Friday in Fukuoka....

Seeing everyone again was great.  It is never definite  you'll ever actually meet up with random people that you meet while traveling.  I usually try to embrace our time however long or short due to this uncertainty.  Being in their living room brought back memories of our first meeting.  Things were still confusing because of the language barrier but a certain level of comfort was present.  The kids embraced Kaleena and directed her in coloring and performed a piano/recorder duet.  We sat and chatted via phrase book/cell phone translator/dictionary.  The two girls got out their English lesson books to show us.  We named things in our own languages with mutual interest.  After the meal of amazing sushi,  we arranged to meet up with Yuming and Megumi on Saturday to see a show*.  

Friday was ours to do as we wished...and that wish didn't start until noon.  We were on vacation!!  After considering our options we left the hotel.  Starving, since we missed our free breakfast that was served way before we left dream land, we were on a mission to try famous pork ramen.   We shuffled over to the subway and got off at Tenjin.  This district held shops, boutiques, restaurants and bars all occupying tall buildings.  Stores never ending after the first floor but continuing up sometimes eight floors, each a different product.  Being in a new place is always exciting.  You are seeing everything for the first time, the shops, the people,the smell, all part of taking in the rhythm of a new city. 

 Found a restaurant that looked good and bought our meal by inserting yen into a vending machine pushing buttons of pictures that looked appetizing and giving the produced tickets to the server.  The pork ramen was delicious.  Japanese food is so different from the standard Korean we normally eat.  Very savory and not spicy at all, which is the biggest difference.  The noodles were al dente in a sense and hit the spot.  As we sat there a group of business men came in for a quick bite and a couple was finishing up their meal.  I noticed panels with Japanese writing and traditional masks hanging on the walls.   Sampled the various jars of sauces, sesame seeds, and ginger sitting on the table.  We slurped our way down to the bottom or our bowls, in our truest Japanese fashion. The meal rejuvenated us and we went to wander some more.  As usual no particular destination was on our list, so we wandered.

I was feeling a bit ill due to a travel cold so we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit.  Kaleena searched the Internet for some interesting bars.  We were in the mood to see what the nightlife in Fukuoka was all about. 

*show tba