Trains, onsen....more trains, more onsen! Might have taken some flights too...

[rbjhan]

Back to Dogo onsen.
The tram stop here has a proper station building, with a Starbucks concept store


The famous Botchan tram...sadly not operating at the moment...


In my original plan I was going to the other annex of Dogo onsen Tsubaki no Yu.
Changed my plan coz I saw this one literally was a sento!
Time to visit the hotel bath
Since everybody went to Dogo onsen, I had the whole place to myself!



Dinner, sashimi. Yeah okay I also had something other things but forgot to take pictures.

 

[rbjhan]

Moving Day!
I was kinda stressing about this day the whole time...
Need to catch the 8.05am Uwakai No.5 to Yawatahama, then the 10.15am ferry to Beppu, I had already made reservation for Yufuin no Mori No.4 departing Beppu 2.43 pm arriving at Yufuin 3.56pm - there's only 1 Yufuin no Mori starting from Beppu per day, so I really need everything to work!

Dogo onsen is at the northeastern outskirts of Matsuyama, forget about the tram, I took a taxi instead and it went well. Made the first train!

Limited Express Uwakai, Anpanman style.


Inside was just a normal train though...


Uwakai goes on to Uwajima via Uchiko and Ozu, Yawatahama. So mostly inland...
JR Shikoku has a very special sightseeing train - Iyonada Monogatari, travelling along the sea from Matsuyama to Iyo Ozu/Yawatahama.
Unfortunately very difficult to book! Plus it doesn't fit my schedule...oh well maybe next time...
(there's also the Shikoku Mannaka Sennen Monogatari...)

When the train went past Uchiko, suddenly there was very heavy fog outside, I could barely see anything...started to question the weather...but once we got out of the mountains it was sunny all over again.

Arrived at Yawataham a few minutes before 9am.
Well, no taxi outside the station!
Luckily there's a bus departing 9.21 to the Minato.


So I got to the ferry terminal about half past 9.
Brand new building.


Uwajima Unyu Ferry runs 2 routes here to Beppu and Usuki in Kyushu. 2nd class ticket to Beppu was 4300. I mean, it's a 3 hour trip, not sure why it's necessary but there's also first class and hold you breath special class, cost 7200 and 10700 respectively.

And we were off!

 

[rbjhan]

2nd class seats, western style.


2nd class "seats", Japanese style.


A very impressive staircase


Cafe area.


Bus timetables in Beppu. Very helpful! One of those little things they do so well...


I was in the seating area initially, but got sleepy real quick - had to get up early and all that...
Moved to the tatami area and slept for 2 hours, ha ha.


Some very funky Japanese pillows were provided. Since I was the only one in my "box", took 2!


No idea what 1st and special classes were like, but I really thought 2nd class was very good already.

Edit, so I went digging in their website, found this!

 

[rbjhan]

Arrived at Beppu, I've been before so didn't stop this time.
Outside the ferry terminal there's a bus terminal, took a bus to JR Beppu Station.
From the machine I printed tickets for most of my reservations - 36+3 was not included and I think Yufuin no Mori already taken so tickets were eaten by the gate.
But yes, many trains to come!


Lunch at a restaurant inside Beppu Station.
Toriten set meal, basically chicken tempura...what's the difference with karaage? I need to do some research...

 

[rbjhan]

JR Kyushu Design & Story Trains.

Train Varieties｜JR KYUSHU RAILWAY COMPANY

JR九州の時刻・運賃検索、列車運行情報や駅情報・路線図、車両案内などご案内です。

www.jrkyushu.co.jp

JR Kyushu is about 100 years ahead of everybody else in terms of sightseeing trains!
See above link for details.

I booked Yufuin no Mori from Beppu to Yufuin, Kawasemi Yamasemi from Aso to Kumamoto, and last but not least 36+3 from Takeo onsen to Hakata.
Sounds simple? Absolutely not!

First of all, these trains are all extremely popular and gets booked out very quickly. By quickly I mean in minutes.
Sales open exactly one month in advance at 10am Japan time. That's when you need to be ready to pounce.

Yufuin no Mori has been around for many years now so demand is probably not as high as before (it was the first of the D&S trains). This one I got the tickets no problem. We'll get to the other two later....I can write a whole essay about their booking process!

Oh and don't even think about using a pass. The national passes do not work on JR Kyushu website so you can only book it in person, by then there will be nothing left.
JR Kyushu Passes ofc work fine but you need to pay 1500 Yen per ticket booking fee on top of the pass for these sightseeing trains. I've done my calcs and decided to pay every ticket individually.

Edit, You can use the JR Kyushu English version to book. But there's no log in required or even possible? So you need to put in your details every time. Trust me when I say the time matters.
I suggest using Google Translate or whatever to register on their Japanese site. Not only do you save some time, you also get access to discount tickets not available elsewhere.

 

[rbjhan]

Yufuin no Mori (means The Forest of Yufuin) runs between Hakata and Yufuin, 3 times a day round trip. One of those are extended to Oita & Beppu. That's what I booked.



Most people were taking this one from Yufuin, so in Beppu it was quiet!
My seat was in car 4, the front one.




Seats were looking their age...loved the wooden floor!


There's a small lounge area.


It's definitely seen better days but I kinda like the nostalgic feel?

 

[drron]

The difference between chicken karaage and tempura chicken is that Karaage uses marinated chicken and potato starch for the batter. tempura is chicken with tempura batter normally made from flour and egg and sometimes some corn starch. In japan you should taste the difference in the batter but when you look at some western recipes for tempura chicken it is basically identical to chicken karaage.

By the way we also stayed at the JR station in Takamatsu. We find them very convenient in the lesser known cities

 

[trendwhore]

Japan does some awesome tourist trains, definitely have a few on the list. Matsuyama looks really nice too!

