In the Philippines

Monday, May 19, 2008--Fukuoka (Continued)

I was at the Rainbow Center for international visitors when I posted the last time. After posting to the Internet, I stayed there for several hours due to the rain. I watched Cnn news, read TIME, read newspapers, etc. Then I returned to my hotel stopping only to eat lunch.

I had lunch in another noodle shop. The one where I ate on Sunday was closed, so I found another with lots of activity. I ordered the pork rice bowl set figuring I would get rice and pork and forgetting what "set" means in Japan. It mean a combination luncheon. I got a huge bowl of noodle soup with pork (with a nice creamy texture and a taste of mushrooms) along with a bowl of rice with 5 pieces of pork on top and a tasty thick sauce. I was stuffed afterwards. Guess I went off my diet.

It never stopped raining, so I just stayed inside and read the rest of the day. I also did some planning for my travels to the Philippines.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008--Fukuoka

Well the sun is out and I am invigorated from that big meal yesterday. Today, I went out and did almost everything I had planned to do both yesterday and today, since it is my last day in Japan.

I took the subway far out to a new development along the waterfront because I was interested in seeing the architecture, including the Fukuoka Tower which is a fmous landmark--a communications tower sheathed in mirrors. It is a fascinating area architecturally, and it includes the Yahoo! Dome, their indoor stadium for baseball and soccer.

I walked back to town making stops. I first went to a beautiful park with a lake in the center. I was surprised at the number of people out walking and jogging on a weekday. I stopped at the art museum only to learn that their regular exhibitions were closed. I don't know why, since the lady didn't really speak English. I could have visited their special exhibition, but I couldn't tell what it was. The paper she showed me had only Japanese writing on it. So I continued to town.

I went back to the Rainbow Center planning to check e-mail and update the blog only to find that it was closed for the day due to it being the 3rd Tuesday of the month. Maybe that was the reason the regular exhibits at the museum were closed. It's a common closing date in Japan for some reason.

After checking at a tourist office to make sure it would be open, I took a train from there out to Dazaifu to visit the National Museum--one of only 4 such museums in Japan. It is in a very interesting building built of blue metal and glass an having a roofline that is like a wave. The buildign is massive, and all the exhibits are of high quality. I spent about 1 1/2 hours going through it. They had special exhibits from Kyoto, but since I had already visited that museum several years ago, I didn't pay to see them. But I did go to the nearby temple which is considered to be one of the most important in Japan.

I returned by train getting back about 15:00. I went back to the same noodle place. This time I ordered the noodle set. It was a bowl of the noodle soup with a side dish of 5 fried dumplings with rice. It must have been the right choice, because 3 of the next 4 customers also ordered it. But again, I was stuffed!!

Before going back to the room, I went to Canal City which is a new development just a couple of blocks away. It is a huge hotel/shopping mall/cinema/live theater complex with a small river running through it. The river has dancing fountains like at the Balagio in Las Vegas, but about 1/8th the scale in size. The colors are dramatic like the works of the architect from Mexico who did the San Antonio Library and the addition to the Corpus Christi Art Museum.

I was tired by then and had nothing else on my list that I could do due to it being 3rd Tuesday. Therefore, I went back to the room for the evening. There, I finished reading Man and Boy by Tony Parsons. It is a man's coming-of-age story--meaning his finally growing up and maturing at around age 30! It is meant to be funny, but it isn't guffaw funny. I enjoyed it enough to give it 2 1/2 stars out of 4--2 stars for the first half and almost 3 stars for the second half.

Some surprises about Japan that have been on my mind since I got here: 1) There are so many bicyclists. I didn't remember this from before. Unfortunately, they are on the sidewalks with the pedestrians, but it isn't too much of a problem since they seem to be quite sensative about not creating trouble. 2) Rooms and meals are much more reasonable than I expected them to be. But one of the men at my hotel commented that prices are much better today than they were 10 years ago in Japan. 3) It is cooler than I expected. I have been in stiffling heat in September here, and the last time it was hot without being too humid. But this time, even though I have been in southern Japan, the air has been cool with temperatures in the 15-24 C (60-74 F) range. That's been nice.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008--Fukuoka to Seoul to Cebu

It has been a long day of traveling. I got up about 7:00. I tried using the hotel computer again, but it is hopeless. I did, however, find a website that would let me send e-mail via it, and it worked! No regular e-mail or postings (Yahoo, GMail, Blogger, etc.) would work from that computer. I had to send an e-mail to Chiang Mai to correct an error I made two days ago. I sent an e-mail to the pension where I have a reservatin in July to stay saying that I would be there tonight late. The date in July matched today, and the name of the pension is similar to the one here n Cebu. So I had to let them know someway not to keep a room vacant for me. Glad I found a solution. After that, it was 8:30 and I left the hotel to catch the subway to the airport.

I changed my leftover money into dollars (since they didn't have Filipino pesos), went through security, and waited. I deposited my leftover coins into a Habitat box taht I enjoyed. It was constructed as one of those drops that spirals coins down a funnel. Below the funnel hanging from a crossbar was a bell so that every coin rang a bell as it dropped. That's a good idea. I am sure it promotes more giving than normal.

My flight left there at noon and arrived in Seoul just a little over an hour later. Then the LONG wait began. I had 7 hours before my flight to Cebu. I wandered up and down and down and up. At least it gave me my exercise for the day. I watched CNN news. I watched BBC news. I read in my new book. And finally that long period of waiting ended and we boarded our flight.

We arrived in Cebu just after midnight. I was lucky. The plane was packed (although I had an empty seat beside me) and I had a seat up front. I got off the plane and was about the 5th person in line for immigration. Only 3 stations were open to handle about 175 people! I got through and had to wait a while for my luggage. But when it came, 3/4 of the people were still in line for immigration. I went outside and got money from the ATM and got a prepaid taxi to downtown (3 times the normal price due to it being TO town and to it being after midnight). Anyway, I got to the Pacific Pensionne about 1:00 (2:00 Japan time) was was tired.

My first impressions of Cebu: 1) The airport smells more like India than Japan. It has mold in the air. It also looks more like India than Japan. It is not a modern facility. 2) Again like India, there are many people on the streets after midnight--walking, sitting and visiting, etc. 3) The Philippines is still one of the less developed countries in Asia. It compares more to Myanmar than it does to Malaysia. To be honest, it is more like India in general appearance and condition of infrastructure.

My room seems so BIG after those small rooms in Japan. It is nice. It has white tile floors, a comfy foam bed, a/c, telephone, and best of all--cable TV with movie channels and international news channels. It is in a good location, too. I made the right choice.

Spending Update: I spent $1152.56 over 17 days in Japan for an average of $67.80 per day. Train passes good for 10 days accounted for $13 of the daily average. Transportation is one of the biggest expenses when visiting Japan.