Date: 27 December 2014 Saturday
08:20 AM Breakfast
We had our breakfast at the Ryokan before checking out. We were led to the same room as the previous evening and as expected, R was running around the room again so we had to take turns to eat.
09:30 PM Leaving Tenku Yubo Seikaiso
Checking Out!
Before leaving Beppu, we stopped by a famous bakery, Tomonaga Panya, which is only about 5 minutes drive away. JR grabbed a few bread, not knowing what they were as the descriptions were all in Japanese. No photos of the bread because it was difficult to manage R and my camera in the car.
We decided to drop by Yufuin, not knowing what to expect there. It was a last minute decision and TripAdvisor suggested that we visit this famous basin there. We followed Google Map’s instructions, driving into narrow roads and into the shopping areas. There were many pedestrians walking around but we continued to drive on because it seemed like we were still far from the basin. We finally stopped and parked at a car park which was only a short walk away.
11:00 AM Yufuin Basin
Walking towards the basin.
The place was packed with tourists! The view was stunning, with steam coming out of it. We overheard a tour guide explaining that the steam was due to hot spring water mixing with the colder water.
The 3 of us
Heading back. We shopped at the shopping streets before leaving Yufuin.
13:50 PM Daikanbo Peak
We skipped Kurokawa Onsen because there is nothing there except for hot spring resorts. We took a break at Daikanbo Peak instead for a rest.
Greedy JR bought some beef snacks to share. They didn’t taste as good as they smelled. The beef was too tough.
We climbed all the way up to the peak for the view.
An ice-cream before leaving.
16:50 PM ANA Crowne Plaza Hotel Kumamoto
On the way to our hotel in Kumamoto, we stopped at another Aeon mall and bought some instant baby food and my Kumamon Bear there. Unfortunately, my new bear disappeared mysteriously in the car after I loaned it to R.
Arrived at ANA Crowne Plaza Hotel Kumamoto. The service from the hotel staff was good.
Loved the view from our room.
R’s toiletries bag from the hotel.
The contents of the bag.
18:45 PM Nearby Shopping Mall
No plans for the evening so we drove to a nearby shopping mall for dinner. We finally found a parking slot after some time. We found R a bit warm when we were about to leave the car and realised that she was having a fever. We removed her thick clothing to cool her down. She got much better after some time so we left the car to have dinner. We selected a random restaurant for dinner.
For R
Mine
JR’s
We shopped at the mall after dinner. While walking leisurely around the mall, JR noticed that there was an announcement in Japanese that we couldn’t understand. He told me jokingly that it was to inform us that they were closing for the day but it was only 07:30 PM so I didn’t believe him. We continued to shop for another 10 minutes or so until JR was approached by a salesperson. They were really closed! We had a good laugh over it and left the mall. 07:30 PM is too early! We headed back to the hotel and called it a day since R wasn’t feeling well.