13062013 Huis Ten Bosch – Shin Tosu – Kumamoto

Following the lengthy run from Kumamoto to Nagasaki, this was now for the long trip back to Kumamoto from Nagasaki.

Now both of us had no intention to fork out tons of money to stay a night at Huis Ten Bosch, so we decided that the best way to go was to head back to Kumamoto city, since we wanted to go to Aso mountain the very next day.

From Huis Ten Bosch, we boarded a rapid train which ran through Saga prefecture, before getting off at Shin Tosu, which was literally in the middle of nowhere, but it was a legit stop and a station for the bullet train. The station was rather fancy, but it also seemed rather awkward if you at it which stuck out against a backdrop of nothingness for miles. Kumamoto was only one stop away, and we reached within 20 minutes, while the rapid train took us almost an hour, for it is the legendary bullet train after all.

Upon checking-in, the receptionist told us that free dinner would be served at 6.30pm, and horse meat curry was on the menu! Kumamoto is famous for its basashi (raw horse meat), so the curry left much to our imaginations. Being the kiasu Malaysians we were, plus not wanting to pass up some free food, we were down waiting by 6pm because it was only limited to the first 70 people. There was already a queue by then for the curry! Despite all the hype, it tasted just like pork. Nothing spectacular, but the curry was good. Or maybe because I was hungry.

We were bored after dinner, so decided to go out for a night walk. Snitched some maps from the Kumamoto JR station, then made our ways to some of the shrines and temples which were dotted on it. Our first shrine was a very small one, dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy, but I thought it looked more like some other gods. The next shrine we spotted was a huge one, right across the main road, with is large banners declaring that it was a ‘Shrine for Love & Relationships’.

Being the two single females we were, we made a dash for the shrine! Upon coming to the flight of its stairs, which went up right between a pair of trees symbolising a male and a female. There was a noticeboard telling believers that to increase your fortune in love, one should go around the left tree three times, followed by the right tree three times, then up the flight of the stairs towards the main shrine.

Needless to say we went right for it. What do we have to lose? Nothing! After going around the left three 3 times, which was also pretty exhausting because the tree was incredibly large, I saw a second noticeboard which had a smaller sign posted on it saying ‘For the females, you have to go round the right tree three times first, followed by the left tree’. We both stopped and started laughing over our mistake, plus all that walking for nothing, and decided to just go ahead and continued the ‘ritual’ with the right tree. As we were going up the flight of stairs, my junior asked me, if in this case, would it attract us females partners instead? (2 years later as I am typing this, nothing significant has happened)

After this shrine, we were trying to locate a third one, which needed us to cross some railway tracks, before we came to another flight of stairs which led up to it. Before my junior started to climb it, I pulled her back as I realised that it was a temple for a graveyard! Plus it was dark by now, so we abandoned the idea of visiting more shrines.

Ended up sitting along the riverbank, exchanging ghost stories for the rest of the evening, while enjoying the calm, warm summer breeze of Kumamoto. We also wanted an excuse to ride the tram, so we took it back to our hotel for 100 yen.