Where do I even begin? Finally sharing more pictures of our Japan spring trip that took me forever to compile. I wasn't even kidding. Work and new plans always seem to chase up before you could wrap up the previous one. So this weekend, I am so determined to pour all these out to you all before the year end slowly creeps in.
The first leg of our spring trip in Japan, Yufuin, was the smallest plan we made for the entire itinerary, but the furthest we had to travel. A 7-hour flight from KL to Tokyo Narita, another 8 hours of midnight layover, another 2-hour flight to Fukuoka, an hour to get our JR passes at Fukuoka Hakata Station, a 3-hour train via the Yufuin no Mori from Fukuoka to Yufuin station, a 5-min cab from the Yufuin train station, and finally we are at our HomeAway homestay. Now where is my full stop...
But it was worth all the hassles as little did we expect, we soon uncovered the most peculiar but delightful village blessed with mountains and spring waters all around. Located beneath the spectacular Mount Yufu, just a short walk from the town, and your eyes will be feasted with a mix of paddy fields, traditional temples and quiet ryokans.
1. & 2. Boarding the most delightful & quaint turquoise train to and fro Fukuoka to Yufuin, known as Yufuin no Mori, is the best experience we have least expected in this journey.
3. Possibly mimicking a scene from Miyazaki's animation movies along the village streets of Yufuin and eagerly hoping Totoro will bounce out anytime.
4. Devouring the largest Takoyaki in our lifetime. It is literally the size of a palm! They come in mushroom and vege, perfect for vegetarians like me who are struggling to find vege friendly food in Japan.
5. Beating the cold to dance and twirl in the highlight of this leg of trip, Yufuin Floral Village. Everything here is too, as the title suggested, quaint.
6.-10. The spring shower didn't seem to end soon, hence we continued walking around the village under the mild drizzle, exploring as much as we can in a day too short for a magical place like this, which includes that Totoro store where Chanwon was secretly hoping the rain would give mercy to our journey.
10. Once we reached our beautiful HomeAway traditional Japanese homestay, we were too happy but drained, as you can tell Gina and I didn't even want to move a finger, but Chanwon was still looking perked up & energetic.
11. - 20. As usual, we expected all Japanese rooms are sparkling clean and tidy, but this is freaking SPACIOUS! It can fit 13 pax with 3 bedrooms, a private onsen, a private garden, and a space of living room, dining room and kitchen so big that, all we really want to do is to stay indoors and cook and eat and laugh through the day.
21. Dream comes true, we cooked dinner and had a great toast with all the local delicacies, with Kiki as our guest on the table.
22. & 23. A hearty and filling breakfast at our private garden. What better way to start the day.
I wished we had stayed longer to enjoy onsen, which was what Yufuin is famous for. The spring showers hadn't have a single hint of ending soon but that didn't bother us too much as well. We quickly made full use of our day trip exploring around Yufuin as much as we could.
Our homely stay at Yufuin is made possible with HomeAway. Check out this apartment here, or if you want to make any booking, quote 'HOMEAWAYLIMZY' to receive 8% discount.
As I end this post with a montage of Totoro standing beside Chanwon looking at Mount Yufu, we are already secretly planning our next trip back here. Japan has so much to offer and we complain our time here is always too little. Though we barely scratched the surface, it was also time to head on to our next highlighted destination - Fukuoka, which you will read more in the next upcoming post.
Leave a comment