Category: Travel

Nanzoin Temple / 南蔵院

On July 1, 2018

With Julie’s visit this week, I have been very busy doing all sorts of fun tourist type activities! One of the best trips we did was heading off to Nanzoin Temple, which features The Reclining Buddha (more on this later).

Rather than bore you with lots of hyper-descriptive prose, I think a visual tour would be much more fun. So let’s get started!

Getting there was pretty easy, just a 30 minute train ride from Hakata station. Once we got off the train and started trekking up towards the temple grounds, we found this family of turtles with their own mini-shrine. They were kind enough to let me take way too many photos as I over-enthusiastically snapped shots from various exciting angles.

Look who came to greet us!

Clearly turtles weren’t the only photogenic fauna around, as this rather large dragonfly posed long enough for me to get a fairly zoomed in photo.

Posed for the photo and flew off as soon as I was done…

One of the first statues to be seen was of this chap with his flames and sword. We originally thought he was some bad guy, but Julie did some research and we discovered he is actually Fudoumyouou who is a Buddhist deity who protects worshippers from harm.

Later learnt this angry looking guy is a protective deity

As we spotted more of the classic Buddha style statues, we noticed they were usually wearing some sort of clothing, be that a hat, a cardigan or the like. It turns out the reason behind this is fairly involved, so check out this post for details.

Lots of little statues, all wearing the cutest clothes

After a bit more walking, we finally made our way to the star attraction, The Reclining Buddha himself! I must say, the statue really is impressive and quite something else to behold. He is the world’s largest bronze statue and is the same size as the Statue of Liberty. He is so large I had to use the panorama mode of the phone to get him fully in the frame.

Even more impressive in person…

You can walk around to his feet and I think the following image really gives you a good idea of the scale of the statue…

Buddha foot with Julie touching the thousand spoke wheel symbol

Once we had seen the Buddha and enjoyed some well timed ice-creams, it was time for some exploring!

The path upwards…

After following a (very steep) trail up and out of the temple grounds, we found ourselves in some beautiful back-country, surrounded by bamboo forest. I love the sound they make as they rustle in the breeze. It was truly a magical part of the day for me.

I love bamboo forests

From the trail, we were able to visit a number of smaller temples and shrines. At one temple, we even had the Buddhist monk come out and offer us watermelon to eat! It was unexpected and very much appreciated on a very warm day. We ventured on each time and were treated to some great views through the trees.

Fabulous views over the countryside

As we wound our way back down the mountain towards the station again, we found many more statues, but the following set were really quite something else. Such a riot of colour and clothing on each of the little stone statues!

Someone likes playing dress up…

Here you can see some up close… adorable!

So dang cute…

Overall it was a brilliant day and even the photos can’t do justice to the adventure we had. If you ever get a chance, I’d highly recommend a visit!

Views of Fukuoka / 福岡の景色

By Matthew

On May 20, 2018

In Fukuoka, Japan, Nature, Running

One of the things many locals of Fukuoka like about their city is that it has all of the city conveniences but also, not too far away, it has lots of nature and scenery. I haven’t had an opportunity yet to venture outside of the city properly (something I intend to remedy shortly) but I have found many lovely places while out running.

My favourite so far has to be Heiwaminami Ryokuchi Park (say that 3 times quickly) which is only a few kilometre jog from my apartment. Not only is it 100% trails with wonderful green foliage, but it is super-duper undulating. This means I can get all the hill training I could possibly want, all in one handy-dandy park!

Let’s take a quick photo tour…

Heiwaminami Ryokuchi Park

Photos never do justice to how steep a trail really is. But this was super steep, honest!Â That aside, I love how green and verdant everything looks. Cannot get enough of this sort of trail.

Peeking out through the trees

Most of the views are obstructed by all the beautiful green foliage I was just mentioning, but occasionally you can peek out and see the city below.

View from the observation tower

One unique aspect of the park is the tower you can walk up to get 360 degree views of Fukuoka.

Cemeteries get all the best views

Right next to the park is a large cemetery. Japanese culture includes a lot of respect for the dead, so you can just imagine how this is both immaculately maintained and presented.

I’m a sucker for attractive looking clouds…

On the way back from the park now, waiting at an intersection. Not too much exciting happening, but I do like how the building in front is telling me something is “Good” with a solid thumbs up included. Thank you random building, things are indeed “Good”.

Filled with fishies!

What you can’t see very well in this final photo is all the fishies in the canal. The water is very clear, so you can see all the big buggers and little guys all swimming around.

Hong Kong / 香港

By Matthew

On May 7, 2018

In Travel

I just got back from a short holiday in Hong Kong with Jules. Since I’m not really into cities these days, we thought that rather than focus on the city itself, we decided to spend our time seeing the natural/cultural attractions that surround the city proper.

The weather on each day was on the warm side (26-30 degrees) which I’m to understand isn’t too bad in Hong Kong terms. I found it really enjoyable and managed to avoid sunburn, heatstroke or other ailments for the duration.

Our first day was on Lantau and involved a very scenic cable car up to the Ngong Ping to see the Big Buddha there. The Buddha statue was indeed very big and quite impressive!

One very large Buddha

We also took an opportunity to walk along the Wisdom Path while there and see the prayer monuments set up there. The natural beauty of the area and the Buddhist religious aesthetic created a really relaxing and enjoyable vibe for the day.

Getting our wisdom upgraded

The next day we went over to Hong Kong island and took a tram up to Victoria Peak. It was a bit of a hazy day, so the view was only moderately amazing, but we made the most of it with a walk around various trails on the mountain. My Garmin reported over 100 floors worth of climbing that day, which ‘aint too shabby at all.

