Wasted no time cos the shuttle came within 10mins of us reaching Tosu JR Station. I remember last year we waited more than half and hour for the shuttle to come. It runs once every hour so if you miss the last time, good game man. So it really pays to plan ahead and schedule train and bus timings.
So anyway, we were also very very lucky cos that particular weekend, GAP was having a 20% sale. It was like divine timing cos GAP is THE MAIN reason we’re going to Tosu in the first place. Reached the outlet around 0955 when it opens at 1000. Obviously GAP was our first stop. We were overwhelmed by the variety and wonderful offers they were having so much so tt we actually spent close to 2.5hours in there, choosing clothes and trying them on. Each time we went into the fitting room, we would each have at least 5 pieces of clothing with us.
Final buys:
Grace – black work pants, denim cropped pants, jeans and spag tops in white and black. Their spag tops are copying VS’s bra top design so its ultra worth it!
Tobsy – countless tops, jeans
Total damage: more than S$250. But we were ultra satisfied. Because of the high standards set by GAP, the other shops don’t seem very appealing anymore. We did visit those tt we express vague interest in, like Nike, but nothing really caught our eyes. Well even if this train + bus trip which costs close to S$10 just to get down to Tosu meant tt we only bought GAP stuff, I still think it’s worth it. Tosu is my favourite outlet!
Since we ate the many many (expiring) buns for lunch, we decided to indulge for dinner. The obvious choice was IPPUDO since we had ICHIRAN already. They had at least 2 outlets near Tenjin area and we chose the Honten hoping it will be a different experience. It was small and cosy and the staff were extremely helpful, helping us with our many bags and making small talk. Ordered the Honten Kasane-Aji (available only at the Honten) and the Akamaru Kasane-Aji and their bite-sized Gyoza. The Honten ramen was quite salty and it was a mixture of chicken and pork broth which appealed to neither of us. I liked the Akamaru cos it has been my favourite all along. But we stupidly forgot to ask about Char Siew topping so I got only 2 slices in my bowl which made the experience not so enjoyable. Will remember in future.
After dinner, we explored the basements of the shopping malls nearby and were all starry-eyed because of the array of desserts and smells. Our noses led the way and we were really tempted to get some of the things we saw but did not in view of cost (and weight) considerations. Walked back to Dormy Inn and enjoyed the Onsen before turning in. Love Dormy Inn for their Onsens. They always provide the perfect closure to a day out.
DAY 11 – HAKATA, CANAL CITY
We cleared customs without any trouble, thank God for giving us decent-looking faces :) We boarded bus #10 bound for Hakata station just in time, and were the only passengers on the bus for quite some time. It was early in the morning so there weren’t many passengers until we neared Gion area. No one was wearing mask though, and we felt rather self-conscious with our masks on. Upon seeing that the bus was stopping near Gion station, I immediately requested to alight – our Dormy Inn hotel was just 2 minutes walk away from Gion station. Thank God for helping me notice the road signs! We had originally intended to take bus all the way to Hakata main station before changing to subway to head down to Gion. That would have cost us 400 yen extra.
Dormy Inn Hakata was brand new, and felt just as comfy and homely as the other Dormy Inns. We left our luggage with the reception staff, and left on foot for Hakata station to redeem our 7-day JR passes and reserve overnight trains. It was an easy and relaxing 10 minute walk to Hakata station, and after settling the JR pass stuff, we roamed around the basement shops and reminisced our last year’s trip. We decided to head to Ichiran so as to ensure that we would definitely get to try their famous tamago (egg) – we missed it twice last year as we went there after 3pm on both occasions, and by then all the eggs were sold out -_______-“’
Ichiran wasn’t open yet at 0950, so we waited around for about 10 minutes for them to open promptly at 10am. We were the first customers, but when we finished ordering at the cool vending machine, there was already a stream of customers streaming into the shop, at TEN AM!! And within minutes of seating down at the cute little cubicles (which we missed so much), the shop was almost FULL. Crazy. That explains why the eggs were sold out by 3pm even though they operate past midnight. We each ordered a basic bowl with extra charsiew toppings, eggs (finally!) and kaedama (replacement noodles, 1 serving for me and half for Grace). Grace became ecstatic once the smell and the familiar “irashaimase!!”s overwhelmed us; and when the bowls came, words could not describe how HEAVENLY they smelled/looked.And of course the egg was fantastic. Beats the sg ones hands down man. We took a video of the entire process so I won’t go into further details here :P
After filling our bellies to the brim, we set off for Canal City. Passed by a small temple and quickly snapped some pictures. Spotted a 24hr supermarket near our hotel, and grabbed a nice pudding on discount (60 yen only! 0.90 SGD). Canal City was more or less the same, still with a whole array of fabulous restaurants with fabulous prices beyond our reach. We went into the Matsumoto Kiyoshi drugstore and saw masks being snapped up at lightning speed by the locals, and we quickly followed suit and bought 2X 7-pcs masks. That were all the “value-packs” left (at 7pc for 300+ yen), and the rest were all higher grade ones costing at least 200 yen PER PIECE. And there was a whole basket of crazy expensive high-tech surgical masks going at 900+ yen per piece. Insane, considering that all are for 1-day use only. But when we returned later, ALL the masks were sold out, and the shop pasted a notice on the shelves stating that the masks were OOS and they had no idea when the next batch would come in. Shudders. H1N1 is certainly great news for the drugstores and pharmaceutical companies.
After finding out that our beloved “Dessert Forest” (an area housing several great dessert shops) had closed down, we returned to the hotel to check in. Our room was pleasant and comfy just like all Dormy Inn rooms. We pondered for a moment before deciding to return to Canal City for our favourite Okonomiyaki restaurant – Fugetsu. It was raining cats & dogs then, so we were all soaked by the time we reached the restaurant. We ordered a huge Fugetsu-special Modanyaki (i.e. typical okonomiyaki with noodles in it too), along with a cheese pork omelette. The aroma was overwhelming as we waited for the Modanyaki to be cooked right before us on a hotplate, and the taste was marvellous as expected, filled with pork, octopus, prawns and veg. Goes really well with the mayonnaise plus sour plum sauce on top. The omelette was just alright – it took us quite a while to locate the cheese in it. Not that fantastic a choice for 500+ yen (7.50 SGD).
We tried to get directions to Beard Papa from the restaurant staff but alas, none of them has heard about it. Guess Beard Papa really isn’t that huge in Japan – the locals are too spoilt for choices! We got really wet (again) on the way back as it was pouring even more heavily then, and stopped by the supermarket to stock up for breakfast. We spent a crazy 1 hour there, as the staff went around pasting new discount stickers on the bentos every 15~20 minutes (Jap supermarkets typically sell a whole variety of bentos, like fried chicken pieces, grilled fish, grilled seafood, veg, fried noodles, gyoza, etc etc; and they will start offering discounts from 6pm onwards. The later it gets, the greater the discount – if the bentos have not been snatched up by then. So you’d often see a whole bunch of Jap housewives grabbing everything in sight when the supermarkets are about to close). Eventually, we managed to get a big meaty bento set, a box of grilled octopus, a box of fried chicken pieces, a little plate of salad, a couple buns laden with different sort of fillings, milk, and some random pudding dessert that was expiring and hence on 30% discount. Grace was complaining about the cold, so we returned before the last few rounds of discounts. But it was a great bargain already. We relaxed in the hotel onsen before retiring to bed, feeling warm and comfortable from the hot spring water – it does wonders to your body after a tiring day walking about. No wonder the old folks all like to settle near onsen areas after retirement.
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