Nicocosity: Travel diary

Do you guys remember the hype when Temple Run was released in mobile phones? Back then, I remember thinking, "Dayuuum, this guy's only problem is that he must not trip nor fall, but endurance-wise, that ain't a concern." Clearly, in real-life even if no monster is chasing you, you've got to have endurance, especially in travelling!

Me and Imman

I have truly tested that need of endurance, and comfy shoes, during our Day 2 of Fukuoka trip, where we had our temple tour via Airbnb Experience!

Originally, we did not intend to take any kinds of tours because of the trouble of going to places with a big group. Sure, being in a tour is convenient, given that you don't have to think much about planning, you just pay, go, and let the tour guide take you to places. However the toiling part of being in a large group in tours is the fact that you have limited power to go to places, since you have to take in consideration where the group goes, and yes that includes multiple bathroom breaks. Also, how are you going to be able to do really quick, but quality-filled OOTDs?

But hey, who are we to say no to free stuff right? So we went ahead and booked for the AirBnB Experience Temple Tour with Anne and Masato HERE

I'm pretty sure you haven't move on yet when you saw the word 'free' 😂 Yes, I'm not kidding, we got this tour for free because of an AirBnB mishap, which I have blogged about, and you can check it HERE. Upon checking with the AirBnB experiences available in Fukuoka, it is definitely limited unlike in big cities in Japan like Osaka or Tokyo, but despite the small numbers of available experiences, they are all definitely interesting. Aside from this temple tour, there's also a kimono rental experience, and even a Japanese calligraphy class! At first, me and Imman were very interested with the calligraphy class, since he thinks this will help me in the further betterment of my 'skillzzz', however being outdoors seem more fun, so we ended up deciding this tour instead.

So, let me tell you how the day- or at least the tour, came to be...

Comfy shoes for a whole day of walking!

HAKATA STATIOOOON!

Love Ko 'To

We left our AirBnB place at around 8:30 am, to make sure that we get enough time to have breakfast somewhere. Since the meeting place for the Temple Tour is in Gion station, we decided to hit off Hakata Bus Terminal and see where can we eat. Supposedly, we intend to have a good start of the day in one of the nice restaurants in Hakata Station, particularly in the ground floor of Kitte OIOI, but unfortunately they open at around 10 am, so we opt for McDonald's instead ☺One nice fact about McDonald's Japan - They can give you the option of side salad, especially if you don't feel like eating mashed potato in the morning, oh and their orange juice really taste like legit orange! In the Philippines, it just taste like sugar water *sad face*.

Peaceful Zen garden

Lush greenery

Those details, tho

Me with one of the many Hakata Gion Yamakasa Floats scattered around the city. This float is carried by men during the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival that is held in Fukuoka every July.

The stones used to build this wall came from the original Hakata wall.

A stunning pagoda

The Tocho-ji Temple houses the largest sitting wooden Buddha in all of Japan. This Buddha is also known as Fukuoka Daibutsu, and weighs around 30,000 kilos!

The temple tour is hosted by a couple named Masato and Anne . Masato is Japanese while Anne is Swiss, together they toured me, Imman, and our new friend, Zain, around the temples in Hakata. During the tour, they explained to us the history of the temple, as well as how these places affected the lives of the people of Fukuoka, even this day and age.

One of the notable things I have learned is the origin of the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival. The Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival happens during July, where groups of men carry these intricately-made floats featuring lots of colorful details, and while doing this they shower the streets with water. The origin of this festival dates back 700 years ago (not joking, it's THAT old). Back then the whole of Hakata was plagued with a disease (imagine something like the Bubonic plague in Europe), then one monk scattered holy water throughout the whole city, and somehow it as if 'sanitized' the whole city, and eventually the plague stopped. From then on, they continued doing this ritual in order to clean the city, and prevent plagues from happening again. Before I used to think that the reason why they do this every year is because it's hot in July, and this festival is probably done to cool the people of Hakata hahaha! Little did I know, the festival has a very old and fascinating origin that will make you go "Ahhh Wow!"

Aside from the history, and fun facts, they also taught us some rituals, like lighting of incense, and cleansing of one's self before going inside a temple. What's so nice about their tour is, aside from learning about the origins of the temples we go to, we also learned a lot of things from them, from culture and even food! Their tour is not limited to visiting temples, because they also took us to food and tea shops, where we met some locals who taught us about traditional Japanese ways, like from the picture below, which shows a traditional Japanese furniture that is used for heating and cooking.

Tita Vibes with all the green tea

Fish Ham is Legit gooooood!

A traditional machine, used for weaving cloth that are usually used in creating Obi belts.

Fun Fact: Despite this being an old Ryokan, don't expect being able to book a room by walk-in only, because all reservations made should be done via online

This AirBnB experience is definitely one for the books, and even if we didn't get the free coupon, we'll definitely still pay for it! Anne and Masato are amazing tour guides, and I definitely urge everyone to book their tour, because it's definitely worth it!

Class picture! HAHA!

Love, Always,

Nicole ♥

P.S.

Yes.

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Nope, we did not see Pennywise in Bangkok, but we did float when we were in Thailand. Once again, once more this is a late post about my trip to Thailand more than a month ago. So, before I totally forget the things that happened, here we gooooo!

From what I recall, we had a stopover in a sugar cane/orchid farm, instead of an Elephant park ~~because some people were too slow at the breakfast buffet :/~~ . However, I really couldn't recall seeing any orchid, or any much at all earlier that day HAHAHA- oh wait except for this one:

THIS IS GOLD

IDK, I think Thais have a penchant for personalization. In my 4 days there, I've had 2 instances where my face wound up in a souvenir item without my permission. Some of my co-workers bought the plates with their own faces, however I did not buy this one-I mean, imagine eating something delicious, then halfway you see your face frowning, as if frowning at you for pigging out junk again.