View from Victoria Peak

We also hit up the Botanical Gardens while we were on the island, which was a quiet respite from the cars and people. At one point we found some really neat looking critters in a greenhouse which I just had to snap a photo of!

Wascally Wabbit

The final full day was a 40 minute ferry ride out to Cheung Chau island. It had a very different vibe to the rest of Hong Kong, with a strong feeling of remoteness from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Colourful boats lined up at the port

We spent the day wandering about, seeing a Pirate Cave, the Mini-Great Wall, along with various beaches, lookouts and temples. All with the added bonus of me not getting violently ill from the ferry! Win!

The final day was spent recovering while wandering around a gigantic mega-shopping-complex, generally relaxing and counting how many shops had “London” in their name in relation to “Paris”, “Tokyo” and “New York” (spoiler alert: London won, who knew it was considered cool by people?).

I really enjoyed the trip and it was super awesome to spend the time with Jules as well!

Now I’m back in Fukuoka and need to get back into a studying mind set again…

Fukuoka Running / 福岡を走る

By Matthew

On April 13, 2018

In Fukuoka, Hakata, Japan, Running, Travel

I’ve been doing a fair bit of running since I arrived in Fukuoka. Since the weather has generally been good, it is just too tempting to resist getting out to run without the need for 3 layers, gloves, beanie and a prayer to the god of frostbite. I haven’t done anything long distance yet, but I’ve given a 5km area south of Hakata station a good go.

Let’s go for a little virtual tour…

The first run is along one of the river/canals of Fukuoka city, specifically the Naka River. I quite like this one as it has nice paths to run along the river, meaning I don’t have to stop for traffic every 200 meters.

View along the canal path of the Naka River

The path is really nice and smooth (reducing, but not eliminating the chances of me falling on my face) but also inset from the road, meaning it is quiet and feels fairly detached from the city.

Next up are two photos on the same street at the end of the canal path section which are fairly illustrative of the type of off-main-street views:

Side street in South Hakata

So much concrete…

They certainly do like concrete here. Probably necessary for the whole earthquake thing, so you have to respect the choice of function over form.

The next stop is Sanno park, which is by far my favourite of the smaller parks in the area. It boasts a 1.2km running track (nice and soft), a few little hills to sprint up and a shrine. The shrine is especially nice, sitting in the middle of the park, but separated by sitting atop a small hill and surrounded by trees.

Hiyoshi Shrine in Sanno Park

Apart from the shrine, this park is quite different in that it has actual trees and grass. Most parks are mostly concrete/dirt areas with a small row of trees.

Sanno Park

I’m planning on ranging out more on my runs over the summer and I’ll be reporting back with what I find!

Sakura / 桜

By Matthew

On April 1, 2018

In Fukuoka, Japan, Sakura, Travel

Today was spent exploring Fukuoka City’s various ins and outs. I am very lucky that I have arrived just as the cherry blossoms have started to bloom, and I was able to see lots of them on my walk around.

Fukuoka Canals and Sakura

Oh look, its a selfie!

When I wasn’t watching for the cherry blossoms, I meandered around the city, past most of the large shopping areas, through a few parks and along many streets. At first glance, Fukuoka is a fairly normal, medium sized city. However it feels a little different here and I’m not sure I can put my finger on why that is yet. Might take more than a few hours of strolling to get to the heart of this city!

Another street, another cluster of cherry blossoms

One thing I found today that isn’t your everyday occurrence (maybe it is in Fukuoka, that’s yet to be established), is I happened across a festival, or 祭り (matsuri), at one of the parks I visited. It had all the stalls you would expect, fried chicken, fried noddles, candy floss, samurai on horseback… wait, samurai what?

Just your everyday Samurai on a horse

Japan is always full of surprises 🙂

Preparations / 準備

By Matthew

On March 25, 2018

In Japan, Preparations, Travel

準備 (junbi) – preparation; setup; arrangements; provision; reservations.

I’ve got most of the preparations for the trip already done. It is difficult to determine what you might need for 6 months, but I figure that if I get the most important things sorted (flights, school, apartment) then I can blag the rest once I arrive. Japan is a pretty advanced place after all, such that if I need a toothbrush I will likely be able to locate one without incurring undue stress.

One thing I needed to sort out ahead of time, are the gifts I needed to get for various people I’d like to make a good impression with. There is a strong culture of gift-giving in Japan, called お土産 (omiyage), whereby anyone going off for a holiday or trip is generally expected to bring back souvenirs for their close friends, colleagues, family, etc. It is somewhat more culturally embedded in Japan than most other countries, where you might get a present for people, instead you really should get something.

What to get though? I did a bit of digging and it appears to be somewhat of a fine art, choosing something that is both representative of the place you visited, but not too tacky and not too expensive. With this in mind, I scoured Amazon for various British trinkets, before arriving on these delightful set of English teas. It feels like they will tick all the boxes, however I will report back here with the results, positive or otherwise.

English Tea Shop Gift Sets

With these packed, I think I’m all set to go! Now there are just 4 days of work between myself and a Korean Air flight to Fukuoka.

Introductions

By Matthew

On March 23, 2018

In Preparations, Travel

In exactly one week from now, I will be flying off to adventures new in Japan. I’ll be spending 6 months in Fukuoka, learning Japanese full time, exploring the city, making friends and exploring new boundaries. It will be something completely different from my daily life in the UK and I’ve very few preconceptions on how it will all go. Will I enjoy the thrill of constantly being exposed to new people, concepts and culture? I certainly hope so, but it is in the not knowing that a real adventure starts.

So as I start this new challenge, I would like to take the time to document the journey. Partly it is for myself, to reflect on later, and partly it is for you, someone who might be interested in what I discover in Japan. I’ll update as often as I have anything to share and I hope you enjoy following along!