Kyushu 2015 Autumn Self Drive Trip - Day 11

Day 11 : Kurokawa to Yufuin

Woke up in the morning and took another dip in the outdoor onsen , nothing beats a hot bath on a cold morning. After check out , we visited one of the special waterfall nearby called Nabegataki Waterfall (鍋ヶ滝). What so special about this waterfall it that it has sort of like a cave inside , if you know "Journey to the West (西游记)" you will know what is “水帘洞” which means water curtain cave, it's where the monkey king stayed with all his fellow monkeys.*Note : there are some stairs to climb down to see this waterfall. Also there is a path on the right on the waterfall that allows you to walk into the cave and get to the other side , cos some tourists do no know and they cross from the rocks on the stream in front of the waterfall. Think there is light up in the summer months at night also.
Most tourists will make a day trip to Kurokawa Onsen （黑川温泉） cos there is no hotels here for tour groups as most are ryokans.This is a reason why there is an "Onsen token" on sale here that allows you to go onsen hopping to 3 different Onsens. Also staying here is not cheap , full board will cost more then SGD $300/night at least. ( we paid about $290+ for Ryukeien though about the same price but cos we like the outdoor onsen in the forest look ) , We just visited this place to take a look (cos we had onsen before check out and it's quite nearby to where we stayed) and to try some of the popular pastries for lunch. The Dora Dora Burger was good and the cream puff from Roku was not bad too. ( we wanted to have soba @ 山川草木 for lunch but it was closed the day we were that. It supposed to serve nice soba have a nice view in the dining area.
As you can see the tress are quite bare and the grass are all golden in colour , so if you prefer to see the nice green patches , it's better to visit in the summer time. Note : If you like night view then visit the place in winter cos it's drier , less fog/clouds , if you prefer day views , best visit in summer cos longer daylights BUT note also summers tends to have more rain also.These are from personal experiences after visiting Japan a few times in different are
Before going to Yufuin , we detour to 岡城跡 cos we check online and saw that there might still be red leaves left ( this trip have been a bit unlucky with them almost everywhere had dropped). This place is a castle ruin ( history wise I am not sure and lazy to read up) which is popular for Sakura and Koyo viewing during the season. The colors of the trees + the view + the castle ruins as back crop is very nice. Note : 1) need to wake quite high up the passage way and when coming down need to go down a bit steep slope , 2) there are not safety barriers on top , e.g. like the 3rd picture on top where i am standing , if you fall from the side , you are basically GONE ! cos it's very high so have to be careful if you have kids along. Anyway doubt most tourists will visit here unless you are really desperate chasing Sakura/Koyo like us. But we did see very nice koyo here.

Yufuin Burger , there are 2 shops with same name

Tori-Ten (chicken tempura) + Tori karage

From there we drove to Yufuin (由布院) which we ail stayed for 2 nights to cover the surrounding area but will be staying at 2 different ryokans , one is Tsurunoyu Tsurunoyu (山荘 鶴の湯) and the other is Rokumyo (湯らり 六妙). Reason for this is we wanted to indulge 1 night so we stayed at a cheaper one for 1 night then the more expensive for another. Tsurunoyu is the cheaper one but good location near to B-speak ( a popular cake shop ) and the main shopping street , also it's nearer to the Kirin lake which we wish to visit early the next day.  Rokumyo is the more expensive one , cost about SGD $300/night with no meals but it has a personal onsen just outside the room.
When we reach Yufuin was already 5pm+ and kinda of rushing for time as most of the shops there closed early in the winter months. Do take not there are 2 supermarkets around the area , 1 is Acoop which is along the main shopping street BUT it closes early at 7pm in Winter ( Nov - Mar ) , the other one is a bit further , just outside Rokumyo called Marumiya which closes at 8 pm. Note : cooked food in supermarket will be on % close to closing , which most of my dinner is settled there, for e.g. the next day I was at Marumiya around 6pm+ but the food is not on % yet ( think usually is 1 hr to 1/2 hr before closing then will be on % and the % gets bigger when it gets closer to closing time) so i walk a few min to Acoop and since it was closing the Tori-ten was on 50% off.