Itinerary: Nyoirin-ji Temple -> Kyushu Natural Animal Park -> Yufuin
The frog decorations at Nyoirin-ji Temple are very unique, and they were also holding a wind chime festival, which was an extra highlight. However, there are a ton of mosquitoes here in the summer! Nyoirin-ji Temple is located in a rather remote area, so I probably wouldn't have come here if I wasn't on a day trip 🤣
The highlight of Kyushu Natural Animal Park is definitely the Jungle Bus. Unfortunately, the tour guide said that Jungle Bus tickets are very difficult to get, and they were already sold out early that day (we arrived around 11 am). Luckily, the tour guide took us into the natural ecological park in a tour bus, so we were still able to see the wild animals up close (although we couldn't feed them ourselves). However, the time allotted was a bit short. After getting off the tour bus, I only had time to feed the ponies and stand in line to hold the guinea pigs. I didn't have time to visit the other areas.
Yufuin was more free-form, and the tour guide gave us a map and let us explore on our own. We ended up having lunch at a Japanese restaurant, where the fried chicken tempura was surprisingly delicious! However, we didn't arrive in Yufuin until almost 2 pm. If you get hungry easily, I recommend eating a hearty breakfast, or even buying some rice balls or sandwiches to eat on the bus.