2nd May 2011
From Kumamoto City, we went to 杖立温泉 (don't know to translate to English). There was a display of koi nobori (windsock shaped as carp) for children's day (5th of May). The view was very magnificent. The display would last for a few days only. A lot of parents brought their children to view the koi nobori. There was a group of students who were sketching there. All looked happy.
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| koi nobori (windsock shaped as carp) |
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| Students drawing the koi windsock |
After that, we went to Kurokawa for the 温泉 (onsen). There are lots of hotel that offer onsen service. The specialty of the onsens in Kurokawa is the colours of the onsen water, like blue, green, black, etc. It was rumoured to have different medical properties for each colour. We went to the information center first, and took the brochure. After that, we chose one near the information center because we didn't wanted to walk far. There are separate pools for both male and female. Some do offer mixed onsen, but few. That was my first onsen experience. We forgot to bring towel, so have to buy one there, it cost 300 yen for the towel and additional 800 yen for the onsen. Although all my travel buddies sweating profusely after came out of the onsen. I didn't sweat at all. Since the water contained sulfur, after immersed in the water, the skin felt smoother. After that, we had our lunch there, felt hungry after 'onsen'ing.
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| since no other people around, took the photo of the pool |
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| The hotel where we have our onsen |
After that, we proceeded to see the farmland near the Mt. Aso. First we thought it was like farmers' market and we got to pluck our own berries or something, and drove a very long way following the direction showed by GPS (from the telephone number gotten from a website). To our horror, we did see lots of farm land, but the market was no where to be seen, then only we realised that maybe the farmland view was what it is about. Then, we decided to go to Mt Aso directly.
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| view from the grass land, 草千里, Aso |
We stopped by a big grass land first and spent quite considerable time there and I ate horse meat for the first time (it was grilled). By the time we decided to go to see the volcano crater, too late. It was closed to incoming visitor because the time was 5.33pm, we were late by 3 minutes. So disappointing. So, if anyone wanted to see this famous crater, please mind the time. Or else all the driving would be wasted. One can either go up by ropeway or drive. We were so down. So, we decided to have a great dinner to cheer us up! We went to a Izakaya in Kumamoto City, the shop has a interesting name, 一文钱 (a penny, if translated directly). After this incident, one of our friends sent us the Aso crater photo, so beautiful! Too bad, we were not there in time. Lessen learnt, check the final entry time first if we really want to go to the place!
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| grilled horse meat |
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| we were late, and cannot enter the Aso crater |
Day 2: Nagasaki One day trip & another half
Day 3: Sasebo & Yanagawa
Day 4: Kumamoto
Day 5: Half day in Sakurajima
Day 6: Kagoshima
Day 7: Miyazaki
Day 8: Kagoshima half day trip
Day 8 & 9 & 10: Yakushima Hiking
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