Kyushu 2023 - Beppu To Kumamoto Via Train

We took the red train to our next destination - Kumamoto. I had hope I could get on the Aso Boy themed train, but apparently that only runs on certain days. So I had to settle for a normal train instead. It was still a cool ride, but I bet Aso Boy would be cooler! Interesting fact, I once worked in a department called ASO, in a Japanese bank :P

The arrival of the train. 

I think we took the most train ride on our Kyushu trip than any other Japan trip we had before. Mainly due in part to the Kyushu JR Pass, mainly due to a lot of limited train services Kyushu offer that was hard to resist! Especially when you can get on them for free using the pass. Yeah, the reason I got the pass was because during the planning phase of the trip I decided where I wanted to visit without looking out how far each place was! Hahahaha. Lesson learned. These days, my travel research uses Google Map to ensure I can get from one location to the other easily before I put it into my itilenery!

Our tickets! See these ticket tends to fade away if you keep them as souvenirs. But if you take a photo of them and kept it as an image file, they don't fade :)  Pro tips from a season traveller :P  You could also refer to your phone when you want to check the ticket details, instead of taking them out from your wallet all the time. 

Snacks for our train ride. I think I was having an on-going sinus inflammation during the trip, so I got these lovely Muji lollipops to manage my coughing. Now, every time I see them, they bring back the memories of my travel in Kyushu :)

At the train station, some information on how to use a Japanese onsen.....Public education!

The red train to Kumamoto was kinda special, because I think it goes into reverse half way at this town? The other train that we've taken that does this was the Alisan train in Taiwan. It goes in a kind of zig zag path when it is going up the hill slope. Told you this was a cool train, with or without Aso Boy :P