had some weird herb in it which made it taste uber yucky. in the end we had to buy more food at family mart cos we weren't full. but family mart food turned out tastier! midnight flight was ok we slept quite well but we only took off close to 0050 and had to get up like 0430 for breakfast.