Itinerary: Nyorinji Temple -> Kyushu Natural Zoological Park -> Yufuin
The frog decorations at Nyorinji Temple are very unique, and it happened to be holding a wind chime festival, which added another highlight. However, there are a lot of mosquitoes here in the summer! Nyorinji Temple is located in a relatively remote area, and if you're not on a day tour, you really wouldn't come here 🤣
The most anticipated part of Kyushu Natural Zoological Park is definitely the Jungle Bus. Unfortunately, the tour guide said that tickets for the Jungle Bus are very difficult to buy and were already sold out early that day (we arrived around 11 am). However, fortunately, the tour guide drove our tour bus into the natural ecological zone, so we could still see wild animals up close (although we couldn't feed them ourselves). The停留時間 (stay time) was a bit short; after getting off the tour bus, I only had time to feed the ponies and queue up to hold guinea pigs. There wasn't enough time to visit other areas.
Yufuin was more free and easy; 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 unexpectedly delicious! However, it was almost 2 pm when we arrived in Yufuin. If you get hungry easily, I recommend having a more substantial breakfast, or simply buying some rice balls or sandwiches to eat on the bus.