Kyushu 2015 Autumn Self Drive Trip - Day 10

Day 10 : Takachiho to Kurokawa Onsen ( Aso )

Today is one of the highlights of this trip as not long ago I saw a picture of people rowing boat in the Takachiho Gorge , next to a waterfall and it makes me wanna do the same thing at the same place. In the morning we woke up like 6 am and did a quick wash up then took a 15 min drive to Kunimigaoka (国見ケ丘), this is a famous place for catching the "Sea of clouds" in the morning , which can usually be seen on early, clear, windless mornings from late September to late November when the temperature between morning and daytime differs dramatically.

Moon on one side and sun on the other

1 deg C in the morning

It was really cold in the morning , we were prepare for like 10 deg C +/- for this trip but due to the sudden drop in temperature, it's 1 deg C , there was even snow in Unzen/Kurogawa Onsen area (but both we miss). But the view was really nice , especially when you see sun slowly rising and the Sea of clouds slowly clears up ( we had wanted to see the Sea of clouds when we were at hokkaido's Unkai Terrace , but due to weather , the ropeway is closed so missed our chance then , but i did saw once when was at Bali when we climb up one of the mountain.)
We came very early around 9 am , the boat rides starts around 8.30 am and per session is 30 min (think 1500 yen or 2000 yen) , Pro : coming in the morning is that you do not have to Q long for the boats , we did not even need to Q but when we return the boat, there was already a short Q forming also when there is too much boats in the gorge , it tends to have "jam" especially near the waterfall part where most people are scared of getting wet if too close to it. Cons : in the morning the sunlight is not that strong so the water is not so greenish like what you see in most travel pictures. You can also feed the ducks while you are rowing the boat.We had the noodle at one of the shop nearby , the staff will put noodles on the bamboo track and from the flowing water , the noodle will flow and your job is to catch the noodles when it pass by in front of you. Quite a fun experience and the cold noodles taste not bad with the dip.This way of serving the noodles can only be done when the water source is clean and safe for drinking.
Next we drove to the Amano Iwato Shrine (天岩戸神社) , Quoted : "It's rumoured long ago Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess,  hid herself in a cave, refusing to come out and depriving the world of light.All of the other gods and goddesses gathered to lure her out. They tried everything they could think of to no avail until one goddess performed an outrageously ribald dance that caused the other gods to roar with laughter. Amaterasu left the cave to see what all the fun was about, and in doing so she returned her light to the world." , the cave itself cannot be access by public and can only be view from the opposite bank but have to ask from the monk in the shrine ( but since we do no understand japanese so we did give a miss)  . Walk past the Shrine rolling a path will bring you down to the river bed , this will lead you to a cave known as Amano Yasukawara (天安河原), this is supposed to be the caves where the gods and goddesses had meeting on how to lure then Sun goddess out. there is a small altar here and a lot of people will gather stones from the sea bed and try to stack as high as possible while making a wish, supposed that you wish will come true if you success , think is try to stack up to 7 pieces of stones. Note: quite a walk from the shrine and a bit of up and down slope so do take note if travelling with old people)
Along the way there are some shops and cafes , the bbq beef is really good a bit salty but super tender , my experience with beef stick in japan is always good so far no complaint and when I see one , I just can't resist. Another thing is ice cream , every time at a new place and saw a new flavour , I must try no matter the temperature , the one we tried is "apple mango" , this is supposed to be a special type of mango in Miyazaki ( but was not in season when we were there cos did not manage to find the fruit in supermarket.)

Old school bbq @ 高森田楽保存会

Sesame ice cream at Aso

Along the way to Aso , we stop by 高森田楽保存会 for lunch , it was a old school way of bbq , they will place lit charcoals in the centre then skewers of food will be place like the picture above. Some will be dip with their special sauce. When we reach there it started to rain , added chill to the already cold weather , so sitting in front of the stove is not so bad , if summer don't think I will try this cos might be warm ( for me ) , the only problem is sitting on the floor is too low for me , squatting is very tired for long time. The staffs knows we don't speak japanese so did their best to let us understand how the cooking works. Oh , the fish at the side is alive when they poke the skewer through it cos it still breathing when place on the table. This is rated #1 on trip TA , link here for review by others.
It was still raining when we reach Aso , and also due to the recent volcano activity , the ropeway is closed so we are not allow to get near the crater , this is one of the disappointment this trip cos 2015 shows a lot of volcanos activites in Japan.But lucky also , few days before the warning level was drop so at least we still get to visit the Observation centre and watch the "Aso Super Ring" , it's a short "Show" explaining the formation of the Aso region , etc. also here i managed to find my big size Kumamon T-shirt :)we also skipped Kusasenri (草千里) and Daikanbo （大觀峰）  as it was raining and foggy when we were there.  Kusasenri (草千里) is basically a big grassland , best view in the summer when horse riding activities takes place and Daikanbo （大觀峰）is a nice view point of the Aso region.

天空之路 Pic taken online

Another of my to do list that we skip is Tenku no Mich (天空之路) cos this is best view in summer when the grasses is green and also best to visit in the morning where there sea of clouds is form. While we were at Aso region the weather is rainy and foggy so no point for use to go to any of the scenic spot. So from there we drive straight to our ryokan for the night , Ryukeien. This is about 5 min drive from the main town of Kurokawa Onsen and they have quite a few of outdoor onsen for guest staying here.
It has 3 outdoor private onsen , 1 bigger outdoor onsen just for men and 2 private indoor + shower in the ryokan , there is like total only 7 rooms so there is no worry that you will not get an onsen just that i think the only 2 indoor + shower is the only place you can shower , so if there are guests inside , you might have to wait in the cold weather. As you can see above , the outdoor onsens are a bit of walk from the main building , meaning you have to walk thru some path in the forested area , quite a nice experience.

