Fukuoka Trip: Day 2

On the second day of our trip it was supposed to be rainy, but we got super lucky with sunshine all day! We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go to a little island called Nokonoshima. First we took a 30-40 minute bus ride to get from Hakata to the ferry terminal, and then we hopped on the ferry (about 400 yen round trip).

Riding the ferry reminded us of our honeymoon in northern Michigan, and of Mackinac Island!

When we got to the island, it was very quiet without much happening and without many people. There were little shops near the ferry terminal, and a bus waiting to take tourists up to a flower park. We were a bit tired of riding bus, and we didn't want to pay 1000 yen to see the flower garden, so we decided to rent bicycles. After all, Nokonoshima is only about 5 miles round, and we biked around Mackinac Island (about twice the size) no problem. It would be fun...wouldn't it?

Turns out, the trails on Nokonoshima are almost all uphill. I don't know how it's possible--even when we were circling back, we went uphill the majority of the time. I'm not joking. Steep, steep hills for about 2 1/2 hours. We did have about a 10 minute respite of downhill on the way back, but that was it. Phew! I'm getting tired just remembering it.

We were also able to take a rest at a beach on the island. I was so excited--it had been a long time since we'd been to the beach to swim, and we've been so homesick for Michigan beaches!

From a distance, it looks quite beautiful! Unfortunately, the water was extremely dirty, but we made the most of it. One surprise for me was the taste of salt! I'd never swam in salt-water before, and it was pretty strange! (...and gross.)

To use the facilities, we would have had to pay 1000 yen (eek! They really try and get as much money as they can on this lonely little island!), so we decided to skip bathrooms and --as covertly as possible-- change right on the beach. It was a successful, albeit tricky, job.

There were gold flecks in the sand!

After hanging out at the beach, we finished our loop around the island. Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore (I was getting sunburned despite sunscreen, and we were both super tired from all that climbing up and up), I spotted a pretty butterfly and was cheered up a bit.


When our hike was finally complete, we returned our bikes and headed to this lone cafe:



I loved the colors and the eccentric style of this cafe. We ordered Orange Floats with the Nokonoshima brand orange soda and orange sherbet. For 350 yen per float, it was a nice way to relax after all that work! Very yummy.




We had a good rest at the cafe, and caught the next ferry back to Fukuoka. It started to rain when we got back (we were so lucky it didn't rain earlier!), so we went shopping for a while and waited for the yatai, or street stalls, to open up and down the streets.


Fukuoka is famous for yatai, so we were sure to sample food from a couple of them. After that, we headed to Ippudo, a well-known restaurant selling Hakata ramen.

What a delicious meal after such a long --but good!-- day. I had the basic Hakata ramen (top), and Chad tried a spicier version. Both were soooo good. With full bellies and tired legs, we decided to call it a night.