Ye bonny bonny boat in Yanagawa

Yesterday we went along the canals in Yanagawa, in the safe hands of our punt captain. There's a proper term for his title but I haven't a prayer of spelling it here. Beautiful irises grew beside the canal. A lot of older houses had their garden on the other side of the water, so I guess they could observe their pride and joy from the verandah, whilst sipping some very refreshing green tea. We passed by the house once lived in by Yoko Ono's grandfather. A snake swam by the boat - a good size, about three feet long and scared the bejesus out of me. We also saw turtles sunning themselves by the side of the canal. Yanagawa is famous for eel dishes, and we could smell it everywhere. Punt Captain sang some songs to us as he eased us along the waters, very restful. We were very glad of the bamboo hats they provided because I tell you the sun was beating down on us in the mid afternoon.

Today there is a festival in Fukuoka - many paper fish blowing in the breeze. Its beautiful weather again, but I'm careful not to get burned. We`re going for a special lunch with a friend followed by a trip to a sacred temple, then off in search of art and wall hangings.

The buses are fun. You pay when you get off and how much depends on how many stops travelled. There is something akin to a scoreboard next to the driver indicating how much to pay. You can only get change for 1000 or 500 yen, and from that you need to pony up the right amount. So far so good except its tense when you are holding up the whole line whilst trying to determine what coins to put in the slot.

I haven:t time to write much about pachenko (slot machines) but they strike me as very sad places. People gamble a lot there, some for a living. We met a friend who spends 200 bucks three times a week. He seemed very happy about it. The places are very noise and smokey. I took a photograph but was quickly told to desist by our good friend as she said there are likely gangsters in there who dont want their picture taken.

Tomorrow off to Saga city, so probably will be offline for a couple of days. Really enjoying my stay, there is so much to see and learn. Sayona.