Shrines and Limestones, Fukuoka and North

In my last post on One of the Best FOOD Trips Ever in FUKUOKA, I covered not only the places we went to eat and which ones I recommended, but I also covered the accommodation and transportation (car rental really) for our trip to Fukuoka, so you can just read that blog post for more info.  Or if you’re interested in visiting the southern side of Fukuoka, like Aso and Beppu, you can see my photos at Fukuoka, Aso, and Sea Hell in Beppu for some of the things I did (and ate, but the eating aspect was terrible because we joined a tour agency).

So let’s dig straight into the things to do in Fukuoka, which also included us going north and visiting places like Kitakyushu, Akiyoshidai, Yamaguchi, Nagato, and Hagi.  I’ll be writing in order of the things we’ve done.

Continue reading Shrines and Limestones, Fukuoka and North

One of the Best FOOD Trips Ever in FUKUOKA

I’ve actually been to Fukuoka before a couple years ago, but during that time we joined a tour group that brought us to these horrendous restaurants.  I didn’t write much, but there are a couple of photos you can see at Fukuoka, Aso, and Sea Hell in Beppu.  During that trip, we focused more on the southern parts of Fukuoka.  As such, this time we focused more on the northern side of Fukuoka.

Anyway, the tour guide trip we were on brought us to these ridiculously atrocious restaurants.  In fact, some of these restaurants were overcharging, with the help of the tour guide, who managed to convince us to HAVE to try this Kinki fish for USD 250 that turned out to be undercooked, with lots of bones, and not delicious at all.

That trip, I had an incredibly poor impression of the food in Fukuoka.

THIS time, since we planned and managed the trip ourselves, the food experience was the opposite of what I had compared to my first trip in Fukuoka, in that we had extraordinary food experiences, from sitting near the seaside BBQing raw oysters to eating traditional and sumptuous traditional Japanese traditional cuisine.  I dare say this was one of THE best food experiences I’ve ever had, and I’m about to share with you some of the restaurants we went to.  What a difference planning a trip by yourselves and joining a tour group makes.  I’ve always been AGAINST joining tour groups, as you can manage your time however you want if you’re going by yourself and you can plan the restaurants YOU want to go to rather than being brought to tourist restaurants where the tour agency probably gets a cut or commission from bringing us there.

For things to do, you can read about my blog post Shrines and Limestones, Fukuoka and North.

Continue reading One of the Best FOOD Trips Ever in FUKUOKA

Fukuoka, Aso, and Sea Hell in Beppu

It’s been a couple years since I went to Fukuoka, Aso and Beppu.  We joined one of those tour groups so I didn’t prepare any itinerary.  As with most tour groups, there were a lot of bus riding, a lot of mediocre restaurants, and some OK hotels that we stayed in (so clearly this wasn’t my decision).

This will be purely a photo blog.

 

FukuokaDome shaped hotels in Aso Farm Village.  They also have Dom shaped onsen Continue reading Fukuoka, Aso, and Sea Hell in Beppu