Anyway, moving on...

Ah, yes ate?

I actually just realized now that the floating market we went to was not located in Bangkok hahaha! I remember it took us around an hour and a half going there coming from our hotel in Baiyoke. The entrance going to the floating market itself doesn't appear as if in just a few meters there's a canal system waiting for you. Unlike the Venetian canal, where the gondola glides and makes smooth ripples in the water, here the boats you hop on are as fast as if you're in a jet ski chase scene in an action movie hahaha! If my memory serves me right, the floating market we went to was Amphawa, and unlike the other ones in Thailand they don't really sell that much in the water, since majority of the sellers are already in land. But instead of being disappointed by the fact that I won't be able to experience the authentic feeling of buying something while sitting prettily in a boat, instead I keep this in mind instead:

Imagine being stuck there and you need to pee soooo bad!

What will you find in the shops, you asked?

Aside from the usual souvenir and food, you'll also see some bizarre stuff, like a photo opportunity with a huge-ass python, and a little baby tarsier, for a hundred baht. As much as I like tarsiers, I passed the opportunity for a photo, because just an FYI to everyone, tarsiers are EXTREMELY (ok maybe not THAT extreme) sensitive, and it is frowned upon to touch them because it may stress them so much that they'll die. As for the python, you ask? C'mon you don't have to pay to have a selfie with a fake friend 🐍🐍🐍🐍

After the floating market, we then proceed to have lunch in a ferry- which I forgot to take photos because of extreme hunger. Then after the ferry, we proceed with the semi-main event: The Grand Palace.

Here's the thing, if you wanna go to the Grand Palace expect the following things:

1. You are going to walk-A LOT! If you're a part of a tour, do expect that your train, coaster, or van will park somewhere far from the main gates, as for those roughing it, your tuktuk will drop you about a kilometer away from the gate itself. From what I remember the reason why all automobiles are not allowed to be near the vicinity is because of the on-going burial rites of the King. With that, please leave your heels behind, and succumb to the comforts of a good pair of slip-ons, since you'll be required to take off your shoes upon entrance to the temples.

2. DRESS MODESTLY! This one is a must, unless you wouldn't mind missing out on the beauty of the temples. They are very strict! You see, it's common courtesy to dress appropriately in religious places, so be respectful and wear something less revealing. To help you, here are some of the clothes you shouldn't wear:

👚 Sleeveless tops (anything that shows your bare arms), Over-the-shoulder tops, mid-riff baring blouses and the like.

👕 Basketball jerseys (Why would you even???) and the like. For Women:
👖 For Women: Shorts, Short skirts above the middle of your calf, tights, leggings, denim pants, ripped jeans, and the like
👖 For Men: Shorts, Denim pants, ripped jeans and the like.
3. BRING A PASHMINA if you're unsure whether you are wearing something inappropriate, cover up with your pashmina or scarf.
4. Be prepared with a photo of your passport. The security sometimes check it, so just be prepared.
5. You are not allowed to seat on the ledges, or better yet be mindful where you seat, unless you wouldn't mind paying a 2,000 baht fine.

Hmmm yes?

You can crop me out if you wanna focus on the beauty of the palace ahahaha!

The Grand Palace tour was tiring but amazing! There were a lot of people at the time we went there, so just looking at the myriad of people taking photos and milling around exhausted me hahaha! The palace, in real life, is amazing-actually the word amazing wouldn't do justice on how majestic it looks.The one in my photo above shows the Phra Thinang Chakri Maha Prasat, and I suppose it was one of the residences of the Thai royals. Aside from that, The Grand Palace houses multiple temples, which are all stunning. If you love admiring architectural marvels, this is the place to be.

But before we go to the main event of this day, we headed first to MBK Shopping center, to well, shop hahaha! For those who know me well, it's not a surprise that I went to this particular place in MBK:

At the top level of the MBK Dept. Store, Tokyu, I found the small mecca of pens. Some pens in Tokyu are available even in Manila, then there are some where I have to order abroad. One particular item was the Pentel Fude touch pens, which I am currently addicted to. Oh I should have bought more!

Aside from pens and stationery, MBK houses a lot of shops selling food, clothes, accessories, jewelries, and everything else you could imagine. One tip I got from my co-worker was to buy sweet tamarinds here in bulk, since it's more affordable here than in Chatuchak-hell yeah, she is right.

Moving forward, after being given an hour to throw cash on senseless stuff in MBK, we now proceed to the main event: Chao Phraya cruise. Before you get to hop in the cruise, you'll enter first a mall with amazing art galleries on its top floors, so if you feel like adding an avant garde piece, wander the halls of the malls before you ride the cruise.

Here's the thing, I hate riding boats. When I was a kid, I had a horrible memory when I rode the ferry called Super Cat going to Puerto Galera, and from then on I never wanted to ride boats again. I remember when I woke up that day, I was dreading about the activities, which most has something to do with water transportation! But then again, it all turned out fine, since all the boat rides promised one thing: Food! By the way, the cruise has an amazing buffet in it where you get to stuff your face for 2 hours while you cruise the Chao Praya river.

This day was a great one, I must say. It made me change my mind about the thought that I wouldn't want to go back to Bangkok-now I wanna go back! Hahaha!

Love, Always

Nicole.

P.S.

Adieu, Soi Cowboy.

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