Backdate: Japan Kyushu Dec 2022 Day 10

15/12/22 Thurs: PotaTOHs checked-out from our Airbnb at 9.45am. We drove over to Kikuchi Gorge, also known as "Healing Forest" and deemed as one of Japan's 44 best shinrinyoku sites. On the way there, we passed by a "wild" route which the GPS prompted us to take, but Potato was concerned, so he took the longer route on a proper road instead.

When we arrived at 10.30am, there was almost no one around except for a construction nearby. Parking and entry was free, probably because no one was manning the parking in the early winter? I was slightly worried it'd be closed but luckily, we could still take the 60minutes long loop in the wooded valley.

It was so therapeutic to hear the river flow and to be in the midst of nature! Also, 430,000 litres of water run through here from Aso crater’s outer rim everyday... impressive. *The trees are very tall too... about 35 to 45m!* 

I can literally stay there for hours to chill and admire Mother Nature's beauty I think. Oh and I saw a baby wild boar ran away into the woods... luckily not the dad or mum haha. 

By the time we reached the halfway mark, we saw some professional photographers with their equipment. Anyway, it felt so nice to have almost the whole of Kukuchi Gorge to ourselves in the morning hehe.

We left Kikuchi Gorge at noon and stopped at Wakana, a udon/soba place for lunch, which was only a few minutes' away from Aso Cuddly Dominion. We had very good hot shrimp soba and udon (1,300 yen in total)!

Visited Aso Cuddly Dominion at 1.30pm because I wanted to see the bears! *Tickets costed 2,400 yen per person.* We've never seen on in person, and being in the Kumamoto region, I thought we ought to go. To my surprise, the park is bigger than I thought, so we spent about 2.5hours there. There were Hokkaido black bears, grizzly bears, brown bears and other animals... almost like a zoo now, as well as a 30-minute animal circus show that we attended and was quite entertained by it. *I was impressed not just by the animals that did the tricks, but also by how professional the trainers were as hosts.*

There were also helicopter rides that flew around the Aso region but it was too expensive. We ended up taking photos with a real Hokkaido female black bear who was one year plus of age. The staff had to keep her attention on the banana as she ate while visitors queued to take photos with her. 

It costed 500 yen to take photos with her using our own handphones. She weighed about 30 to 40kgs and the black fur were not soft like one'd imagine it could be. 

Then, we went to the garden of the 12 zodiacs. Also saw a monkey that shared the same birthday with Potato haha!

There was a corner for visitors to enter and pat dogs at a certain timing. By the time we got there, large dogs went back to their barns but we got to get up close with the small dogs. Also saw penguins and parrots that looked like they were freezing in the cold outside.

PotaTOHs got to touch the capybaras and Potato likes them because they are gentle animals. 

Drove over to the nearby Yumeoi-so hotel that we booked for one night (S$125 for two pax and an extra hot spring tax of 300 yen for two to be collected on the morning we checked-out). We took our yukata and obi sash on the first floor before check-in. We also had to book the private onsen bath as we had no shower in the room, but the bath had no time limit to it. 

It was a simple room on the second floor. The staff called to tell us we got bath no.4 and we spent about half an hour in the semi-open onsen... interesting how the tub is made from real tree trunk!

After we finish bathing at 5.30pm, the sky was starting to turn dark. PotaTOHs walked over to a nearby ramen place called Aso Baton Ramen for our dinner. They specialise in horse meat and pork bone broth. We sat at another cargo container seating area because the main one where the kitchen and owner was at was full already.

He ordered the big bowl of horse ramen (950 yen), while I ate the horse pork prawn ramen (1,000 yen). I liked the prawn miso soup so much that I finished everything haha. The horse meat is tougher compared to the usual chicken, pork and fish meat that we eat.

It was a filling meal, but PotaTOHs were craving for sashimi somehow haha! He found Bancho Sushi within walking distance and in we went. There's this Filipino waitress who spoke English, so we ordered the sushi through her at the bar counter.

They serve really thick and fat slices of sushi! I forgot to take photos of the seabream sushi (300 yen each) we ate. Ikura gunkan was 200 yen each and salmon sushi was 250 yen each. Last but not least, the unagi one (500 yen each) was delicious too!

After that, we bought some onigiri, sandwich and two grape Chu-Hi (162 yen each), which tasted only so-so, at a FamilyMart on the way back to Yumeoi-so. There was supposedly a games festival going on on the second floor of the hotel, but by the time we came back, it was over. 

PotaTOHs reserved a 45-minute table tennis session instead. There was already another Japanese couple playing on the next table when we started. It was a "tough" fight but I won by a slight margin in the end haha! *There were also Japanese karaoke rooms for guests wow.*