Kyushu 2023 - Yufuin Shinto Shrine Near Mebaeso Ryokan

 

Just almost directly opposite of where we stayed, was a small local shrine. As custom for me, I always visit the nearest shrine to pay my respect before exploring other part of the place. So first stop, we made our way into the shrine via the stone torii gate. It looked pretty boring from the outside.

The long path into the inner shrine.

The name of the shrine written on the top of the entrance. And further inside is the main shrine.

What was cool about this shrine was actually the water feature surrounding it. Smaller shrine house was placed in a kinda 'island' where you have to cross some stone bridge to reach it.

Plus at the back of the shrine, and next to it were actual forest. The trees were super tall here. It felt really old and ancient. The water running around it made the place rather cooling. There wasn't many people here, almost empty actually. And that alone made the place my favourite place in Yufuin!

At the garden of the shrine, there were some ancient tree bark on display. Preserved? They have those sacred ropes around there, so these were sacred trees. I love that they actually kept all these and put there here for you to admire and pay your respect too. I love that trees has such a special place in the shinto religion. It's just so magical

Some explanation of the trees here. Nature is just so elegant and beautiful.

There were also some sakura trees at the small garden. And when the wind blows, the petal of the flowers looked so beautiful flowing in the wind. Definitely my favourite place in our Yufuin stopped over!

Me in front of the torii gate.

Wefie of us under the sakura trees.

Selfie of me with Sakura. This was actually the first time I saw real natural sakura on a tree this close, and this personal! That's why the whole place felt so special to me. (note: those in Garden by the Bay don't count, neither do those sad looking sakura trees I see at Hakata or Hokkaido count).

Kyushu 2023 - Yufuin Mebaeso Ryokan めばえ荘

 

Since Yufuin was an onsen town, I've booked one of the cheaper ryokan for our one night layover here. The name of the ryokan was Mebaeso, and it was a 20minutes walk from the station. Since we arrived just after noon time, and with luggage, it was quite a long walk to reach the ryokan. But a part of me was kinda happy that it was so way out of the way from the main street. I always prefer more secluded quite lodging area. Above is the front/entrance of the ryokan. We couldn't check in until 3pm, so we left our luggage there and went to explore Yufuin. But I will share more about the ryokan in this post first.

Walking in, the lobby area was actually pretty spacious! You can't really tell from the facade from the building from outside. I thought the red umbrella in the lobby was rather cute.

There was a side sitting area near the lobby which I actually love the design off. Basically it's just high ceiling glass all over, and it just looks so bright and open! I love these kind of design.

Above is what the corridor leading to our room looked like. This was taken after our onsen or dinner. That's my husband in yutaka opening the door :P

The genkan area where you leave your shoes and move into the inner area.

Traditional slippers (geta) are provided. It's personalised with the ryokan's name.

The keys to the room came with a block of wood. Our room 306.

Inside, it's futon sleeping design. And near the window there are some sitting area for you to enjoy some tea. 

This the view outside :)  I could sit here whole day and night!

The sitting area was my favourite spot of the room. And while walking back to our hotel, we stumbled upon a Aeon MaxValue shop, hence the huge bag of rice cracker snacks! Again, I indulged myself cause it's so much cheaper here to eat these than back home. Plus tea was free provided by the hotel. And the view? Can't get anything like this at home! (except maybe my Penang home :P  ).

Just for the record, a huge pack of rice cracker came with some many, and variety of snacks! I feel so happy just looking at this photo! I think these only lasted me 3 days or so. 

Bath room amenities. Quite a complete range of products were available for us. I kept most of it, and just use whatever they provided in the onsen instead. These days, I get excited if they give our bath salt. I love soaking in bath, and bath salt with heavenly scent just adds so much to that pleasure. 

The ryokan has an indoor and outdoor onsen. Above is the changing area. Interestingly there was nobody there before dinner, so I took the opportunity to snap a photo.

The indoor shower area and onsen. But actually the most awesome place was the outside onsen. I was too lazy to get my camera to go out and take a photo. But basically it was quite a sizeable pool, with lovely flower trees around it. So soaking there, watching the flowers slowly falling on to the water, and having nobody there, was just so serene. It is something hard to forget, cause the thought of it brings a smile to my face :)

The weather while we were there. Quite cooling.

Me with my luggage walking towards our hotel. It was pretty hot! Thank goodness the ryokan actually provides ride to the station when you check out! That was very much appreciated! Frankly, I wish they also provide pick up service to the ryokan since it was such a long walk! But then, maybe most guest just take a cab there....

Selfie of me and my favourite view of the room :)

Kyushu 2023 - Yufuin No Mori Train to Yufuin

 

So the highly anticipated train that we going to take was Yufuin no Mori, which literally translate to Forrest of Yufuin. And true to it's name, it's kinda forest themed with beautiful green and brown inside and out. The ticket for this train was bought outside of our JR Pass. 

Above is what the train looked like. When I saw it on the internet the first time, I just knew I wanted to get on this train. It just looked so whimsical. The train takes us directly to Yufuin Village, and most of the track goes through the beautiful forest and landscape of Kyushu on the way there.

