Started the day with some of the finest baked goods outside some posh Parisien boulangerie and it was very reasonable on the wallet. As you can also buy iced coffee from one of the gazillions street vending machines this was about as close to chic as we were going to get, at least for a while. Today we were leaving Kyoto and heading to our final destination in Japan, Hakata, or Fukuoka as it is also referred.
After selling my other arm for the train tickets we boarded what felt to be a very familiar train from a very familiar station. goodbye Kyoto and goodbye to the Ryodan we stayed in. Funny how places can feel so homey after only a few days.
Once on the Shinkasen we were a little frantic in searching for a seat. You can buy unreserved seats meaning that you're basically entering a lottery to get one and those odds are severely less favourable trying to get two together, this was the case here. Fortunately, the very last row in the last carriage we got to had two adjacent seats. The first three carriages are for those plebs who are either too tight to get a reserved seat where the difference in price is about 8% over the base price, or don't speak enough Japanese to convey that they want one. After stowing our gear we settled down, Rin with another Somerset Maugham short story, and me with the blog. We'd purchased some food at the station before we left. It was a tough decision whether to get some sandwiches (again) or some chicken over rice where there was all too much rice and all too little chicken. We kicked ourselves as after entering through the barriers to get to the train proper as we saw a plethora of delicious looking sushi, something we were both hankering for at the time. Anyway, back to the train, back to the rice, back to Angry Birds.
Travelling by Shinkasen is very functional. I would not coinsider it to be romantic or nostalgic, it is essentially very similar in many respects to taking a plane but never leaving the ground. In order for the high speeds attained to be safe there is little to no curve in the track, no inclines or declines in elevation, therefore, as you travel across the mountainous terrain you spend much of your time looking either at the inky blackness of the tunnel you're whizzing through, or flitting your head back and forth to catch glimpses of the countryside and rapidly passed towns and villages. You don't take much in at all. It is very smooth though, almost tranquil in time, no buffeting, plenty of space to stretch and walk about and at about the same price as an airfare to cover the same distance (sans check-in time), an altogether more pleasant experience if only to avoid the confines of airports and the scrutiny of security. It is also greener and safer.
Our arrival in Hakata was not a celebratory affair, the Lonely Planet guide we'd picked up didn't even mention it, not even in passing. Our expectations were pretty low despite the enthusiasm of the first Japanese woman we spoke to at the information desk in Tokyo airport. She was from Hakata and excitedly said it was a 'fun' place. Fun came to us in the form of a Japanese Bistro style restaurant where yet another Zimmerman experience was to be had. We were getting better at food roulette and tonight it was supplemented with some drink roulette too. They didn't sell sake.
To kick it off we had two delicious cocktails, one of cassis and orange, the other of peach/mango and something. We're not sure if there was alcohol in them but given the heat of the day, the refreshing taste was welcome. After that we ordered a bottle of red wine, the French variety, it was a "Bistro" after all.
Food was a bit easier, or at least it should have been. There were pictures to accompany the Japanese writing. Not big pictures, but enough to suggest something might be a salad or a soup. What wasn't clear was which pictures went with which words, so after pointing at two pictures for our waiter we eagerly awaited our salads. The two whole sardines and lump of salmon that arrived first was unexpected and because of the beaming smiles of the chef who presented them, we assumed that they were complimentary. Westerners were perhaps well recieved in this far western part of the country. After a further 30 minutes we realised that pictures, "hei's" and "arigato's" had all been lost in translation. Sardines and dry cured salmon it was to be then.
The hotel we stayed at in Hakata was also one of the romantic style ones. Quite what that meant we were unsure until we got into the room. Very romantic, even to the point of advertising the "in room massage" at 3000¥ for 45 minutes. There was no discounting for the hour. Rin said she didn't want one. I assumed she didn't want me to have one either.
The room itself deserves a special mention. In a room where cotton buds are pointed out as an amenity there were many other things of note. The very bright alarm clock built into the cabinet next to your head is one of them. I had somehow managed to change the alarm time from 715am to 223pm during the night, thank goodness my body clock was still a little out of kilter otherwise we stood the chance of missing the boat. The bathroom that literally had everything you needed but in a space smaller than most closets, showering without wrapping the shower curtain around oneself was an art in Ti Chi, raising your hands above your head to rotate on one leg and sucking your butt in to keep it from the curtain. I can't complain though, well, I can, but I won't.
Otherwise Hakata was a fairly uneventful part of the trip, not a place I can recommend nor a place I can slight, simply not enough time, nor enough inclination. We're on our way to Korea - a land of pop music and smiles.
No comments:
Post a Comment