Fukuoka

My ride from Motonosumi Inari Jinja ended up being a lot longer than planned. I rode 120kms+ and made it all the way under the sea to reach Kyushu.

Probably the worst bit of sleep yet though, concrete benches are not comfy.

The next morning I set off early to beat the traffic into Fukuoka, but all I managed to get was a flat tyre.

I met my couch surfing host at the local Mister Donut where I drained 5 free coffee refills and polished off 3 delicious donuts. Chris is a really great German guy (alliterations all over the place). He’s a keen cyclist and is always up for a chat unless he’s busy planning to build his titty bar in the Philippines with his girlfriend haha.

The next day I planned to meet up with one of my language exchange friends who I met online roughly 1 year ago, Ayumi. She also shares a similar passion for Roger Federer – I mean, tennis.

Ayumi is actually a sports physio and has some really amazing clients that allow her to go to many of the big tennis tournaments and meet all the big names. As a souvenir she even gave me a tennis ball from the French Open 2018 (:

We originally planned to play tennis but it was like a million degrees outside so we opted for a more indoor option at Round One. Classic Obon, it was absolutely chockas and they weren’t offering the mega 12h pack due to overcrowding. So we played some tennis, Za Bishi Bashi, Ping Pong and other random things.

Even though she’s a physio, damn, I had to pull out all the stops to have just a slight advantage over her on the tennis court.

How good is being a kid in Japan:

Ayumi was driving me around that day and it felt so good to be in a car. Aircon, not having to try too hard just to go up a hill. Man, looking forward to hoping back in the 2003 shaggin’ wagon when I get back home.

We also went to an abandoned shale mine shaft near the city which had some really good views. Sunset would have been beautiful but we were just a few minutes too late.

Back at Chris’s house alone, I decided to cook up some bangas and mash. Just as I was halfway through cleaning up, his girlfriend’s mum comes home and didn’t expect me to be there. She was super scared. It’s actually really hard to write this story, so just ask me. Probably most awkward story of my trip.