Inside the train, beautifully decorated with the train's poster, as well as commemorable date.

Here is our ticket! Paid a special booking fees online to get this. The fee was around 1000yen per ticket. When you're working like mad with no time to spend your money, you don't really mind spending on things that you really really life. And so I did!

On the train, you could also get free postcard at the cafe carriage. Look how pretty it is with the backdrop of the sceneries going by! How green!

At the back of the postcard there is a place for you to get a special chop which is only available on the train. So of course I have to get one! As all these are only available at the cafe and retail carriage, you should not just remain in your seat on this train ride! Luckily we learned this quickly, so now whenever I take a special themed train, I always walk around to explore the train. There are always cute corner or small details around the train that makes the trip so special. 

This is what the cafe carriage looked like. I am actually quite surprised there are still so many postcard left! To the right is the special chop with green ink pad too! You could also purchase other gifts, or even food and drink from this carriage, My husband actually got us a bento box from here. I didn't want to get one since it was kinda overpriced. At times like this, I am glad my husband is with me, cause he is the spend drift among us, and thanks to him I also get to enjoy the experience of eating a bento in this beautiful train!

The small eating carriage was pretty crowded. But most people were kind enough to vacant the seat once they are done drinking of eating.

Love that the seatings all have great view of the landscape outside! The natural sun light shinning in, with the natural green of the fields and hills were really something! Since we went a bit late, we stayed longer to enjoy your lunch since there were less people by then. Awesome experience. 

The view of the villages we went pass.

At some remote station, there were people who came out to wave at us! I always find this so heart warming. Imagine, waving at total strangers and never seeing them again. It is something you just do without getting anything back in return except the thought that you've cheered someone up with your friendly wave :) 

Pristine clean stream running though the landscape. It makes me wonder, why can't the river or streams in Malaysia ever look clean? It's one of my pain point when I am travelling around my own country. The sore sight of trash really gets to me. 

We also went pass a small waterfall. Before reaching the waterfall, the train made an announcement for passengers to be prepared for what is coming up. And when it neared the waterfall, it actually slowed down and stopped so that passengers can take nice photos of the fall. I thought that was just wonderful! It almost felt like we were on a private chattered train!

After almost 2 hours, we finally arrived at our station. Above that's me next to the train. Note that this wasn't the terminating station for the train, so make sure you remember to alight when you reach Yufuin station! We were going to be spending 2 days and 1 night in Yufuin.

Kyushu 2023 - Breakfast and Train Watching at Hakata Station

Next morning we were checking out from Fukuoka to head to our next destination. But first, breakfast. I had a Kansai flavoured udon cup noodle, cause it's cheaper to eat these kinda food here than at home. THe cup noodle came with some yuzu flavoured chilli flakes too. I love stuff like these. Free green tea curtesy of the hotel.

For some reason, I needed a dessert for my breakfast too, so I had an apple flavoured canele. These snacks are rather cheap as compared to the real thing sold in bakeries. I don't understand why I can't find these anywhere else outside of Japan. It's just a small luxury that makes your day better. 

As a thank you to the hotel and the room cleaner, we left some snacks for them. For some reason, I have resorted to leaving local snacks from where I came from as a thank you gift to almost everywhere I stay in Japan. Usually it's one snack from Malaysia (Popo muruku from Penang), and one snack from Singapore (Sweet and spicy tapioca) since my husband is from Singapore. I have to be politically correct, lol. Even when I gift people bak kut teh spice, it has to be one from each country. And I like to follow up later which one is nicer for them. It's just a small fun gesture, and it often bring smiles to people if I gave them directly. But these days, I just left them in the hotel room with a thank you note.

After checking out, we head to Hakata Station. We were going to catch a train from here to a small town called Yufuin. As we were pretty early, we spend almost an hour inside the station just train watching. You might think this is super boring, but not for me! And especially not in Japan where there are just so many types of train to watch! I am always amazed how well  maintained trains are here, and how many unique type of trains there are. What a joy to travel around Japan in these.

So we managed to see this Discovery Kyushu train. I don't think this is the same as the Seven Star Kyushu sight seeing train though. It does look so classic. Later on I learned that the 7Star train tickets are ridiculously hard to get, relying even on a ballot or lottery system to get your hand on the tickets. It's a 7 days around Kyushu luxury train.

Although I wouldn't mind travelling on a luxury train once in my life, I think I would be quite happy to travelling on this classic black and gold one above.

There were also other more local looking train like this white one. Love the bird logo design on the train. 

Or this super bright blue coloured train pulling into the station. It looks like a local train too.

There are many trains in Japan, but some are just maybe 2 carriage long, and goes to some remote route. It's still fun. I can't wait to start using my Kyushu 7 days JR Pass which I've gotten for this trip. But I will save that for later. I've paid separately for the next train we were about to take, even paying a special booking fees from overseas just to ensure I got the tickets. The problem with me is, I value experience more than money, so I thought it was worth it to secure the ticket to this special train. Read more about it in the next upcoming post!