Kyushu 2015 Autumn Self Drive Trip - Day 9

Day 9 : Miyazaki to Takichiho

Day 9 , covering more then 1/2 of Kyushu and trip is ending in less then a week. Today we will have another long drive from Miyazaki to Takachiho. As last night we stay at this ryokan : えぷろん亭 , it's built along the road next to the coast. so not only last night the moonlight was nice, in the morning just from outside the balcony , we can view the sunrise coming up from the sea line. I even took my first time lapse video - Link . Liked i mentioned , this is one of the best we stay so far in Kyushu. The funny thing is this was not in our planned list cos it's not available on booking.com/Agoda.com.  How i found this beauty ? link to my hotel booking tips here.

Japanese style room

View form the dining room

Imagine waking up , just open the partition and the curtain , and you get the full view of the coastal line. On did i mentioned this place is quite affordable ? Think we paid about 10,000 yen (about SGD $120) /1 night for 2 pax + breakfast and the room we had is ensuite with a bathtub that have a big see through glass of the sea view ! Actually we planned to stay further up in Miyazaki city but cos we already foresee that we will not be able to cover some of the sightseeing spot the day before , so we choose to stay here last night then this morning will not have to drive all the way down to Udo Jingū (鵜戸神宮) and Sun Messe Park.

The shrine built in a cave

View form the entrance of the Shrine

Sort of like a wishing well

鵜戸神宮, Udo Jingū

Instruction on how to see the stone "breast"

The stone "breast" that provide "milk"

This is one of the quite special shriner we visited , it's built inside a cave at a cliff area. There is legend that this is where the first Emperor of Japan is born ? There is also a pair of stone "breast" that provided "milk" for the baby when he is born. Link , quoted from the link " Outside the cave is a terrace overlooking the ocean. Among the rocks below is a target marked by rope into which people try to throw small ceramic undama, or lucky balls for 100 yen/ 5 pcs , Women throw with their right hand while men throw with their left, and landing an undama in the target brings good luck" *Note : if you are self drive like us , do remember to park at the lower carpark cos most tourist bus will park at the upper carpark , which means you will have to climb up and down a stone staircase before you reach the entrance of the Shrine.

A short drive from the shrine is another spot called Sun Messe Park, this is where you will se 7 huge Moai statues by the coast line. This is the ONLY place in the world where restoration of these Moai statues has been permitted.( the original ones are at Easter island )

It's actually a huge park ( think cost about 600yen/entrance ) but the main highlight is these 7 statues which symbolise (from left to right ) they are business, health, love, leisure, marriage, money, and academics.
Next we drive to the Aoshima Shirne (青島神社）it is location on a small island surrounded by "Devil's washboard" - which is some rock formation with the look similar to old skool washboard when see from far. It's link to the mainland by a walk way , cars are not allowed to be drive inside. *Note : There is a lot of uncles who will hold a card showing parking here @ 500 yen ( or similar ) you either have to pay them 500 yen or if you purchased items from their shop over certain amount , they will waive the parking fee ( info from other blogger ). But there is a free carpark at the park area , about few min drive away from the main entrance , walking will take about 5-10 min by the coast line to the entrance, you will reach this carpark first if you are driving here towards Miyazaki city direction. Below is the map location and the look of the carpark for your reference.

The red box is the free carpark

View from google map street view

The blue box on top is the "touting" aka the main entrance , the red box is the free parking area of the park. There is a public toilet next to the car park. The purple lines are the route to walk to the entrance , or you wan walk along the road to the shops near the entrance if you like to buy some Omiyage.

View at 馬ヶ背

On our way to Takachiho , we will be passing by 2 other spot - クルスの海 and 日向岬・馬ヶ背 but due to time constraint and the short daylight again (yes yes yes , winter is not a good time to do too much sightseeing that is something I learnt this trip , esp if you got travelling partners who need to sleep till late LOL).
We should have reach クルスの海 first but due to I set to the wrong GPS , we actually hit 日向岬・馬ヶ背 first and this is the only one we visited. There are a few carparks there , the one we park is the lower one so we had to climb a bit up to get to this view. I believed there is another carpark near the light house further on top ( but either way you will need to climb up either on the way there or on the way back ) , from the trail , you will reach the 馬ヶ背 first , it basically translated as horseback. Then as you walk further down you will reach the end of the cape. It will look much nicer in bright daylight. The sun was almost setting when we reach there.

When we reach our stay at Takachiho it was already dark , the reason to stay a night here is so that we can go bow rowing in the gorge by the waterfall in the morning tomorrow. It's quite a small town on top of the mountain , not much nightlife from what we see. Most tourist will visit the Takachiho Shrine for a show - 夜神樂 which is performed from Nov to Feb. We decided to skip cos from one of a fellow TA member whom was there a few days ago said they just stayed a while and left and also cos we are very hungry as we did not had a proper lunch cos the shops we wanted to try in Miyazaki is either closed or cannot be found.
We actually planned to visit Hatsuei (燒肉 初榮）but both their outlet is full ( or booked ) so we end up going to 2nd choice Nagomi which we did not regret , the A5 beef was really good too, though i prefer the Saga one better. But here we ordered a cooked steak which was super good ! Don't bother to order vegetable for bbq ( from experience in Saga , 1) usually the beef will come with 1-2 pieces of them and also it usually burnt very fast so you will end up with black vegetables ) Nothing beats Beer with BBQ beef !  * look at the marble effect of the A5 ! )
We were hit by a cold wave of temperate these few days , so tonight was like about 1 deg C