10/12/22 Sat: Woke up at 8am and ate my hot pork soba for
breakfast and we drove over to Takegawara at 9.15am, hoping to try their indoor
sand bath, but the male staff told us to try our luck late afternoon because
they don’t accept reservations. Anyway, we had no luck for the day because it
was fully booked (only eight slots per session) for the whole Saturday.
Left at 9.30am for our drive towards Mt Tsurumi Beppu
Ropeway station and we reached there in half an hour. *Thought we could see
hoarfrost but I guess we’re not deep enough into the wintry season…* The
round-trip tickets costed 1600 yen per person, and the ride up was about 10
minutes long.
Not as cold as we thought up there at 3 degrees Celsius but
the view top-down was awesome! *I think we even saw Kinrin Lake haha!* It
was surprisingly spacious near the peak, so we actually spent more than an hour
to walk around.
We stopped at a viewpoint to see Beppu city from bird’s-eye
view, paid visits to many “deities” and even reached the peak of Mt Tsurumi at
1,375m!
Then we stopped by at one corner to take some jump shots
and continued walking back to where the top of the ropeway station was located
at. Simply enjoyable.
Took the cable car down at 12 noon and Potato drove us over
to Yufuin Floral Village. We passed rolling mountains on the way and saw
another car accident with police along the mountain roads. Potato could not
find a nearing parking lot to the tourist site, so we parked further down, and
it costed 600 yen.
It was packed with people on a Saturday and we had some
small bites like fried potato (450 yen) and pork and preserved vegetable (350
yen) pastry which were not bad, but the potato twister was quite soggy.
Walked into Yufuin Floral Village soon after and it’s not
that big an area. There were different shops and some animals around. We also
took a walk at Kinrin Lake where the water was so clear one could see the fishes
in it. Ate the matcha mochi Potato bought and tried the strawberry dango Jess
had… not bad.
Stopped at a random viewpoint while on our way to Chinetsu
Kanko Labo Enma…
Glad we had late lunch at Chinetsu Kanko Labo Enma because
their Jigokumushi was so delicious! We decided on outdoor seats without the hot
foot bath and Potato ordered one seafood pizza (1,500 yen) and a plate of
vegetables (500 yen), which were all served after “hell steaming”! The seafood
pizza may not look like anything but it was really good. One can taste the sweetness
of their homegrown vegetables too.
Headed out for dinner near Beppu train station and we
finally decided on Yataizushi after some contemplating. *They said there
were English and Chinese menus but we found out they don’t after sitting down
tsk.* Anyway, they had a promotion on LINE app and we each got a free beer
after following them on LINE hehe~
The starter tasted sourish… whets one’s appetite. We shared
the sushi platter (S$30 for 30 pieces), fried fish and gyoza (5,614 yen in all)
and it was so shiok~ plus the “authentic” ambience that we were in a Japanese
Izkaya kind of place haha!
Saw free footbath outside Beppu station on our walk back to
the Airbnb. *Loved the strawberry drink (S$2+) from their Family Mart so
much that I bought three back to Singapore hehe!*
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