Kumamoto

Due to a delay in the train ride, we almost missed the last ferry to Kumamoto. Luckily we made it just in time (after running for 10min).

The 50min ferry brought us accross the channel from Shimabara to Kumamoto.

The ferry wasnt crowded, so we had a lot of space to ourselves. Do we look live VIPs in the photo above?













Along the way, some birds (seagulls i think) accompanied us. We threw some scrap bread/biscuit in to the air and those birds will dive down to catch the food before it drops into the sea. It was a delightful bird-feeding experience.


At Kumamoto main train station.
In order to save money, TL and me shared a single room in a hotel. In Japan, most hotels provide onsen(温泉) bath facilities.


We changed into the YuKata (浴衣), a kimono-like bathrobe, and are ready to go for the bath.

Something interesting happened that day too. While we were wandering around the station in the evening, a policeman doing his normal patrol duties decided to check our identificaitons. (we obviously did not look like locals as we were holding cameras and walking around aimlessly)
We started chating with him..... he was shocked to learn that we were exchange students and were able to speak japanese...
When i asked for directions on how to get to our next destination, he was unable to help, so he offered to bring us back to his police station nearby where his colleagues had a better idea.

Here we are, in Kumamoto station police station, taking photo with police officers :)
They look quite smart in their uniform.

what a weird encounter...