 

[rbjhan]

Japan does some awesome tourist trains, definitely have a few on the list. Matsuyama looks really nice too!

Wait till you see 36+3!

 

[rbjhan]

Yufuin is an onsen town in Oita, Kyushu. About 10K inland from Beppu - why did the train take one hour you ask? Well, because the train tracks were going around Oita City and back the looong way.

Once you get out of the station, Mount Yufu would be right in front.


Ryokans are all over the place, and not like anything else I've seen in Japan.
Namely, the choice seems to be between ultra luxurious ryokans or minshukus offering rooms without toilets... Very strange indeed.

I decided to try a minshuku...because the ryokan prices were eye-watering...

Iyotomi, very pretty from the outside actually.


Most of their rooms are just that, room only, share toilet and bath....might as well booked the least expensive room and upgrade dinner.

So this was my room, Japanese/Ikea style


There were 5 baths and all private! No booking required either, see the door open, just go in and lock it.

Tried the small one first, err, cold water from the shower...late Nov was not the time to do it....quickly decamped to the big outdoor bath.


This one was not bad.
But, how do I put it....rough around the edges...


I had new found appreciation for all the ryokans I've stayed before and how they maintain their baths!

 

[rbjhan]

The much-anticipated dinner time!

Menu


Starters





Sashimi, this was the one everybody got.


And this was my upgraded whole fish sashimi.


Second upgrade was the main dish, to wagyu.


Dessert


Food was delicious!

 

[rbjhan]

The next morning.
Typical Japanese breakfast.


But then came this very non typical GIANT soup!


Took me a while but finished it! Actually the soup was quite nice, much better than the usual miso soup...

This stay cost 18000 Yen including dinner & breakfast, hmm, not expensive but maybe I over-estimated myself. I need the bloody toilet in the room!

Also, the bath left a lot to be desired....didn't even bother to go back which was a first for me!

 

[rbjhan]

Rented a bike and went to explore Yufuin.

Yufuin is a very small town surrounded by mountains. 5 mins out of the main street, everything is rural again.



Highly recommend a bike ride!


Kinrinko is a small lake at the end of the main street (or the only street ).


Autumn colours near the lake!


There's a small shrine at the southern end of the lake.


It was pretty, but already full of people....

Apparently in the early mornings in autumn or winter, there's a chance you might see mist hovering the lake near the surface, because the hot springs well up from the bottom....hmm, maybe I should have stayed near the lake!

 

[rbjhan]

A small town with too many tourists is...tricky to say the least.
People often say Kyoto is overcrowded, true but at least Kyoto is a proper big city.
Yufuin, I think, it's the victim of its own success， sadly.

The main street leading from the station to Kinrinko basically looked like this, it was a public holiday that didn't help. But many were foreigners...I heard lots of Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean...



Found a restaurant on a side street, no queue!


Ordered the gyudon.


I had enough of the crowds....back to the station area waiting for my bus to Kurokawa onsen.
Quite a few shops around this area also running a locker business...like this one below, coffee shop + locker, totally normal


It's all 500 Yen per locker - must be some agreement going on. The bus station has small ones for 300 Yen.

 

[rbjhan]

Time to board the bus to Kurokawa onsen!


Kyushu Odan Bus runs between Kumamoto, Aso, Kurokawa onsen, Yufuin and Beppu.
All are very popular tourist spots!
From Fukuoka you can travel to Kumamoto, Yufuin or Beppu by trian, but Kurowaka onsen is only accessible by bus.

Reservation is optional, but me being a control freak, obviously I booked everything in advance

We went through some very pretty (but remote) places!

 

[rbjhan]

Kurokawa onsen, as the name suggests, is an onsen town in the middle of Kyushu, north of Mount Aso. The town has tried to maintain a traditional atmosphere, you won't see big concrete hotels popular in many other onsen towns. Many people told me this is their favourite onsen town in Japan, finally I came here to see it for myself.

For my stay here, I booked Okyakuya Ryokan. A few days before they sent emails confirming details of my stay (great sign in my book for a good stay!), also reminding me they serve horse meat sashimi
I told them my bus schedule, so they came pick me up at the bus stop.

Only a few mins drive.


Lobby


My room was on 1st floor, a 6 tatami Japanese room.


No bath (you are here to enjoy the public bath), but there was a toilet. Very important I realised after the night before!

 

[rbjhan]

Quickly changed into yukata and went downstairs to check out the various baths.

First was a private bath.


Water temperature was high!


Later I went to their famous Rotenburo (outdoor bath) Sato.
In the afternoon it was for female guests.


This one was great!
It was actually a standing bath, the bamboo floating on the right was for you to hold onto it while standing. Water level was up to my neck at the highest point, some Japanese ladies are a bit more vertically challenged....not sure how this will work for them...


10/10 for the bath!

 

[Cossie]

Wow, this is bringing back some memories deeply rooted in the basement of my brain.

We wanted to visit the Aso craters, but there was some activity happening, thus we could only visit the museum, still have some brochures from there, 38 years (I think) ago.

Love your TR’s, you have a great way with describing things.

 

[rbjhan]

Wow, this is bringing back some memories deeply rooted in the basement of my brain.

We wanted to visit the Aso craters, but there was some activity happening, thus we could only visit the museum, still have some brochures from there, 38 years (I think) ago.

Love your TR’s, you have a great way with describing things.

Wow, that was indeed long time ago!
I didn't go to the crater, hmm something else interesting (?) happened that day.
We'll get there soon enough

 

[Seat0B]

We were thinking of taking a day trip to Yufuin from Beppu in February if I manage to make the trip (health permitting). But it sounds like maybe not really worth it as we do really dislike the crowds. What’s your advice/suggestion on this please @rbjhan?