天の岩戸 Ama-no-Iwato cave

This is believed to be the cave where Amaterasu (the sun goddess) hid herself. It's a scenic 20-min walk from the Ama-no-Iwato shrine down to the river bank where the cave is.

There is a shrine in the cave. Not sure why but there seems to be a practice of stacking stones on top of one another in and around the cave.

Daddy and Uncle at the torii gate of the shrine.

Mummy and Daddy at the shrine.

高千穂峡 Takachiho Gorge

Next stop, the beautiful Takachiho Gorge. The gorge was formed about 100,000 years ago due to lava flow from an eruptionat Mt. Aso.

Uncle and I rented a boat. I rowed. Did quite well - only crashed into other boats twice...and it was the other boats' fault ;P

Not easy ok...the gorge is quite narrow so you have to keep well to one side to avoid the spray from the waterfall.

Since Mummy and Daddy did not take the boat, we walked along the boardwalk for them to enjoy the view.

阿蘇山 Mt. Aso

Then we drove to Mt. Aso, one of the world's largest active volcanoes, with a crater measuring 128km in circumference!

When the smoke clears a little, you can catch a glimpse of the tranquil turquoise green water in the crater. It's kinda hard to get a shot of that though cos it steams up almost immediately.

Shelters around the crater for people to take refuge in case there are rocks spewing out from the crater.

黒川温泉 Kurokawa onsen

There are many onsen towns around Mt. Aso. We stayed at a renowned ryokan in the highly reputed, very traditional Kurokawa onsen town. It was expensive, but a really good experience.

新明館 Shinmeikan, the ryokan we stayed at. Well located in the centre of town, across the river with little connecting bridges.

Uncle admiring the ryokan from the bridge.

The ryokan has many kinds of baths, indoor, outdoor, family, but it is most well-known for its cave baths. The cave bath was really interesting - there was a small network of tunnels leading from one cave to another and it was a little dark so you feel a little lost as you wander through the caves.

Dinner was served in our room and it was spectacular spread.

The highlight was 馬刺し basashi (raw horse meat), a signature dish in Kumamoto prefecture. Need to get used to it, then it tastes oishii!!
Went out for a night stroll after dinner but it was cold!

So went back to ryokan to free coffee around the irori (fire pit).

Look, my name on the guest list!