Fukuoka day 3

Aiyo!! This was sitting as a draft for soo long.. Oops.. This is the third day/ installment of our time in Fukuoka.

Tim (Sam's family friend) and his son Yogi took us around Fukuoka on Sunday before taking us to the airport. Our first stop was Kushida shrine. It was a real blessing having Tim with us as he was able to explain what certain things in the shrine were/for. Hakata shrine hosts Hakata Gion Yamakasa a festival celebrated in early July. It includes a float race, where men carry riduculously heavy wooden floats and race.

Sam and Yogi in one of the entrances/mouths to the shrine

Example of a float

Back view of the float

A wedding started whilst we were there

Example of a traditional Hakata wall

We went to Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. We saw two exhibitions - Voyage and awakening: Chinese contemporary art 1979-2009, and Freedom in Blossom! :Gangaw Village and Experimental Art in 1980s Burma. The Second exhibition I found extremely interesting as the artwork shows some of the hardships that the artists had experienced/ witnessed.

Canal city has one floor dedicated to ramen and is named ...  RAMEN STADIUM. There are many ramen shops on this floor and you purchase your meal tickets for the particular shop you want to eat at before getting in the LONG queues. We got there fairly early but it was already packed so we decided to go for good ol' Ichiran downstairs. This particular branch of Ichiran, located in Canal city gives you the option of having an original blend of vinegar in your ramen. Sam and I tried the ramen with vinegar this time. It enhanced the flavour of the broth, however I wish you could specify how much vinegar you could get as it was a little too vinegary for me.

Ramen Stadium entrance