Japan 2023 Day 9: Takachiho Gorge

Hakata Baumstick. Never had it before. Woke up early. I had spent the night before booking buses for Takachiho on the Willer express website. Good thing I went early to the bus stop at Nishitetsu Tnejin although google maps told me that the bus stop was very near.

I was running around for 20 minutes looking for this Nishitetsu Tenjin bus stop no 6 when I realised that the bus stop I was looking for was not on the side of the road but on the 2nd floor of the Nishitetsu building! 

Waiting at the Nishitetsu bus stop. There were combinis at the bus stop and I got Lawson nuggets for a quick breakfast. Forgot to mention on big change is that you have to pay for plastic bags everywhere now. Good way to get rid of five 1 yen coins though. It was a nearly 4 hour bus ride to Takachiho bus centre from Fukuoka and it cost 4020 yen.

Not the first time I had done long distance bus. I did Tokyo to Nagoya using Willer before and it was very confortable and had a tv. The above picture is somewhere on the halfway point for a toilet break and for snacks from a konbini.

Kumamon goods from the bus stop konbini.

The bus had its own toilet and was rather comfortable. I was reading Duranki on the way and the art was great but story was boring. Bus has arrived at Takachiho after 4 hours!

Took me a while to figure out how to get to the Gorge because there were not obvious signs around the bus centre even with the sightseeing map.

I see the Takachiho shrine so definitely on the right path. Will do gorge first because I have limited time until I have to get on the return bus and the sun was pretty strong.

After 20 minutes of walking I am feeling close. Just had to walk down winding roads and hope I don't get hit by a car.

This looks promising.

I have a feeling I am not in Kansas anymore.

The views just gets better and better.

You can see the boat house in the picture. Unfortunately the wait time for the boathouse was 2 hours and no way I am waiting 2 hours. Looks like some people reserved from the website and I recommend you do that before going to Takachiho.

You can still walk along the gorge to enjoy the views.

Beautiful waterfall.

The first wow moment when you cannot believe what you are seeing.

Even the way the sun reflects on the waterfall and how green the momiji is is unreal. Can't imagine how it looks from down there.

There are plenty of stalls at Takachiho Gorge. I wanted some meat to eat but it was mostly sweets.

And somen noodles on the water slide just like in anime!

Koi in the pond.

Different angle of the gorge.

Too bad the area on the right is still under construction.

Gorge from a closer view.

Takachiho Gorge is amazing but Geibikei is better IMO especially because Takachiho Gorge is not that long compared to Geibikei.

I was hungry and went back towards Takachicho Shrine and saw this poor dog sleeping in the sun.

Next to the shrine entrance was this karaage shop called Oh My God. (you can see the katakana on top of the kanji) I vote this the best name for a karaage shop ever especially being in front of a shrine.

Godly karaage..... When in Japan always bring plastic bags for rubbish or give it back to the shop after you finish eating.

Time to explore the shrine!

There was someone doing archery next to the shrine!

I ended up walking 20 minutes to Aratate Shrine.

I think I got an amulet from this shrine and it was honour system put 500 yen in coin box.

Behind the Aratate shrine. 

Went back to bus centre and took a 3 hour plus bus to Kumamoto. Why Kumamoto and not Fukuoka? Because I wanted to save 1500 yen on the bus and take the shinkansen back to Hakata. Unfortunately because the bus was cheaper it also was not as comfortable.

I may have saved 1500 yen but it was not worth the suffering. Should have taken the same bus back to Fukuoka.

I had Hakata Ikkousha at Hakata station and it was underwhelming. FYI the name of the city is Fukuoka, the main station is Hakata and the ramen is called Hakata tonkotsu ramen when mean pork bone.

Takachiho is beautiful but the 8 hours just travelling is punishing. Learned my lesson to not skimp on buses! There are also plenty of areas in Takachiho that I did not get to like Kunimigaoka observatory. I think better to stay overnight at Takachiho and take one's time exploring. Ideally a car would be best because the attractions are quite far apart.