This was our last morning in Beppu so after we checked out of Happy Neko we decided to leave our bags there for a bit and go have one last soak in the onsen.

We slooped up to the blue water onsen and purchased our tickets for the public bath. We gave ourselves a bit of extra time this visit and agreed to meet up in an hour.

This onsen was significantly less busy than the one from last night so for the hour I had the whole outdoor onsen to myself. It was lovely to sit in the hot bath and gaze out at the garden, blue sky and birds. Although, as there wasn't as much going on in this onsen the time went a bit slower. I emerged from the bath, dried off (without washing first, got it right this time!) and then went to meet Shannon. We enjoyed some pudding which had been cooked by being steamed in the hot spring and a drink before heading back down to Happy Neko.

Bibo, the owner of Happy Neko, kindly gave us a lift to the station which polished off the excellent stay we had in Happy Neko and Beppu. I'm so glad we came! When we arrived 2 days ago I was thinking it seemed like a long way to come just for two nights. But after staying at Happy Neko and visiting the onsens it's definitely been worth it!

We caught the train to Fukuoka which took about 3 hours and then took the subway to our hostel which is in fact almost a ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel). The hostel, Kashima Honkan, is so cool! It's a huge two storey house with passages and rooms going every which way. Our room is large (8 tatami mat in size) and we have a lovely view from our window of a courtyard garden.

For the afternoon we took a bit of a stroll down to the nearby shopping complex called Canal City. It's a huge complex with a canal running through the centre. We browsed and shopped for a few hours (we got the sweetest little collar for Oreo and I bought some jewelry) and then we decided to go see "The Hobbit" at the movies. We grabbed a bite to eat (pizza and pasta at a chain restaurant, big mistake, will try to stick to Japanese food from now on) and then had a crepe cone before settling in at the cinema.

Shannon really enjoyed the movie and I thought it was okay. I even stayed awake the whole time! We power walked through the cold back to the hostel and the settled in for beddie byes at midnight. Long day!