Fukuoka Memories: Day 3

13/11/10

2 full days had already passed, and I had adjusted to the new surroundings and environment. I also picked up a couple of Japanese words. But on this day, I was of utmost excitement because we were gonna go to Mt. Aso, and the best part was the hotel, which was what we were all looking forward to. It was just a normal school trip, but we get to go to hotels?!? Cool!

From left: Guan Chao, Me, Stephen in my dorm room/bed.

So I woke up early with this thinking in my mind, and headed downstairs for breakfast. Wow! It was freezing cold walking down the hallway. My buddy Guan Chao and I got down to the canteen for yet another delicious breakfast. After that, the school bus came to pick us up to bring us to the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum for the opening ceremony. We were honored!

The art exhibition was awesome, every single artwork looked as real as a photograph, but they were paintings done by Chinese painters. Here's a sample

An old couple, with every wrinkle and mole clearly depicted using the smallest brushstrokes no one could ever imagine. Each single pixel was painted with much tenderness and carefulness.
Hmm, what more could I say? For my artworks, go check out my facebook photo profile page. However, I'll be sued if this gets out to the public, so I'm just going to limit the readers and viewers to my blog readers.



Afterwards, we went to Lawsons, a convenience store where I bought my first ever bento set, which was Udon, my favourite Japanese meal! We went back to the bus and ate it like dogs cuz' we were hungry. The guide then told us that we would be heading to Mt Aso right away, and that was when my heart started beating irregularly, I was excited!

Along the way, I took a couple of pictures of the surroundings, which were mainly mountains and low grounds, it was just a spectacular sight.
Whilst everyone was sleeping soundly, I was the only one awake so I was the only one who owned these pictures of this part of the trip.

Yeah! WOOHOO..

The bus soon exited from the highway and went in the direction of Kumamoto. The city was incredible, there were trams to transport people around the streets, it was like their main form of transportation.

Kumamoto Castle from a distance

Top of Kumamoto Castle view

It was fun riding over the tram tracks as the bus continued driving through the city and finally took a right turn uphill. Within minutes, a great castle stood before us and it wasn't exactly the type of Roman castle that people normally stereotyped this word to, instead, it was an ancient castle that was built to honor a king, and was rebuilt in the 1960s to allow visitors to enter and have a good view at the top of the castle.

It was cooler up there, but we had to head back down to the ground floor for our sketching (which I lost the sketch the next day)

Anyways, there were many cosplayers up there, in samurai, and other asian superhero costumes which I can't name. I took pictures with a few and then the guide told us to go back down to the bus.

Oh yah, one perculiar sight was that we saw MGS girls there. And they were the same ones we saw at Changi Airport and also the same ones that took the same flight as us to Fukuoka, Japan. Coincidence?

So by that time, it got well... pretty dark already so we made one more pit stop before finally reaching that hotel. I think it was called the Suizenji Temple. Another scenic view which I got some really good photographs.





Sooner than enough, we were at the hotel, and it was crowded with Koreans. Some were dem chio. And at every Mountain hotel, there was always a compulsory activity to do - Visit the Hot Springs.

At first I was kinda like ew.. that's disgusting. Having to strip naked and looking at other naked man while in a small room full of hot water baths and hot springs + an outdoor hot spring was pretty scary.

Guan Chao and I in our Yukatas

Before we went to the hot spring, there was one thing I forgot to mention, which was the Japanese buffet dinner. There were not much things as Singapore buffets but the food was just as delicious. I especially liked their sashimi section and dessert section. The puddings they make are like heaven~ I ate quite a lot, so I got more plump the next day. Then we went to the mini arcade also present in the hotel and played like 5-6 rounds of air hockey.

Thereafter, we went to the hot spring. It was freaking hot at first, like I couldn't even dare to get my legs in, but soon because we went to the outdoor pool and it was so cold, that I had no choice but to enter, which soon I got used to.

In fact, it became rather enjoyable and relaxing, with all my troubles and worries evaporating through the sweat and the steam.

It was a great night and I spent the rest of the night watching others play card games. By 12 I got too tired so I went back to bed and turned on the heater for the room. (By the next day, I found myself sweating furiously in my bed)