Day 1, take a connecting flight to Incheon, part 1/1日目ひとまず仁川へ（その1）

On first day, I flew to Seoul Incheon by Korean Air flight KE788 at 10:30am. This time I bought a ticket of Singapore Airlines from Incheon, therefore I have to go Seoul to make flight connections. I was thinking of what should I do there with long transit time.
初日は10：30発大韓航空KE788便でソウル仁川へ向かいました。今回は仁川発シンガポール航空のチケットを購入したのでまずこの便で仁川へ向わなければなりません。とにかく乗り継ぎ時間が長いので着いてから何をしようかと考えていました。

I arrived at the airport at 9:00 am, 90 minutes before departure. I already booked overseas Wi-fi rental service on the Internet, so I have to pick them up before boarding a plane. After that, I checked in my flight at the 3rd floor. I had already checked in my flight through online, I was only shown two print tickets with my passport, the one is boarding pass exchange coupon and the another one is a Singapore Airlines E ticket. Then I kept my luggage at self check-in bag drop. At the time of check-in, I asked asked the checked through baggage to Singapore. She said "We'll send your baggage to Singapore" and gave me a baggage tag.
出発の90分前である朝9時に空港へ到着。すでにネットで海外用Wi-fiレンタルサービスを手配済みだったので飛行機に乗る前にもらいに行かなければなりません。その後3階の搭乗カウンターにて チェックイン。すでにオンラインにてチェックイン済みだったのでプリントアウトしたやつ/シンガポールまでのEチケットと旅券を見せたときに荷物をシンガポールまでスルーしてもらえないかと尋ねると可能だということ。そしてシンガポールまでの荷物タグをもらいました。

I take the plane to Incheon on the way.
この飛行機に乗って一路仁川に向かいます。

To be continued..
続く..

My next trip to Malacca, Malaysia

I've decided to go Seoul, Singapore and Malacca, Malaysia for 8 days from July 3 to 10. Going to Malaysia is a long time, since October 2014. Last time I went to George Town, the center of Penang Island. I bought a discounted ticket of Singapore Airlines from Seoul. The price is 718.300 KRW (=about 63,100 Yen) including all taxes, fees and surcharges. This time I want to take either Thai Airways or Singapore Airlines from Seoul, so I was checking out prices from late March. Finally I was decided to go with Singapore Airlines because their flight schedules can be better and earn on my Kris Flyer miles. Between Fukuoka and Seoul, I fly by Korean Air as a connecting flight.

 Flights are as follows:

• July 3 KE788 FUK 10:30 - ICN 11:55/SQ609 ICN 16:40 - SIN 22:05
• July 8/9 SQ5341 KUL 21:45 - SIN 22:40/SQ608 SIN 00:10 - ICN 07:45
• July 10 KE781 ICN 18:40 - FUK 19:55

The first day, I take a Korean Air flight to Seoul, then a Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore. The transit time at Incheon is 4 hours and 45 minutes, so it has a plenty of time to change planes. I'm staying in Singapore for two nights. On July 5, I'm going to Malacca by bus. I don't decide what to do in Malacca yet, maybe later. After spending 2 nights there, it's scheduled to go Kuala Lumpur. I only have one day in KL, therefore I really want to visit the Petronas Twin Towers, the world's tallest twin towers. On July 8, I'm going back to Seoul via Singapore. From Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, I take a code-share flight operated by Silk Air, the regional airline of Singapore Airlines. This is a very short flight, it only takes 55 minutes. After a short transit time in Singapore, I take on an overnight flight to Seoul.

Strolling the old streets of Tsuyazaki

After seeing the Miyajidake Shrine iris festival, we headed off to Tsuyazaki Fishing Port. Near the fishing port, there is row of old streets along the central Tsuyazaki called Tsuyazaki-sengen (津屋崎千軒). Tsuyazaki is greatly prospered as a shipping port for export salt which has been carried out from the Edo period to until the early Showa era. During that time, many houses were built around the port. This town seems very crowded with thousand houses so that it is named as Tsuyazaki-sengen.

The Umigame fish market in Tsuyazaki Fishing Port. The feature of the fishing port is landing rich species of fishes. Various types of seafood is sold throughout the year.

The morning market in roofed arcade will be open on Sundays from 6 am.

While blowing the pleasant sea breeze of Genkai-nada and go straight down the street, you'll see traditional houses of Japan made by wood. This area is actually called Tsuyazaki-sengen, a quaint town with some Machiya (町家) style houses still remain in this street.

 Ai-no-ie (藍の家) or the Indigo house folk museum is a symbol of Tsuyazaki's old streets. It was first built in 1901 by Zenbei Agatsuma, the fifth owner of the original dye shop. There is a history of more than 100 years, the typical Machiya building still standing in Tsuyazaki.

The Toyomura Sake Brewery company head office and factory right next to the Indigo house folk museum. The company boasts a long history, they have been making local sake of Tsuyazaki over the 130 years.

Tsuyazaki-sengen Nagomi (なごみ) tourist information office and rest house offers you more information on this retro town. They have fun activities such as riding a horse-drawn carriage that is only available in Fukuoka prefecture. It depends on the day of departure, so please check out at the office. They also provide electric-assisted bicycle rentals, you can borrow your bicycle here and return it at JR Fukuma Station.

