road trip! part 3: fukuoka to oita!

another real good day in fukuoka

 a real good buddy of mine, Tsugeru

came out to hang out! mahalo!

 we walked a lot that day. 

chari-ya. kukusaikuru!

this is tsugeru's brother: Aogu

 took a break at kanako's cafe

 delicious girly drinks

 hung out for worship practice

 and then off to the beach! 

it was sooooo hot, the water was real nice,

watched the sunset

 this is their church,

they were kind enough to let me crash out here!

thanks Tsugeru! thanks Irie family!

 in the morning i drove to Oita

and went to service at Chapel Noah

 super lucky and caught a baptism!

 yorokobi!

 there, caught wind of a worship night back in fukuoka,

so drove 2 hours back to check it out.

 i was blown away at the level of musicality! 

Psalm 33:3

Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully, and shout for joy. 

 hallelujah!

 alohallelujah!

okaasan needs work with her composition, haha

road trip! part 2: fukuoka!

 off to fukuoka!

i slept in my car at a parking lot at the onsen.

needed to be on the freeway by 4AM but woke up at 3:30

drove real fast. 

 fukuoka is famous for ramen

(you knew that already)
this shopping mall had a floor dedicated to it

everyone told me to eat a bowl for them,

so i made sure to eat ramen as often as i could 

in the three short days i was in fukuoka

 bowl one:

 actually this was bowl two, 

didn't take a pic of the first bowl

 bowl three:

 fukuoka was actually a really big city!

almost up there with tokyo and osaka, 

so most of my time in fukuoka was spent roaming the city

that night, actually, that whole day,

my buddy was sick so i didn't have anyone to hang out with

no problem! 

wandered the city through the day, 

and looked for a tiny izakaya at night.

 

came across this spot, with a counter for about 6 people

and ended up staying there til 4am, hahaha

 they were good people! real good people!

totally enjoying life

ate a nabe by myself, it was small, promise.

but it was soooo good

mentaiko motsu nabe. bomb bomb bomb

went across the street for bowl four:

 this girl was working there but ended up getting off early

and sat and ate with us!

she kept making fun of me for eating a soloing a nabe, haha

 the next day Tsugeru and his brother Aogu

came out to hang out!

this is where we had bowl five:

 they knew all the good spots to shop,

so we ended up shopping all day. 

didn't buy much tho, but it was good fellowship

 told them i was into bicycles so we walked all day

trying to find this place 

ended up being pretty cool, small bike shop

 went to that girl's cafe the next day

(her name is Kanako [for my future reference])

 she was on break as we rolled in, which worked out all right

went to praise team practice

 then hit the beach!

it was cool, they had all these stands out and places to grill

 this is Tsugeru and Aogu's father's church

they were kind enough to let me stay here :)

 aaaand that was fukuoka! 

good times! i wish i had more money!

road trip! part 1: hiroshima, pon, miyajima!

these next couple entries are going to be

rather picture heavy. 

hopefully you dig that :)

so check out my car

it's a toyota noah.

decked out with my bicycle, futon,

clothes, pillow, etc. 

everything i need for a solo road trip!

so i drove from kochi to hiroshima.

i wanted to see the peace memorial.

took a wrong turn and ended up in this parking lot

 but i found it!

 riding solo was really lonely. 

the only person i had to talk to was Jesus,

and sometimes he didn't talk back.. haha

 the peace memorial was really an eerie place.

 lots of energy, for sure.

i can't really place my finger on whether it was positive or negative,

really, really powerful place.

 my personal view?

nuclear energy is old technology.

we're smarter, stronger, faster.

kick the old stuff and come up with something

better, stronger, safer.

 

 hiroshima castle was pretty too. 

love the dark wood they used!

didn't go inside, didn't wanna pay. hah!

 this was one of my favorite shots, 

i think she was traveling alone, 

but i didn't have the guts to ask her! 

girls traveling solo, i love it.

 this is pon!

it's been.. two years? since we last met.

really cool guy, showed me around hiroshima.

send him good vibes, he's trying to get into medical school!

 i ate a lot.

really.

 we decided to go to miyajima

it was a bit of a drive, and pon's a busy guy,

but he was nice enough to hang out with me.

i didn't know what to expect!

 this is a really big cone.

 we rode a ferry there!

 met some deer (dear) friends

 and there was this beaaaautiful shrine there

 but i think i liked just crusing around the island the most

it was kind of an 'old' area

complete with old postboxes 

 it didn't seem like a place people live,

but apparently they do!

seems like a real good simple life.

 

 selling lies

there were little shops around that sold cool gifts

and good eats.

i recommend this:

 it's a deep fried manju, reaaal hot, reaaal good!

then i left! poof! off to the next prefecture.