Part of the problem with being an early person, was that you felt compelled to make something out of the early hours. Our flight was at 12, we had to get to the airport by 10, so check out at 9:30 and take a taxi there. We woke up at around 6, technically we had about 3 hours, except nothing was open at this hour.

習慣早起也有他的問題，就是總覺一大早還是該做點什麼。我們的飛機是中午12點，10點需到機場，所以9:30要退房去搭計程車。我們醒來時大約6點，嚴格說有3個小時可利用，只是這時候什麼都還沒開。

 

Breakfast first though. The cafe we went to yesterday only opens at 7 so we were too early even for it. Thankfully there’s a McDonald underneath Hakata station (west side B1).

先吃早餐。昨天去的咖啡店要7點才開所以我們今天起的實在是太早了。幸好博多車站有麥當勞(西側B1)。

While biting into the McMuffin I thought about where to go next. Last time we went to the Ohori Park but due to time largely missed the castle ruins. That was one option, however since we weren’t as early as last time we might only get only an hour there before needing to turn back, not sure if that would be enough to walk all the way around the ruins.

邊吃滿福飽邊想著接下來該去哪。上回我們去大濠公園因時間關係沒能去看城跡。這是一個選項，但這回起的沒上次早，到那裡後可能只有一個小時可逛，不確定夠不夠繞福岡城跡一圈。

 

The other remaining choice was going to Gion and check out some of the temples there. Since we were already on the west side it wasn’t a long walk, maybe just 10 minutes to there.

另外一選項是去祇園看看那裡的佛寺。我們已經在車站西側了，走過去不會太遠，大概10分鐘吧。

 

There was an underground pedestrian/bike parking passage connecting Hakata to Gion station. Everytime I see these huge underground bike storages in Japan I feel a little sad that Taiwan or Australia does not have anything similar. It’s a chicken and egg problem. Japan had an existing bike culture so when they built infrastructures they took them into account, building in bike storages and ramps on the side of stairs for pushing bikes up/down, encouraging the continued use of bicycles. While in Taiwan and Australia bikes weren’t considered a means of transport and became always an afterthought (not to mention Australia’s stupid no bikes on sidewalk rule), the infrastructures were not built to be bike friendly and as result very few people use bikes. I very much think Japan’s bike to station, train to work/school to be the ideal transportation mix. Keeps cars off the roads and keep the shops concentrated around stations.

祇園站和博多站之間有一個地下行人道/自行車停車場。每次在日本看到這些大型地下自行車收納空間就會很感慨，希望台灣或澳洲也有類似的公共建設。雞生蛋的問題。日本一開始就有騎自行車的文化，在建設時就會納入考量，加入停車空間和在樓梯側加上牽車斜坡，鼓勵民眾持續利用自行車。但台灣和澳洲自行車並不被當作代步工具，建設上總是次要考量(更不用說澳洲禁止在人行道上騎車的蠢法規)，這樣騎車不方便就更沒人要騎車了。覺得日本這樣騎車到車站，搭車上班上學的交通方式最好了，減低汽車數量也同時把商店集中到車站附近。

 

Anyway, Gion was famous for a series of buddhist temples Touchouji (東長寺), Joutenji(承天寺), Shofukuji (聖福寺). In particular Touchouji has one of Japan’s largest wooden seated buddha statues.

總之，祇園有名在這裡的許多佛寺，如東長寺，承天寺，聖福寺。其中東長寺最有名，擁有日本最大的木製坐姿佛像之一。

 

It was winter and still quite dark when we got there. The temples unknown to me only opened at 9, we could not enter to see the buddha statue and were only able to have a look around the courtyard.

現在是冬天，到的時候天還沒大亮。沒想到佛寺要9點才開，沒辦法進去看佛像，只能在外面看一看。

Next time I have to come to Fukuoka, either I’m taking a later flight home or I’m going to stay out late and wake up later.

下次來福岡的話，要就是搭晚一班飛機，不然乾脆晚點睡晚點起來算了。

 

We returned, brushed up back at the hotel and headed back out separately to do our own shopping in Hakata station. At least Deitos ground floor where all most of the gift shops were opened very early (makes sense, they were selling to travellers who might need to catch the early train after all).

回旅館梳洗完後各自去車站逛街買要的東西。至少Deitos的伴手禮街很早就開了 (要賣給趕早車的旅客)。

An accident happened when I forgot my wallet back at the Deitos shops while buying sweet cakes. Thankfully the staff stored it for safekeeping and I was able to get it back no problem.

我在Deitos買東西時遺忘了皮夾，在買飲料時才發覺連忙跑回去找，幸好櫃檯小姐有收起來保管，虛驚一場。

 

Instead of calling a taxi from the hotel we walked to the station instead, this way we didn’t need to wait for the taxi to show up. We got to the airport just before 10 (taxi was 1370Y, about the same as last time). Thankfully we showed up early, we knew there was going to be a crowd from our experience last time but this time the line was at least twice as long. We were the second in line to check in and when we finished, the queue had circled all the way around the counter area. The falling yen had really given a boost to the number of Taiwanese coming to Japan.

我們不是在旅館較計程車，而是走到車站，覺得這樣不用等車還比較快。到機場10點 (車前1370Y，跟上回差不多)。幸好找來了，上回搭機就知道人不少，但這回排隊的人至少比上回多一倍。我們是第二個辦理登機的，辦好時人龍已經繞整個櫃檯區一整圈。日圓貶值可吸引了不少台灣人來日本。

 

The Fukuoka airport had undergone some changes to streamline the souvenir checkout (totally needed), and we bought some more sweets and things here. The sweet cake from Yufuin had an expiry of only 2 weeks, which meant I couldn’t bring it back to Australia, some other gifts were needed. I ended up with a few boxes of the famous Hakata chicken cakes (not the large 3D ones, just flat ones cut in the shape of little chickens).

福岡機場對伴手禮店有重新規劃過，調整結帳的動線 (上回就需要了)。由布院的甜點保存期限只有2星期，沒辦法帶回澳洲，所以在這裡另外買了些糕餅。博多有名的小雞蛋糕，但買的不是那個一整隻的立體小雞，而是扁的切成小雞形狀的)。

Dad got a bowl of udon from the small eatery. Nothing fancy, tastes average. At least they had hot food and not just cold sandwiches or rice balls. They could do with a real cafe though.

老爸從小吃店買了一碗烏龍麵。沒什麼特別的，味道普通。至少還有熱食而不是只有三明治或飯糰。不過這機場真該考慮開間真正的咖啡店。

Mom wanted to use up the coins so she sought to buy a can of coffee from the vending. She got a bit confused by the labelling and bought a cold can instead of a hot can (I wish Australia vending also sold hot can coffees, wait actually, I’d settle for them selling canned coffee that doesn’t taste like just sugar and artificial flavouring).

老媽想從販賣機買罐咖啡把剩下的零錢用一用。不過沒看懂標示，原本想買熱的結果按到冷的了。(若是澳洲販賣機也賣熱咖啡就好了，不對，先要求他們賣喝起來不是光只有糖和香料的咖啡吧)

 

Food on EVA air tasted just as bad as the flight to Fukuoka. At least there’s ice cream.

回程時機上吃的跟來時一樣爛。算了，至少還有冰淇淋。