Finally in Japan!

Aah Japan!!!!! First of all, our hotel was a thousand times better than the craphole we stayed in in Busan- so we thanked our lucky stars immediately for that! The wonderful Ana Hakata even had a bidet!! Man, my tush has never been so clean! We also had courtesy pajamas left for us every night- and while they were hideously ugly, we just had to wear them ('cuz its not every day you get fresh clean pjs laid on your bed for you!)
So after we freshened up that first night we headed out to discover this insanely beautiful mall called "Canal City." It had everything you could imagine: from canals, to restaurants, to reflexology, to a bagpipe player/juggler. That became our haven as we found some reason to go there just about every night. One of the first things we noticed about Japan is how much freer we felt compared to Korea. No one gave you dirty looks for no reason, signs were also in English; and everything was very easy to navigate. We walked the city the second day and traveled through the many amazing temples. We had no problems finding everything and were able to relax and take in the beautiful sights. The third day we spent traveling to and from Yamagawa which is a city of beautiful canals and Castle ruins. We took a boat-ride through the city on one of the boats propelled by a man with a pole. He was a trip and the canals were so amazing that we were both speechless for most of the ride.


We also had our first experience with a hot spring- which we found by accident when we were trying to find a restaurant. Unfortunately Yamagawa had NOOO restaurants that we could find, so we had to head back to Fukuoka hungry and cranky. The good news is that Fukuoka has amazing food. Over the course of our trip, we ate at everything from little divey places to fancy upscale places, and everywhere we ate the food was phenomenal! (Especially the last night when we ate at a sushi pace that had sushi on a conveyor belt and you just grabbed what you wanted as it came by your table)

That last night I also decided that it was high time I chopped the mane that I have had for the past ten years. So I went to a guy that spoke almost no English, told him to chop it, and he went all Edward Scissor-Hands on me. It was quite a sight! :-) Luckily it turned out well, and I no longer have to take two hour showers! Oh I almost forgot about the Llama!! The last day we rented bikes and rode around this amazing park with a zoo and a seaside view and it was beautiful! What was not so beautiful was getting spit on by a pissed off llama! Yessiree- I stuck my tongue out at him, so he spit on me! Right in my face, much to the amusement of just about everyone around! So, aside from stinking like dirty llama, we had a really wonderful time. The food, the scenery, and the memories all made it a trip we will never forget!