The outbound flight from Singapore to Fukuoka Airport was uneventful, and almost totally free from any kind of turbulence even. Oddly though, the inflight breakfast was pretty awful and bland: or maybe I should have opted for the Japanese menu instead of the the supposedly ‘safer’ international breakfast of Chicken Sausage, potatos and omelette. Customs Immigration and baggage pick-up likewise went without a hitch, and after a quick test to make sure that the data SIM cards I’d picked up from Lazada a month ago could connect fine and receive data, I booked a airport limousine bus ride to Hakata Bus Terminal – the ticketing machine accepts large notes of ¥10,000 making it unnecessary to buy the cheapest item at the airport 7-11 just to get small change. That was followed by a 7 minute walk to drop off my luggage at my first place of stay, The Royal Park Fukuoka Hotel, and I was off again to make my way to the first place of visitation: Ohori Park.
The park is a public and city park, so there’s no admission charge to speak of. The park itself is dominated by a large pond, with a walkway that runs through through the middle of the pond and interconnects three mini-islands: Willow, Pine, and Sweet Flag. The walk is quite pleasant, very well-shaded, with plenty of benches for you to stop and soak in the peaceful serenity. The park on this Sunday morning had a fair share of visitors, including young couples, families with young children, and a lot of joggers. Though as the park is fairly large, there’s plenty of space for everyone; at no point did the park feel congested at all. This also isn’t a tourist spot, so the park is spared off the busloads of noisy tourists.
Interesting bits for me: a stork at the banks of Pine Island, and a family of Mandarin ducks that was quietly resting away from foot traffic. Every few minutes or so you’ll see a passenger plane flying overhead, providing great photo-taking opportunities if you have the right lens with you.
Adjacent to Ohori Park is the Japanese Garden that I’ll write about next.
Summary: easy to get to, and you can spend an hour or two for a leisurely walk. No admission charge.
Directions: pretty straightforward: take a train at the Kuko Line from Hakata Station to Ohorikuen Station. The ride costs ¥260/SGD3.30 and takes just under 10 minutes.
Next post on the lovely Japanese Garden @ Ohori Park!
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