Backdate: Japan Kyushu Dec 2022 Day 12

17/12/22 Sat: PotaTOHs woke up at 8.30am and checked-out of Mitsui Garden Hotel Kumamoto an hour later. Took our car and drove over to Unganzenji temple & Reigando cave, which took about half an hour. The ticket entry to the cave costed 300 yen per person. Quite a chilly morning and there were a few other visitors around as well.

Unganzenji is an ancient buddhist temple dating back to 1351 when the Chinese High Monk Toryou Eiyo made the Reigando, which refers to "spirit rock cave", a place of worship. Valued as a place for meditation, the cave has attracted monks, poets and warriors over the centuries. The path is partly formed by natural rock and partly man-made, it was a bit slippery because of the overgrown moss all around but there are hand rails. The path winds past a steep rocky hillside which is dotted with the peaceful forms of 500 enlightened followers of Buddha. They were created by a rich merchant in 1779, which he took over a quarter of a century to sculpt. Each statue had their own unique expressions but many were headless due to earthquake damage. 

At the end of the path, we saw larger stone monuments and stone stairs up to the elevated cave in the walls of a cliff. There lies a large meditation stone in the centre of the cave, which was a huge boulder of volcanic tuff. Then, there's the four-faced goddess Iwato Kanon enshrined at the rear of the cave. The statue is said to have been mysteriously washed up at the cave 1000 years ago after the ship that was carrying it sunk.

I followed what one other Japanese guy did, to strike the bronze bowl after praying. The reverberation brought by the sound waves was just so calming to hear in the cave.

After spending half an hour there, we drove to the port city to find lunch and it was drizzling. Found Wasyoku Hiro and the prices looked reasonable so we went in at 11.30am. There were reservations but because we came early, they gave us a table.

Potato’s lunch set 1,550 yen and mine was 2,000 yen. It was so worth it and one of the best meals we had in Kyushu. Spent a good one hour enjoying the sashimi set woohoo~ the coffee pudding with the thin layer of milk on top was really good too.

Arrived at Kumamoto Port Ferry at 12.45pm. I already made a reservation online for Kyusho Ferry on the right counter, but his car was categorised as 4-5m instead of the original 3-4m I’d thought, so the tickets were more expensive… 4,580yen in all. Also bought some tidbits there before Potato drove on board the ferry. Cool experience.

We departed at 1.40pm and it took us an hour to get to Shimabara Port. I read that we could feed seagulls in December but it was more than I expected la! The seagulls literally snatch whatever u had off your hands. Those kids mostly gave tidbits and breads. 

The weather was gloomy when we arrived at Nagasaki... in fact for the whole day and it even rained, which was expected from the forecast given. Headed to Unzen Jigoku, where there’s about 30 hellish bubbling pools. Arrived at 3.15pm and the parking nearby costed 500 yen.

The whole area was filled with the smell of sulphur of course, but there are still hotels built around it. We saw cats and lucky us, Potato bought the last snacks and refreshments before the shop owner closed for the day! 

Salt was given for the onsen eggs (200 yen for two), but we thought the real "star" was the onsen lemonade (250yen)! So very tasty for a drink! After an hour, we drove over to our Airbnb ($81.47 for two pax for a night) at Nagasaki to put down our luggage in the small room. *did a refuel along the way for 3,166 yen and bought my favourite strawberry milk drink from the mart next to it too!* It was 6+pm when we reached the room because we had to walk a bit after parking at a paid carpark lot the host recommended (costed us 900 yen in total, including parking overnight). I found the room okay the aircon engine was just too noisy in the middle of the night.

We walked over to Nagasaki Shinchi Chinatown and had dinner at Lao Lee, which had the cheapest price for food in that small area. I ordered the champon (880yen) at Lao Lee which was okay though a bit salty. Potato tried the saraudon (900yen) that resembled生面but it was damn salty.

I planned for us to visit the Mt Inasayama Observatory at night because it was said to have one of the best night views in Japan. We drove over to the Nagasaki Inasayama Slope car carpark which was huge. It was raining and snowing as we ran towards the Inasayama slope car station. *The round-trip tickets to the observatory costed us 500 yen each.* 7.45pm and it was about five minutes up taking the slope car.

The night view up on the Mt Inasayama Observatory was awesome! Although we had to endure the strong wind, the rain, the snowflakes and also some hails, but the beautiful aerial view made the whole trip worth it.

Potato saw a free-to-play piano in front of a cafe and he started playing~ a group of customers applauded him before they left haha.

We left the place at 8.30pm and got back to our Airbnb by 9.30pm. *The police station near our Airbnb looked so "Hogwart-ish" haha.* We bought one of our favourite tidbits along the way back and enjoyed them with the alcoholic drinks before I caught the third-place match between Croatia and Morocco.