Kyushu in March 2010

The 2nd of March was a cloudy and cold day, when I arrived by boat from Okinawa to Kagoshima, where I stayed only a few hours. I went by the ferry to Sakurajima island and then arround the bay to Kokobu, where I stayed the night. The next day I went through the Kirishima national park to Ebino. It was nearly dark, when I arrived there and had no idea, where to stay. But someone guided me to an onsen, where they had some accomodation. The onsen was hot!. In the moring it was cold and rainy and I had to go again uphill and downhill. In the afternnon, when I rode along Kuma river, it stopped raining, but I was soaked.The raod along the river was beautyful and most of the time I could take the minor road,, where was no traffic. When the valley ended there were lot of cars, highways and undefined towns. After 150km I found a business hotel in Uto. Then along the coast to Saga, where I tried a capsule hotel: not very comfortable and not much cheaper. The next day it was raining and it was a long way uphill to Yufuin, so I took the train.
In Yufuin for 2 weeks I helped in the Country Road Yuth hostel, a former Ryokan. The hostel is run by a young couple and they make really good food, they care about their guests and they keep it very clean.