G Photography Tips

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I planed my trip to go the far south first then make my way to the West, East and North. So, I went directly to Fukuoka after Osaka. With my JR Pass I can jump on to any Shinkansen (except the Nosomi train and the Green Cars). Trick for Shinkansen is... Book Your Seat. Go to any Shinkansen ticket counters and show them JR Pass and tell them you want to reserve the seat, even a few minutes before the train leave, you can still do it. Please use the word "Reserve or Reservation" coz I tried my times using the word "Booking" it's never worked. There are non-reserve seats on Shinkansen but they always full (depends of the time as well).



The seating on the train is quite comfy, a lot of leg room and you can recline the chair quite far. Much much better than some the seats on the airplane. It also release very tiny amout of Carbon, 10 times less than the airplane. I felt so green traveling on it hehehe :) There're food and drinks selling on the train as well, so don't be scared of getting hungry. The train from Shin-Osaka to Fukuoka (Hakata) only takes 2.5 hours. On the train, there will be a staff to come and check your ticket, show them your JR Pass, if you reserved the seat also show them the reserve ticket.

If you want to take pictures of the scenery out side the train, be warned the train is very fast, you'll need 1/400 of the second or faster shutter speed to have a decent sharp image. :)

After arriving at Fukuoka Station, the first thing I saw was this longgg line of people line up to buy something... Well, that sojmething must be good I thought and joined the line. hehehe Turned out it's the shop selling Croisant. Name of the shop is "il Forno del Mignon"



There are 3 kinds of them "Plain (on the far left), Choco (in the middle), and ??? (the right). I bought two each for a pre-dinner snack hehe. After the first bite, I realised why there're so many poeple line up for it. Of all the three, I like Choco the most.

It's time to find my hotel. I stayed in "Hotel Com's Fukuoka" (you can book it thru http://b2b.hotelclub.net/) The problem about this hotel is... I couldn't find the map or direction how to get there. I did my research by looked thru http://diddlefinger.com/ and printed out the section where the hotel might be. The most difficult thing is.... there's NO street number on any buildings!! It's hard to find street names too, as at the intersection, There's no street name there. There're signs but they tell which direction goes which area sighhhhhh. I ending up asking the people around and they pointed me to this hotel safely. And don't bother calling the hotel, they're no help. So, I present you Fukuoka Details map!! Hope it helps you for your trip.



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The hotel I'm staying is quite nice for AUD $78.2 a night. Only 7 minutes walk from the station and very close to the sight seeing places.





After checking in I wasted no time asking at the couter "Where is the best Ramen in Fukuoka" They told me to go to this "Canal City" a big shopping mall close to Naka river. Then off I went to find the best Ramen. Along the way my nose started to smell something very yummy. I've quickly following that smell and found a stall selling Yakitori just oposit the Canal City, well that could be a nice entree' I thought, so I picked up a few... sticks. :) They are very very yummy. Tried to stop at number 3 but went on for another one. hehehe





The Canal City is quite big and weird design mixing together. And as the name sugguested, it's got a little man make canal inside.







I walked around a bit and there are a lot of shops and restaurants and I was drooling along the way. They almost have the guy with a mop to follow me drying my saliva (ewwww hehehe). And there it was.... Ichi-Ran.

To be continued....