Oh! Woeful Neglect!

Gack, I suck. I had intended to update this as soon as I landed. A combination of not having internet immediately, and visiting with people that I haven't seen in forever has delayed that. But, here it is now.

Leaving APU was full of quagmires and troubles. I had a bit more difficulty packing than I had thought I would, and needed to give away a bit more stuff than I had hoped to. Including my umbrella! I had named it Theodore, and it was a pleasant umbrella. It shall be missed. There were gifts and final goodbyes (I gave my neighbor a buffalo figurine, and he gave me a jade good luck bracelet. some kind of unequivalent exchange there, my bad). Also the security woman that checked me out was amusing. She hit her head and dropped stuff and was too short to reach the top of the dresser, so I helped her there. Also I hit my head on something so it was a whole bunch of "sumimasen. daijyoubu?" back and forth, and we were both covered in dust and mussed up hair and clothing by the end of it. Why madame, you're not supposed to act that way with your charges! Oh ho ho.

The way to the bus station was harsh and unforgiving. It was the hottest day we'd had that month and very humid, and the elevators were closed for repairs. Nobody stopped to help until a good halfway to the station, when a Roger from Papua New Guinea stopped and gave me a hand with my baggage. So if you meet him, help him out. I'm sure there's only a few Rogers from Papua New Guinea roaming around, and even if it's the wrong one I'm sure they're nice enough.

I was exhausted from lack of sleep the night before, and slept for most of the bus. There was some movie with I think Sandra Bullock and Al Pacino doing things, but I only caught a good 15 minutes of it in and out of drifting off and looking over my flight itinerary nervously. I also kept thinking about what movie they'd show on the way back to APU, and to make sure I got off at the right stop then not like last time, and I kept having to remind myself that I'm not going back to Beppu. It was a weird feeling.

Once in Fukuoka I dumped the hell out of my heavy baggage. Then I ran as far as I could from it and laughed maniacally to be rid of it. Or I went to go get lunch. Probably that one. One of my requirements for myself was to not eat McDonald's or any fast food while in Fukuoka, so after looking around and finding only expensive restaurants, udon, and takoyaki, I headed to McDonalds and broke that within 20 minutes. I was too hungry to care at the time. I then wasted some time in an arcade to play some games for the last time that we don't have stateside, namely Lord of Vermillion. Only to find out that my account had been cancelled due to lack of use. Buh. Guh. Zuh. FUH! Bah. That sucked and ended those plans, and I just went for a walk and visited some department stores. Wandered out to the Khaosan hostel in order to book a reservation for the next night. Afterward I took the train to Kido Nanzouin to see the world's largest sleeping Buddha! It was closed, but the surrounding area was still open so I wandered around there a bit and took some photos. It was really quite a beautiful area, and the people there were pleasant, which is weird for a town with a big tourist attraction. Most of the people I run into tend to be embittered by having to put up with noisy, irritating tourists all day. I would be too, but the tourist attraction I live next to doesn't really attract attention. After snapping some photos and getting bitten up by plenty of diseased local fauna, I headed back to Fukuoka. Then got some food and headed to the capsule hotel for that night (the hostel was booked all that night). Wikitravel said that the capsule hotel was cheap, but I was lied to! It was a good 50 dollars for my stay. There is a once per year membership fee on top of the room fee for the place.

All in all it was a pretty nice hotel. The rooms were spacious by capsule standards, and the service was friendly. The interior was fancy as well. They also offered in house sexual services on the cheap. 24 dollars, actually. I didn't oblige to sample them, but they were there all the same. I did however go to the roof onsen, which was nice but also not a real onsen, just an ofuro (the difference being that onsen are awesome and ofuro are crap). Still it was open air so that's always pleasant. Also there was a woman in the locker room. Most of the staff were women so it wasn't surprising that the floor attendant be one, but it was surprising that her desk was placed in clear sight of where I was naked. I made sure to keep my American shame covered at all times, which I'm assuming was much to her disappointment. Not that I have an ego, but I'd like to think that I was a pleasant change from the predominately 60 and above domestic customer base. If you're staring at wrinkly old Japanese butt all day, I presume anything is a welcome change.

It was good to get the bath in as Fukuoka was a good 5 degrees C hotter than Beppu had been, and humid to boot. I was sweating like a pig in summertime, and it was gross. To help with matters, the complementary outfits they provided were polyester and refused to breathe, so after the hot bath you just got sweaty again. Oy. Nice planning there. But it was made up for by the tv showing Casino Royale in English, so I was appreciative of that.

The next day I woke up early, then turned my alarm off and woke up late. Late being 10:30 which is still half an hour before check out, but I had wanted to go to the food court before I left and that didn't leave me the time. Ah well. I bet it was expensive anyways. Besides, I had ramen to go eat. I had been given the name of an Ichiran Ramen shoppe, and decided to go look for that. I found a brothel instead because I got lost. The man outside tried to get me to come in, and the prices WERE cheap, but when he asked if I was interested I told him "Yes. Interested in ramen". and he sent me on my way. Little did I know what I was in store for. At the end of the red light district that I had wandered into was Canal Town. This isn't a street of stores or a department building like most things labelled "town" are in Japan. No. It was a complex. A huge cluster of stores and entertainment venues, all inside one gigantic, interconnected structure. There were fountains, smaller canals running through the area, playpens, five stories, and a musical performance in the main central fountain. It was extravagant. After wandering around lost for a bit (and eating some Baskin Robbins) I found perfection in physical form. The fifth floor above the arcade was a place called the Ramen Stadium.

It was glorious.

In its second year, the Ramen Stadium takes competitors from all over Japan, each claiming to be the best ramen in the land. There were 8 stands in total, and a line outside each one. You purchase your ticket and stand in line until a seat opens up. There were souvenirs and everything, and the food was delicious. Easily the best I'd had there. It's a shame I didn't find out about it until my last day there.

Sigh.

Afterward I brought my luggage to the hostel I was staying at. It took half an hour to get to the 10 minute walk away hostel while carrying everything I had, and that was when I decided that maybe I should take a cab to the airport so that I don't end up late to my flight trying to make it there. I left my junk behind and went back out to do some last minute shopping.

After picking up some items that I had promised to people, I decided that it was entirely too hot out (it had raised two more degrees since the day prior) and just went to an internet cafe for three hours. Free drinks, air conditioning, and high speed internet. If I could live at one I would. After enough of that I headed back to the hostel and had some decent conversation with the other people hanging out there, including a girl that apparently went to APU as well that I managed to never meet. Fancy that.

The rest of the night was filled with charging all my electronics for the flight and attempting to get some sleep, which never happened because I was afraid I'd sleep through my flight.

My flight...

Well, I'll talk about that tomorrow. Long story short, I'm not flying United.