We left Kumamoto and headed towards Mount Aso, an active volcano famous for its sulphur-smoking crater. Along the way, we passed through an area known as Aso Farmlands, where many local produce are grown and sold directly to customers. My mum wanted to visit the bee farm to get her hands on some fresh honey, so we went straight there.
It was more of a large honey store that sat in the middle of a bee farm. Naturally, visitors weren't allowed in the farm - we could only look at the swarms of bees through a glass panel. There was a cross-section of an actual, living bee hive though! It was quite fascinating, if not a bit discomforting.
Needless to say, we walked out with bags full of honey.
It was a long, winding journey up the hills to Mt. Aso, passing by some incredibly beautiful scenery of pristine green fields, undulating into the distance.
Finally we reached a popular lookout point with an excellent view of the smoking crater.
Unfortunately, that was the only view we had of the crater that day. When we reached the foot of the mountain, we weren't allowed to drive up due to an unfavourable wind direction that was blowing the toxic fumes (sulphur dioxide!) in our direction. We were pretty bummed out so we decided to head back to Aso town, check-in and find something else to do.
The backpacker's inn that we booked was surprisingly, very unlike the backpacker inn I had in mind. It was spotlessly clean, had a large living room with bookshelves filled with books and manga (in English too!), a very comprehensive kitchen, and the rooms were cozy!
After lunch we decided to drive up to another lookout point, this time with one heck of a view of the entire Aso area, with all its peaks and hills. Along the way many motorcycle gangs passed us, all decked out in fierce leather jackets and riding their huge Harley Davidson motorcycles. When we reached the lookout point, it became apparent that those bikers had the same destination in mind.
The 360 degree view from the top was excellent! Aso Town looked almost like a tiny Lego brick town from up there.
On the way down I bought an ice cream cone (everyone had one in their hands) and found this excellent photo opportunity. What's a biker without a Harley jacket?
Surprisingly almost all the bikers were middle aged men, and some even bordered on "elderly", yet all of them looked really cool with their dressing and of course those bikes. With that we headed back down to visit the last destination of the day, Kikuchi Gorge. It's really a rocky valley with fast flowing rapids running through it. I took the opportunity to experiment with my camera to get that "white water" effect :P
It was a very long hike and by the time we got out of the place we were all tired out. Back to the inn for dinner, manga reading and rest!
Day 7 - Aso to Beppu
The next morning we asked the "innkeeper" (lol, sounds very Final Fantasy-ish) to check on the wind direction for Mt. Aso, and we were in luck! He did warn us that the wind direction might change anytime, so we hurriedly checked out and zoomed to the crater. Before we left we took a photo! Very nice and friendly guy.
Luck was on our side - we managed to reach the crater! However the alert was "yellow" which meant the concentration of SO2 particles was around 2ppm. It stank like hell! And I could understand why asthmatic people were encouraged not to visit the place, even I had a hard time breathing. Still, I found enough time to snap a few photos of the hellish hole.
We then moved on towards Beppu City, our last destination before heading back to Fukuoka. Along the way we passed through Takeda Town, a small, nondescript historical town filled with old-style samurai houses and watched over by the ruins of castle. Next was Usuki, to visit the stone Buddhas carved out of caves.
After a short prayer we hit the road towards Beppu, taking a slight detour via the coast for some nice scenery and relaxation. We reached Beppu just as the sun was about to set, so we checked into the hotel and went in search of food. At the entrance of the hotel I spotted a shocking welcome sign
I couldn't believe it! X Japan, staying, or having some event at the hotel I was staying in?!?!? I rushed off to the banquet hall area to snoop around but I didn't find any trace of them. Perhaps they had already left by then. Hardcore X Japan fans, any news about them in Beppu during the first week of June?
While searching for food we ran into a busker strumming his guitar in an underpass. I stopped to listen to a couple of songs before he started talking to us (we were the only ones who bothered to stop and listen anyway). He then asked me if I wanted to hear any particular song. I told him I liked songs by YUI, but he laughed and said he didn't know any. So I told him to play some "happy songs". And he did! His voice was not bad as well, comparable to those guys from boybands like V6 and Arashi.
And that marks the first night in Beppu!
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