Day 119 - Friday 30 August - Yufuin train

Kaori popped her head around the door at 7:00 to say that she had been able to book train tickets for today, and we would need to leave in 1hr.  Trust the boys to sleep in today.

We walked to the subway, then got a bus from Yakuin to Hakata.  We were in plenty of time for the 9:30 train to Yufuin.  Tour groups are haunting us, and today was no exception.  A bunch of Chinese filled the carriage, spending the whole 2hrs in and out of the buffet car.  We were lucky to get a spare double seat opposite the 4 adult tickets Kaori had bought, so there was space for everyone to have a seat.
 

 All the rivers were very full and running fast

 We passed a train museum

 

Yufuin is obviously a tourist town at the end of this special, high-windowed train trip, though the line goes on to Oita.  We had ramen noodle soup for lunch,

 then walked up the main street, looking in the shops, and stopping for a while at a playground.
 

Our next stop was a small animal park, where there were goats, red squirrels, ducks and a few other species.  Further along the road we saw fish in the river, and then we came to the lake, where we had afternoon tea.  

We retraced our steps, stopping at the playground again, and eating icecreams, and Kaori was able to get us places on the earlier bus back to Fukuoka, and we had a bit of finger food dinner on the way.  

Still it was 19:00 before we got to Tenjin, and was quite dark as we hiked back up the hill.