Kyushu 2015 Autumn Self Drive Trip - Day 1

Day 1 - Singapore to Kyushu ( Fukuoka ) , Stay Saga

Day 1 Itinerary

Display at airport that most tourists will take photo with

From Fukuoka International Airport to City area ( Hakata / Tenjin ) , there are few options

1) By Subway - Take the free shuttle bus to Domestic Terminal 2 then from there take a subway to Hakata ( 2 stations away about 5 min ) /Tenjin ( 5 stations about 11 min ) , making it the most convenient and accessible airport in Japan
2) By Bus - From International Airport , takes about 15 min to reach Hakata ( this saves the trouble of taking your luggages up and down the shuttle bus and then to transfer the subway. If i am not wrong should be Bus 11. Anyway if you plan on taking buses in Fukuoka area , do download this App : NNR-BusNavi for buses. NRR- BusNavi for iOS  , NRR-BuaNavi for Android

3) By Cab - Takes about 15 min , cost about 1300yen to Hakata and about 1800yen to Tenjin ( we took from hotel at Hakata cost use 1320yen , and a fellow fren took from hotel at Tenjin , cost her 1860yen )

As mentioned , for SQ flight to Fukouka , will reach in the morning around 8.20 am ( Japan time ).  In order to save time , we decided to pick up the car and wifi router on the same day and drive out of Fukuoka. The reason is that , Fukuoka will be our last station as will be flying back from here , and this will also be where the Last minute shopping will be ( ** big mistake here  , will mentioned later ), that's why instead of spending the night here , we will move off to Saga to save 1 day.
From International Airport , we took the free shuttle bus and alight at Domestic Terminal 2 ( T2 and T3 is connected ) , we walk to T3 Post office to collect our WiFi Router. ( you can have it send to the hotel if you wish but as we will be travelling to the hotel and check in late like evening , so we decided to pick it up first so we can use along the way ). From there , cross the underpass to the other side of the road where most of the car rental companies are at. Ours is Budget Car Rental , which is just 1-2 minutes walk from the underpass exit.

After collecting the car , we drove to Ichiran Odo for brunch.  Reason for coming to this outlet is that cos our next destination is Mariano City for shopping. Also as this outlet is out of the busy area of Tenjin/Hakata , parking will not be an issue so they have their own parking lots. Also to note that , this outlet served a slightly different noodles from the main outlet , it serve Wheat noodle , Ouote from the site  ""Special Ra-mugi Noodles from this local special wheat. These noodles contain the flavor of Fukuoka’s pure nature with characteristic strong consistency."

For those new to Ichiran , below is the ordering form for the type of noodle/Soup/Condiments you like , there are forms in different languages , just ask from the staffs. Also you will notice that toilets in Ichiran will have many toilet rolls like the picture above , this is like how they let you choose your style of Ramen , you get to choose from different toilet rolls ( I am not sure if the quality/texture of the rolls defer cos I never use. )

Form for selecting your own "customise" bowl of noodle 

After the Ramen @ Ichiran Odo , we drove to Marinoa City Outlet for a quick shopping. Online we found out that Mont-bell had a outlet here which sell past season at discounted price.

Marinoa City Outlet @ Fukuoka

A BIG mistake , as there is no Tex-Free here at this outlet , We only found out on our last day at Canal City Mont-bell shop that , not only there is a Outlet corner there , it also offer Tax-Free !! based on our spending , we could have save almost 8000yen ! almost SGD $90. *So for those who indent to get items from Mont-bell , go to Canal City Shop instead. Lesson learnt is , if there is specific brands that you are into , do a google online to see which are the outlets for the brand that had Tax-Free , can save a bit as japan tax is 8%.

Can look kinda of scary

Long road of Pines at both sides of road

This is the view if you go up Kagamiyama

After spending few hours shopping , we decided to drive to Nijinomatsubara （虹之松原）is a 360-year-old pine forest in Karatsu, Saga. It has a width of 400 - 700 metres, a length of about 4 km, and a total area of 240 hectares. ( from Wikipedia ). Along they way we decided to stop by Itoshima area for BBQ Oyster.  this is the Oyster Huts Guide for 2015 , basically cos from November to March is Oysters Season , so along the coastline will have "Oyster Huts " that sells oysters and other seafoods for BBQ. 1 basket of oysters cost around 1000yen ( about $12 ) then other seafoods price varies , then they will charge you about 300yen for the "Service Fee " be it charcoals/gas stove. The one we went though charged us 300yen for service fee but we get to choose 2 drinks ( based on convenience store prices , 1 soft drink will cost about 100yen so meaning we only paid 100yen for the "Service Fee". The owner also throw in a few piece of oyster as "service" - meaning Freebie.