Seeing iris festival at Miyajidake Shrine

On Wednesday, we had decided to take a drive to see iris in bloom at Miyajidake Shrine, Fukutsu, Fukuoka. The shrine's annual iris festival (菖蒲まつり shobu-matsuri) will be held between May 31 and June 10, with 100 species, of 50000 pieces of iris flowers has been planted.

A Romon (楼門) tower gate with lion-dogs in the background.

The hall of worship. There are some pieces of iris flowers in front of the hall which was moved from the Edo iris garden.

Going through the inner path, we came to the Edo iris garden.

The gasshō-zukuri (合掌造り) styled houses are currently under repair.

The Kagiya (鉤屋) styled minka houses have been saved in Shizen-koen (自然広苑) open-air museum where examples from Ogori city are kept on display.

Carps in Misogi-ike (禊池) pond.

Ducks went up and looking for something to eat.

A distant view of Mount Tachibana (立花山) from a small observation platform.

Before going back to parking lot, I want to climb the stairs approaching to the shrine where Ainoshima (相島) Island on the Sea of Genkai is visible. When I went up the stairs and took a look back there, I could see a long straight road continues until the sea. Here is famous for the sunset going down on the extension of the approach to a shrine twice a year, in late February and late October.
Sorry, I forgot to take a picture. I found a great photo on wiki, so I put it into my blog.

After that we went to Miyajihama Beach. It's a short away from the shrine, about 5 minutes by car.

Visiting Aburayama-kannon (油山観音) Temple, Fukuoka

After a short walk in Mount Aburayama,  we went to Shokaku-ji, a Rinzai temple in Jonan-ku, Fukuoka. It's very close to the mountain, about 10 minutes by car.

We didn't see any parking lot around there, so we had to find a nearby parking area. Luckily, there is a space for cars in front of a rest room on the opposite side of entrance to the temple. We stopped our car there, then went up the steep stone stairs to the temple.

When entering a temple, you'll see the bell of happiness drum tower and Hibari Kannon-do (ひばり観音堂) Hall. The Hibari Kannon-do Hall was built in 1994 which the hall was dedicated to Hibari Misora, a female Japanese ballad singer who died on June 24, 1989.

The bell of happiness as seen from the entrance. Making our good luck to ring the bell.

Main Hall.

The wooden Avalokiteśvara statue is the subject of mountainous faith that has been enshrined in the main hall. It has been designated the Cultural Properties of Japan by the government in 1906.

 The 16 Rakan stone statues next to the main hall.

Views of Central Fukuoka from the precinct. It was a really great view with the Seaside Momochi waterfront area, Fukuoka Tower in the foreground and Hawks Town (Fukuoka Dome and Hilton Sea Hawk) in the center picture.

 

Go hiking to Mount Aburayama, Fukuoka

On May 20, we went hiking to Mount Aburayama. It was a beautiful sunny day, so we had decided to go the Central (Katae) Observation deck to take panoramic photos of Fukuoka.

We stopped our car in the parking lot in front of tourist information office. There's a lovely water wheel next to the parking lot, many people stopped and take a closer look at it more interesting.

We've never been to the Meoto-iwa (夫婦岩) twin rocks before, so we really want to visit there. We had decided to go to the rocks first, then climbed up the steps to the view point.

Walking a mountain path towards the twin rocks for a while, we'll reach the rocks. It is considered to be one of the sixteen most famous views of Aburayama. Next to the rocks, there is the Meoto-iwa observation deck which was built in 1969. From here, you can see great views of Fukuoka and the Hakata Bay.

After taking a short break, we were going to the Central observation deck. I already came here in March but the weather was so bad; a spring haze from China covered in the whole city, I couldn't take the best pictures!

A view of Momoland Aburayama cottages from the observation deck.

China Airlines "Masalu Taiwan" livery flying to Fukuoka on May 8/チャイナエアラインの「Masalu Taiwan」特別塗装機が福岡へ飛来！

On May 8, I went to the airport to see the first Finnair flight to Fukuoka in the morning. After that I was watching planes takeoff and landing until noon. However, some flights such as a morning flight of Jin Air from Seoul was canceled due to the decrease number of international tourists to Kyushu by the aftermath of Kumamoto earthquakes on April 14 and 16.
先週の日曜日（8日）はフィンエアーの就航日だったので朝早くから見に行きました。その後正午ごろまでいたのですが、去る4月14日と16日の熊本地震の余波による九州への外国人観光客減少でジンエアーの午前便など一部便が運休となっていました。

I'm posting movements of a China Airlines Airbus a330-300 Masalu Taiwan special livery landing and takeoff. The aircraft registration number B-18358 is currently in use both for their short and long-haul flights such as Japan, South East Asia and Australia. The plane, in cooperation with the aboriginal council of Taiwan, draws up the lives of Taiwan's indigenous into the aircraft. It was released on March 11, 2014.
この日はチャイナエアライン（中華航空）のA330-300「Masalu Taiwan」特別塗装機（機体番号：B-18358）が台北からの午前便で飛来しているの見れてとてもラッキーでした。当機は台湾行政院原住民族の暮らしを機体に描いた特別塗装機で2014年3月11日に公開しています。

The plane from Taipei was landing at 10:20 am.
台北発の飛行機は午前10時20分に着陸。

The CI111 return flight to Taipei was taking off at 11:37 am.
午前11時37分に台北行きCI111復路便が離陸。