Glamping Season 3 in Japan Day 2 (14/6) Kurokawa Onsen

P is really excited about this day as it's the NBA finals and I was really excited as it's the day we'll meet up with the guys and get to Sanga Onsen at Kurokawa area, this is one of the highlights of the trip. We were supposed to meet the guys at the station near noon after checking out from the hotel, get our lunch and catch the bus from Hakata Station. The others had flown in earlier than us but P and I were restricted by P's days of leave, J was going to meet us at the ryokan itself after getting there from Kumamoto.

Hakata Station was large but we managed to find one another at this spot

The steak lunh

We could not decide what to eat as usual and P's preference for steak became the deciding factor. We popped into a restaurant which served steak and P said the steak there was really good but I cant remember the taste at this point of time of blogging or the name of the restaurant, so I guess I still prefer the one we tried the previous day. Service was quite slow at the place and we only left just enough time to grab some snacks from Family Mart and ran over to the bus station to catch the bus. We walked past the area a few times the previous day so I was quite confident we can find the bus station, but the whole place was bigger than expected and when we reached the bus bay we were supposed to be, we waited and the bus did not arrive. The signage on top of the area also did not indicate it was going to Kurokawa. Usually the bus will get there punctually or minutes beforehand so it was quite strange. T was the only one who could speak a little Japanese and from the gestures of a lady at the stores, we realised with horror that there's a few levels at the bus station and we were supposed to wait at the 3rd level. I had taken bus from bus stations like this before but this was certainly the first time I had taken a bus from a multi level bus station. We ran up to the 3rd level but we were ten minutes too late and the bus had left with Japanese punctuality. We had no choice but to rebook the tickets for the next ride, fortunately it was just an hour wait as there were only four or five timings to get to Kurokawa area each day, and we had missed the second last bus. While waiting, we had even more time to restock our snacks, visit Daiso and 7-11 or Family Mart nearby.

The main ‘living room’

We could hear the sound of the river from this area

Kurokawa onsen area is a well known area for its onsen ryokan and the very zen outdoor onsen areas at those ryokan. It cost us a bomb to book a room here but we really wanted to splurge and give ourselves a good treat after coming all the way to Kyushu. We spent around 600 SGD for a half board stay at this very nice ryokan, I would say its the highest amount I had spent thus far on a hotel room, even more than the 500SGD stay at Windsor Toya Hotel a few years ago. We had planned to arrive early to enjoy the room, as we have our own onsen area in the room itself, but after the bus delay we only reached the place at almost 5pm. We managed to get the ryokan to send a shuttle bus for us as it's really at the far end of the Kurokawa area and there was no way we could walk there with our luggages. During the bus ride there, it started drizzling and the rain got heavier in the evening but we still went out to explore the area wearing the yukata and using the umbrellas they've provided.

P really loved this, our own private onsen in the room

Spoilt for choices here

Footbath area which we tried in the morning 

Nice rest area with burning wood

Female outdoor bath, came here in the morning but it was drizzling

The hotel lobby area

Y and T in the next room and we were the only guests on that level

View from our room windows

There were guests from other ryokans as there is a onsen hopping pass available for visitors at a fee, we did not get that as we arrived too late and we were only staying one night. The ryokan room with private bath was really cosy and nice, its really worth splurging to at least spend a night there, this was the first accommodation we booked and it was already full house when we did the booking earlier in March. Poor J was staying alone but she had to pay the money for a big room as there were no smaller rooms available. Luckily she managed to arrive early and did the onsen hopping.

Happy P in his yukata

Snacks and tea served

P posed for more pics

Shortly after our tour of the surrounding area, the sky had fallen and it was time for our dinner at the main dining hall. We were looking forward the the exquisite feast as I always loved the multi course kaiseki dinner delicately prepared during ryokan stay.

The starters

Names of our rooms placed at the table

Superb tasting grilled fish

The menu

Basashi

After dinner, we went to J's room for a visit (hers is a separate cottage) and chit chat, it was still raining hard when we went back to our rooms. P and I went to soak in the onsen and then tucked into our warm futon and had a really good rest.