The Oysters was very fresh & delicious , of cos we ordered Scallops as well ( my fav ) they usually give you butter for that. If you are not sure how to BBQ like us , the staff will try their best to show you , even if you do not know Japanese, body languages will be used. Lucky for us the lady owner of the store we went knows some english , so there was not big issue. *Note : to bbq the oyster , you need to put it on the flat side first , after few minutes , then you flip to the other side. think one of the reason is to drain out some of the seawater , else read online that the water will "spray out" if you put it on the uneven side at first. Also do not stay too close to the "fire" as some oyster shell might burst due to the heat, not sure why though , some does and most does not. After it's cooked then pry open the shell and then add some soy suace , lemon juice , etc to it. I preferred it without anything on it.  The freshness and the saltiness from the seawater is good enough for me.

The Karatsu Burger Van

I ordered the Special

Karatsu Burger

After Oysters , we drove on to Nijinomatsubara for Karatsu Burger. It taste a bit like Malaysia's Ramy Burger , but they bun they toasted/fried ? so overall taste quite good. Quite hard to imagine the business was not bad though it was like a food truck in the middle of nowhere. Cos when we was there, cars keep coming in to buy , mostly look locals rather then tourists like us.


Did not went up Kagamiyama as planned cos the sky are getting bit dark. Days in Winter are short , though we had planned for Autumn trip but as it was very late in Autumn , it's almost like winter. about 5 pm and the sky is all DARK like 7-8pm in SG.  So if you ever planned trip in late Autumn or in Winter, do take note of the short daytime.

After having the karatsu burger, we drive to Kyotoya our hotel in Takeo Onsen area.  After a quick check-in , we drove again to Ogi , Saga. From 15th Nov - 23rd Nov each year , there is a Bamboos light up in Ogi. Though only i read that the bus timing aboved , but think there are more buses then the only 5 mentioned. As with many tourist attractions in Japan, if the places of interests is seasonal and parking is limited , they will usually provide free shuttle buses at some temporary carparks to cater to the visiting crowds.
After Visiting the 清水竹灯り aka the Bamboo lights Festival in Ogi, we drove back to Takeo and park our car at the hotel then walk about 10 min to 佐が家 for dinner.

Part of the Beef Menu

Highlight for the night is A5 Saga Beef ! ( a lot of people just know Wagyu beef , which only means only Japanese Beef.) There are a lot of classification of Wagyu , A5 ( i think ) is the highest grade and then it also will have to depends where the beef is from , like Kobe Beef , Matsuzaka Beef , Miyazaki Beef , Etc. One thing I found our very different this trip is that , in Kyushu ( maybe other places , i am not sure ) that they like Oysters Grilled , and the Beef grilled as well rather then we like Oyster Raw in SG and Beef steak pan-fried , maybe is just the shop i went. The beef is REALLY YUMMY ! but some might feel it a bit too oily due to the fats but i like it anyway , we did order the Steak , which is a better mix of fats and meat , it taste super good too !

Kyotoya's Room

As for our hotel Kyotoya , Room wise was ok , quite spacious , parking is just next to the hotel. When we checked in , was given a information slip , and it stated the outdoor onsen only opens from 3pm - 10pm , most of the other Ryokans we stayed before , usually onsen is 24 hours for in-house guest. But we still saw some guests went outside and we thought that was the Sauna , but when we went again the next morning then realised that that was the outdoor onsen , it shared the same door entrance with the sauna and on the door for the sauna then got a plate that states 3 pm to 10 pm. So I think maybe the information slip then the hotel gave was wrong in translation ? anyway we went outside the next morning since the door was not lock.

*Note : if when check in to any hotel in Japan and the staffs cannot find your name , try to ask them to check for your first name instead of the usual last name , this is the problem we had with hotel that we book from booking.com.
Eg . your name is Tan Ah Beng , usually Last name = Tan , First name = Ah Beng , by right it should stated on their record your name is Tan Ah Beng , so the will start to look for Tan , but then they can never find cos on their records it will show Ah Beng Tan instead. So don't freak out if they can't find your booking if you are sure you booked correctly , just point to them to search for you First name instead of "Tan San" ( San = さん in japanese means sort of like Mr. )