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!
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| 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
So, let me tell you how the day- or at least the tour, came to be...
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| Comfy shoes for a whole day of walking! |
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| HAKATA STATIOOOON! |
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| 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*.
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| Peaceful Zen garden |
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| Lush greenery |
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| Those details, tho |
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| 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. |
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| The stones used to build this wall came from the original Hakata wall. |
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| A stunning pagoda |
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| 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.
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| Tita Vibes with all the green tea |
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| Fish Ham is Legit gooooood! |
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| A traditional machine, used for weaving cloth that are usually used in creating Obi belts. |
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| 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!
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| Class picture! HAHA! |
Love, Always,
Nicole ♥
P.S.
Yes.
