Kyushu 2015 Autumn Self Drive Trip - Day 12

Day 12 : Yufuin/Beppu

Woke up early this morning again as we wanted to catch the view of Kinrin Lake (金鱗湖) cos in the morning , usually there will fog/steam on top of the lake , this is especially more obvious in the Autumn/Winter month. This is because the lake itself has water coming from a hot spring that is why during cold morning , the fog will form on the surface of the lake , then in afternoon , you can see the lake actually reflecting the sunlight when the wind blows thus look like "golden scale" of fishes , that is why called in chinese "金鱗".

view from room

supper cold and foggy next to the lake

web think frozen at night and defrost in the morning

The lake is super foggy that morning and very cold so did not managed to take any nice photo , and it was about 15 min walk from the hotel we stayed so actually wanted to visit again in the afternoon the next day but weather is not very good so we skip. ( if from the station maybe closed to 30 min walk )
After the visit to the lake we went back hotel for breakfast ( do note that usually meals in Japan can take some time cos too many dishes so don't be surprise a meal can takes up to 1-2 hours ). Our next destination is Kokonoe Yume Suspension Bridge 九重”夢”大吊橋 , It is the highest bridge in Japan for  pedestrians. The bridge is good for viewing autumn colours and winter colours BUT again the red are gone only to be replaced by all the yellow and bare trees but still the view is quite nice that morning. The ticket allows you to walk from one end of the bridge to the other and back so there is no need to buy 2 tickets. Also the Bungo beef stick at one side of the entrance is not bad though it was not BBQ on the spot.

Part of open view on the center of the bridge

View from the open view part

To view the whole bridge , you have to walk up/drive to this place near "ここのえ茶屋" There is a viewing deck there.
Next we visited the Hells of Beppu 別府地獄 ， there are total of 8 Hells , 6 of which is together and the last 2 is about 5 min away. Refer to the map here. If i remember correctly , the entrance fee for each Hell is about 400 yen , but if you buy the booklet which allows entry to all 8 Hells , only cos about 2200 yen. Please allows about at least 2 hours to complete all 8 Hells. If you do not have enough time then just select the one you are interested based on reading online. Do note that "龍卷地獄“ only spray like once every 30 min , the staffs at the "血の池地獄" actually informed us that the geyser is spraying soon so we took a quick look and went over so we do not have to wait for another 30 min if we missed it.
There is a place in one of the hell ( Kamado Jigoku i think ) that has place for you to try the "Hell" water , do note that you have to dilute with cold water by the side before you try cos the spring water is 80 deg C. This area also have a place for you to buy come snacks like steam food/egg using the steam from the hot spring water also you can had free foot bath here. Do try the ice cream here , think there is a few types , the one I tried is with black pepper ( taste bit salty as well ) , it is very nice ! there is also another think with chilli powder/spices which I did not try.

There is a viewing deck nearby called 湯けむり展望台 which allows you to see the Beppu town with steam coming out , it looks like a burning town with smoke ? but we did not go to due to not enough time and day light problem again. Another place we skipped was the Beppu ropeway It is actually between Beppu and Yufuin if not going by the highway.
We did stop by a viewing spot nearer to Yufuin called Sagiridai 狭霧台 , you can actually see "Sea of Clouds" in the morning and also night view here.  You can even catch a picture like this if you come in the night before day break.

Nice but a bit Expensive Ryokan

Living room leaning to the outdoor bath

View form the bedroom

Our own private outdoor onsen

Dinner from the 2 supermarkets and some snacks from the main shopping street. Note : The shop closes really early in winter , most will closed by 7 pm. Also this is our last night with onsen , the last 3 nights we will be staying in the city, that is also they main reason why we choose to splurge on this ryokan though it's a bit over our budget. this is about 2.5 times of what we paid the night before and that comes with breakfast too. ( this one cost us about SGD $300/night with no meal but the host is really nice and friendly and the stay was great , no regret) 

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.